FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said the Government had reduced the shrinkage of the economy from eight per cent last year to one per cent this year, in his wrap up of the Mid Year Review in the Senate on Friday. The past year had seen a slight improvement in Trinidad and Tobago's GDP, he said.

He said the covid19 pandemic had hit economies in the world so badly that most countries have thrown out their usual notions of a debt-to-GDP ratio.

TT's debt-to-GDP ratio was 82.8 per cent last October and now stood at 85.5 per cent, Imbert said, saying the Government was managing the debt "quite prudently."

He said anyone listening to the UNC would think the debt to GDP figure had passed 100 per cent.

Imbert said the average global deficit last year was minus 10.8 per cent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is predicting this figure will shrink to minus 9.2 per cent this year, minus 5.4 per cent in 2022 and minus 4.4 per cent in 2023. He accused the Opposition of trying to suggest that TT did not exist amid the realities of the world which he said was facing the fallout of a health emergency with covid19. Imbert said the Government was now trying to maintain an economic momentum.

He accused Opposition Senators of sending self-contradictory messages in their speeches, claiming one group had called for a fiscal tightening while another group had urged more assistance for the business community. "Everything they say is contradictory and foolish," he scoffed.

The Senate approve the bill under debate, the Finance (Supplementation and Variation of Appropriation) (Financial Year 2021) Bill, 2021, already passed last Wednesday in the House of Representatives. The Senate will next sit at 10 am on Tuesday to discuss the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which proposes a public access to a National Sex Offenders Register. Senate Leader Clarence Rambharat also proposed the Senate sit next Friday at 10 am to debate the Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Bill, 2021