Enill: No IMF evidence of Govt squandermania

He said an erroneous report in a daily newspaper (not Newsday) making this allegation has set up the population for pain, "when there is no pain."

Speaking with journalists after a pre-Budget planning session at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Enill said the document leaked to the press was the "first draft of a discussion document" by the IMF, and it had several inaccuracies. He said one of those inaccuracies "is the fact that the IMF team took the view that because we went to the Parliament with an additional $3 billion appropriation, for some very special circumstances, that is the level which we will continue with expenditure. That is not true. We have said that on a number of occasions," the minister said.

Explaining the process by which IMF Article IV consultations take place in TT, and that the IMF’s "concluding document" on TT will be posted on its Web Site in October, Enill said, "Up until then, there is no document based on what they have found with the macroeconomic situation (in TT). There is no document."

The minister said he also proposes to post that document on the Finance Ministry’s Web site as soon as it becomes available. Enill added that future leaks of such important documents will be reduced through a system of providing information to the population on a more regular basis.

The minister reiterated that there was no evidence to support allegations of Government squandermania. "Every year at Budget time, and before that, we account to the population by providing all the information that is required. We do it through the draft estimates, through the documents we present. It goes to Parliament, it is debated, signed off by the Auditor-General, and looked at by joint select committees of Parliament. There is a significant amount of oversight that takes place in so far as what we do. Therefore, if there was some evidence of wild spending, that would have surfaced long ago. You don’t need the IMF to come here and tell you that," he explained.

Enill said the oil price against which the 2005/2006 Budget will be pegged has not yet been decided but "whatever it is, it is going to be based on a long-term sustainability issue. Last year, we decided on a revenue price as well as an expenditure price. We propose to do the same thing this year. Look at the level of sustainable expenditure, ensure that we can in fact support that and the difference allocated to the Revenue Stabilisation Fund. That’s the prices theory," the minister said.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has hinted that a $31 billion (or higher Budget) is likely to be presented in Parliament on September 5.