MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning welcomed the news on Thursday that TT received higher revenue for the last fiscal year than was originally estimated.
But former minister in the ministry of finance Vasant Bharath did not believe this news painted a true picture of TT's economic reality.
The National Transformation Alliance, led by former national security minister and former police commissioner Gary Griffith, welcomed the improved revenue, but said Government could not take credit for it.
The Opposition UNC believed the improved revenue announced by the Finance Ministry shows more evidence of a disconnect between Government and reality.
In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said when Finance Minister Colm Imbert presented the 2022/2023 budget in Parliament on September 26, the revenue figures for fiscal 2022 were based on actual figures from October 1, 2021-August 31, 2022 and estimated figures for September 2022.
"However, the Board of Inland Revenue has since finalised the actual revenue figures for fiscal 2022 and it has been determined that the total revenue in fiscal 2022 was $54.21 billion, which is $2.57 billion more than the revised estimate announced in September 2022, and $10.88 billion more than the original revenue estimate of $43.33 billion for fiscal 2022, made in October 2021."
The ministry said, "With total expenditure for fiscal 2022 now estimated at $54.54 billion, the fiscal deficit for 2022 is now estimated at $329 million, which is less than 0.2 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), well below the international benchmark for fiscal deficits of three per cent of GDP."
The ministry added, "In essence, we have achieved an almost balanced national budget in Fiscal 2022, something that has not occurred in TT since 2008, 14 years ago."
Manning said TT's receiving better revenue than estimated for fiscal 2022 is good. But this was no reason to throw caution to the wind or make changes to measures outlined in the budget in September.
He said, " We are still cautiously optimistic and believe that the measures implemented are the most prudent at this time."
But Bharath countered, "For the Ministry of Finance to take any credit whatsoever for this temporary increase in revenues is a blatant attempt to hoodwink the population into a false sense of security when our reality is the complete opposite."
[caption id="attachment_982890" align="alignnone" width="823"] Former minister in the ministry of finance Vasant Bharath. -[/caption]
He argued the increased revenue for fiscal 2022 had nothing to do with fiscal policies implemented by the Government over the last seven years. The higher revenue was connected to circumstances outside of TT's control such as the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Bharath said, "The TT economy has suffered negative growth for six consecutive years, with real GDP falling by 15.7 per cent, during which time our Caricom neighbours have grown by 3.2 per cent and the rest of the world by 21.4 per cent."
He said the r
