Central businessmen say Budget ‘fair’

However, Sookhai said the oil price should have been pegged at US$40 per barrel and not between US$48 and $50 per barrel given the volatility surrounding the world oil market.

“He (Imbert) did peg oil prices at between $48 and $50 per barrel and although it was indicated by the IMF that anything $50 or lower would be reasonable, I think he should have kept it at least around $40 a barrel, given the volatility of the market especially if there is another fallout with OPEC,” Sookhai said.

Regarding the 15 percent increase in the cost of diesel, Sookhai said this should not have a “harsh impact” on the economy as a similar increase during the mid-year review saw no significant increases in transportation cost. He said the reduction of the Budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector was not a good sign but applauded incentives for the agro-processing industry which would utilise local food items.

“He reduced some of the money going to agriculture from last year to this year and we believe agriculture is key in the scheme of things especially for diversification of the economy away from oil and gas and also help reduce our food import bill, but they should be credited for giving a tax break for people going into agro processing operations. It is going to create an enabling environment to allow people to go to agro processing,’ he said.

And regarding the creation of a new tax bracket, he said this was justifiable and a great initiative though expressed the opinion that they bracket should have been increased beyond the $1 million mark for individuals and companies. “We welcome this, this is a actually a great initiative, it going to stimulate and justifiably tax the higher income earners but we do believe the million dollars is too low and that bracket should be raised a little,” Sookhai said.

“I think it is a very fair budget that was delivered I believe the government thought about every fact of the economy and they delivered a reasonable budget,” he said. Meanwhile, president of the Penal/Debe Chamber of commerce, Shiva Roopnarine expressed reservations about the deficit saying this may be higher should oil prices decline below the projected price. “We don’t see the six billion dollars deficit as being realistic, we would have liked to see lower projections or estimates for that,” Roopnarine said, adding, “we could expect no contribution to the heritage and stabilization fund for the next year because we didn’t see oil and gas maintaining prices up above what the Minister has projected.” He too expressed the opinion that the diesel increase should not adversely affect the cost of transportation and commodity prices though he too applauded the proposal to regulate he gaming industry which he said had plagued Trinidadian society for some time.