No magic in first PP budget: Dookeran

"Don’t expect any magic."

That's the word from Finance Minister Winston Dookeran about the budget he will presenting Wednesday afternoon when Parliament returns from its summer break.

On Sunday Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that there would be no new taxes in the budget and that there will be changes to the land and buildings taxes as part of the country's tax reform.

And she confirmed that her People's Partnership government will keep its promise to repeal the Property Tax law that the previous government passed.

"All I can say is, don’t expect any magic,” Dookeran told reporters seeking some insight into the fiscal package. He declined comment on whether the specifics. However he made it clear that there will be another deficit.

The government's focus has been on projects that directly impact people instead of the kind of mega projects that had been a priority of the Manning PNM administration.

However there will be an emphasis on education and training and a projects such the URP and Cepep program, which the government has promised to improve.

It's also expected that Dookeran will put emphasis on development of critical infrastructure, much of which falls under the jurisdiction of Works Minister jack Warner.

Government House Leader Dr Roodal Moonilal told the media while the budget will focus on crime, health and education, "the nation expects greater, more comprehensive articulation and programs and a practical approach to resolving our critical problems.”

According to Moonilal, “With the budget being prepared by an economist for the first time, we expect it to be analytically strong, including in terms of regional and global economic trends as well as T&T’s development and also rooted in the compassion of inclusiveness of the PP’s philosophy.

"We expect it will provide for the vulnerable groups in society and seek to redress the imbalance in income distribution while also being cognisant of prudent expenditure policy.

“It is expected to be a continuation of our manifesto commitment of prosperity for all since this has been adopted as government policy,” Moonilal added.

Government Senator Professor Patrick Watson, an economist who is involved in the budget exercise, said one highlight of the budget would be a stimulus package for the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

He said that would keep job losses to a minimum. He also hinted that there would be some relief for persons affected by the collapse of CL Financial and measures to ease the plight of Hindu Credit Union investors.

He said Government is being careful to make sure that it does not accumulate more debt since the existing debt was almost about 60 per cent of GDP.