A sharp disconnect exists between how the Government portrays the economy on paper and what people are experiencing in their daily lives, claimed Mayaro MP Rushton Paray.
He was speaking in the House of Representatives on Friday on an opposition motion chiding the Government's running of the economy.
Paray said the Government's policies were "weak and unresponsive to the needs of the people of TT in the circumstances we find ourselves in."
He described it all as "a policy-mismatch" between the Government and people.
"Clearly, we in the Opposition as we go through our constituencies, meeting our citizens and burgesses, there is a considerable amount of suffering and pain among the people.
Paray alleged a general overall poor economic management by Cabinet.
"In many cases, these decisions made by the Government are leading to grinding poverty, starvation in some cases, and an inability to meet the basic day to day expenses for several of our citizens.
"This is a Christmas of distress and misery that is going to come down on a large number of nationals."
He chided the Government for relying on a declining energy sector, without efforts at restructuring the economy.
"The Minister of Finance (Colm Imbert) could read out financial data and international reports until the cows come home, but who is in the kitchen feels the heat."
Paray said the Opposition, not the Government, was on the ground meeting the jobless, including many skilled workers in the energy and manufacturing sectors who had been laid off and who had remained without work.
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