Opposition Leader hits ‘incompetent’ Govt

In a statement yesterday Persad-Bissessar commented on newspaper headlines and news stories yesterday announcing Trinidad and Tobago’s worst economic decline in our history (-6.7 percent in the first half of 2016).

She described it as “ very disturbing for the welfare and well being of our citizens”.

She continued: “It reinforces the bad news documented in the Review of the Economy and presented in Parliament along with the 2017 budget which revealed that virtually every economic sector had declined significantly over the last fiscal year”.

She said that the current numbers “forewarn, as we come to the end of the last quarter of 2016, that the decline at the end of December 2016 is likely to be even steeper than the current numbers now indicate for up to the middle of the year”.

“I take this opportunity to point out that the economic statistics are not just numbers.

They are about an economy that is contracting; businesses that are collapsing and shrinking; workers who are losing their jobs and homes, families and citizens that are under severe and worsening economic and financial pressure,” she stressed.

Persad-Bissessar said the last 14 months have been “abysmal” in terms of Government performance.

“There have been no decisions made that I can recall , which have impacted positively on economic activity or business and consumer confidence. Moreover the rhetoric of the Rowley government has been discouraging and the pronouncement of Ministers have been provocative, insensitive and disruptive of economic sustainability,” she added.

Persad-Bissessar said the Dr Keith Rowley Government has failed to engage the production side of the energy sector to stimulate investment in drilling for future production.

She also said that even on the tension between upstream and downstream interests they have put decisions on the vital energy sector on hold.