Valley: Budget Day pushed back

LEADER of Government Business in the House of Representatives, Ken Valley, yesterday said Budget Day in Trinidad and Tobago will not be September 6. Prime Minister Patrick Manning should make a final determination on that date sometime this week, he added. At Thursday’s post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Junior Finance Minister Conrad Enill said Government had a tentative date as to when the 2004/2005 Budget would be presented in Parliament and Manning “is going to intervene to determine whether or not we hold back the date or we change the date.  By Sunday (yesterday) morning, I will be able to tell you what the date is,” Enill said. Contacted yesterday however, Valley (who is also a junior Finance Minister) told Newsday that it was unlikely that September 6 would be Budget Day and that date would be “pushed back.”

Valley said he had not spoken to the Prime Minister since he returned home yesterday but was certain that Manning would make a final determination on Budget Day sometime this week. He added that Government had to pass the Budget by October 31 and had time on its hands. Some Government sources said September 6 was the likely date for the Budget’s presentation in Parliament while others suggested that it could be even earlier than that. The Prime Minister is expected to unveil a $22 billion Budget with the Ministries of National Security, Health, Education and Science, Technology and Tertiary Education being the major beneficiaries. Enill confirmed information obtained by Newsday that the Budget was in an advanced stage of preparation. “We have now reached a stage where we have given to the ministries our best estimates as to resources that will be made available to them.