Senator asks: Where is $19 billion?

INDEPENDENT Senator Parvatee Anmolsingh-Mahabir would like to know what has happened to some $19 billion that represented an increase in our national public debt between 1996 and 2004. She was contributing to the Budget debate on Monday in the Senate. The public debt, she said, stood at $18 billion in 1996, $19.9 billion in 1997, $29.7 billion in 2000, $32.7 billion in 2001, and $37.1 billion in 2004.  The debt had doubled in just eight years from $18 billion to $37.1 billion. She asked, “Where did this $19 billion go? How was it spent? What tangible improvements can this country show for it?” She wondered whether these figures had caused concern to both the World Bank (in rating our foreign exchange) and Transparency International (in rating us in its perceived corruption index).   

Anmolsingh-Mahabir was worried that in presenting his $28 billion Budget, Prime Minister Patrick Manning had allocated $6.7 billion to help repay the public debt. She lamented, “Out of every $100 we pay in taxes, the sum of $24.15 immediately goes to repay the national debt of over $37.125 billion.” Anmolsingh-Mahabir also contrasted the Budget’s allocation of $60 million for hampers for needy persons, to an allocation to develop the agricultural sector of just $52 million.  While the hampers were a commendable and noble gesture, she hoped they would be largely produced by our local farmers. “I call on the Government to ensure that these food hampers have maximum local content so you will be achieving your objectives as well as stimulating the economy.”