IN A two-part series, Business Day interviewed economics students to learn their perspectives on the proposed 2024/2025 budget.
While their review of the budget aligned with their original hopes, themes of accountability, effective resource management and economic stability were central to their critiques.
Hopes for digitalisation, government aid, urban growth
On September 30, Newsday interviewed three second-year undergraduates at UWI's St Augustine campus to gain their perspectives ahead of the budget being presented.
Themes including the digital economy, government assistance programmes, education and urban development were their focus.
Alicia Rampersad emphasised the need for greater investment in digital technologies across all ministries, especially in education and health.
She hoped these investments would help streamline several processes. She advocated for a balance between digital and traditional methods, especially for services like property-tax payments, to accommodate different levels of tech-savviness among citizens.
Nirvan Babwah commented on the importance of government grants, explaining that these grants, like the Public Assistance Grant, Food Support Programme, senior citizens pension and the Disability Grant are crucial for many citizens, especially during challenging economic times like the covid19 pandemic, and hoped for continued support in these areas.
He also hoped for increased investment in the agriculture sector, as he believes this would help reduce TT’s exorbitant food import bill of $7.3 billion and increase domestic production.
“One of our regional economic goals in Caricom was to reduce the regional food import bill by 25 per cent by the year 2025, so I believe there should be more of an initiative on the agriculture sector in general.”
Giovannie Alvarez hoped the budget would hold enough space to prioritise education and urban development. He believes
investing in education is particularly important in rapidly growing urban areas. He explained that such investment could strengthen human capital and stimulate broader economic development. He added that young people's being engaged with the budget process to better understand the government's financial strategies had a far-reaching impact on the country as a whole.
Post-budget reflections
Almost two weeks after their initial interview, the trio, with an additional interviewee, Dylon Singh, spoke again after a Conference on the Economy (COTE) UWI post-budget forum panel discussion on October 10.
COTE, hosted by the Department of Economics, presents quality research findings from academic staff, students and collaborators to inform stakeholders on economic and social policy issues.
[caption id="attachment_1115042" align="alignnone" width="711"] UWI students Nirvan Babwah hopes for increased investment in the agriculture sector, to help reduce TT's high food import bill. He made this comment at UWI's post-budget forum on October 10. - FILE PHOTO[/caption]
The panel of speakers included Dr Marlene A
