San Juan Business Association hot, cold over Budget

THE GOVERNMENT’S 2004 - 2005 national budget is a “middle of the road” Budget, which lacks continuity according to San Juan Business Association President Gail Merhair. In an interview with Sunday Newsday, following the Budget presentation on Friday, Merhair explained that none of the initiatives announced by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Patrick Manning really showed how these things would be achieved. She said that the Government needed to demonstrate its vision and continuity when it presents its fiscal policy, and as such the organisation was hoping that the administration could rationalise its policy with delivery. Merhair said that while the organisation is commending Manning on a number of initiatives, such as free tertiary education, free medical treatment at Mt Hope, increase in old age pension, public assistance and disability grants, they were concerned with the continued rise in the cost of living.

“What about the cost of flour, rice, oil and other grocery items that people need to use on a daily basis,” stated Merhair. “Fine that pension and all these things have been increased, but the cost of living is going up and there are other areas that could have been dealt with to benefit the population more. “What about lowering Value Added Tax, what about removing the tariff and opening up the market on products such as oil, these are areas that would help the Government meet its stated objectives.” On the reduction in surcharge from 86 percent to 40 percent on turkey and chicken parts, Merhair explained that this is another area that was targetted without consultation. “How would this initiative affect the poultry industry? Would they benefit from this, or would some of them be forced to lay-off workers and close down?” queried Merhair.

On the unemployment rate figures, Merhair explained that because of the use of statistics for URP and CEPEP, the 7.8 percent statistic may not really be a true and accurate representation of what is really going on. She stated that “neither CEPEP nor URP is an indication of a growing economy and obscures the true nature of the vibrancy of economic activity.” The association noted that while it was relatively satisfied with the allocations made to the education system, they are concerned that citizens may not benefit from this, since the crime wave in the country continues to encourage migration of our nationals. She said that the concern is that with the limited allocations to national security, people may not feel safe enough to keep their children in the country to attend tertiary institutions that are being established by the Government.