Budget Day is October 8

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning announced that the 2004/2005 Budget will be presented in Parliament on Friday October 8 at 2 pm. The Prime Minister ended weeks of speculation about the Budget when he made the announcement during debate on the Caroni (1975) Ltd and Orange Grove National Company Ltd  (Divestment and Business Development) (No 2) Bill 2004 in the House of Representatives yesterday. The expected $22 billion Budget was originally due to be presented in Parliament on September 6 but was pushed back to early October on account of Manning having a pacemaker implant performed in Cuba on August 20. Government officials had speculated that the Budget would be presented on either October 4 or October 6. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement, officials expressed confidence that the Budget will be debated and passed in both Houses of Parliament before the statutory deadline of October 31.

Manning is due to return to Cuba either in late October or early November for a medical evaluation. The Ministries of National Security, Health, Education and Science, Technology and Tertiary Education are expected to be the Budget’s major beneficiaries. In July, the Prime Minister instructed the National Security Minister “to revise his budget to provide further critical resources” to the police to help them deal with crime hot spots in TT.  On Friday, Manning is expected to elaborate more on Government’s anti-crime strategies in the Budget. There are also expected to be greater allocations in the Budget for disaster relief, works and transport and Local Government bodies. In announcing the Budget, however the Prime Minister appeared to be trying to draw the Opposition’s fire away from Minister in the Ministry of Finance Christine Sahadeo, who opened debate on the Caroni legislation and Government’s efforts to restructure the former State sugar company.