The Min­istry of Fi­nance says Trinidad and To­ba­go has come very close to a bal­anced bud­get for the first time in 14 years, in light of fi­nal fig­ures for rev­enue col­lec­tion for Fis­cal Year 2022.

Ac­cord­ing to a re­lease is­sued by the min­istry, fi­nal fig­ures for the ac­tu­al rev­enue col­lec­tions in Fis­cal 2022—up to the end of Sep­tem­ber 2022—show T&T will have some $2.57 bil­lion more at its dis­pos­al for Fis­cal 2023.

“At the time of the pre­sen­ta­tion of the 2023 Bud­get on Sep­tem­ber 26, 2022, the rev­enue fig­ures for Fis­cal 2022 were based on ac­tu­al fig­ures, from Oc­to­ber 1, 2021, to Au­gust 31, 2022, and es­ti­mat­ed fig­ures for the month of Sep­tem­ber 2022,” the min­istry ex­plained in the re­lease.

“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 notes this means a much small­er fis­cal deficit for Trinidad and To­ba­go:

“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% of GDP, well be­low the in­ter­na­tion­al bench­mark for fis­cal deficits of 3% of GDP.”

It added: “In essence, we have achieved an al­most bal­anced na­tion­al bud­get in Fis­cal 2022, some­thing that has not oc­curred in Trinidad and To­ba­go since 2008, 14 years ago.”