Tobago Correspondent
Tobago stakeholders say the $134 million boost from the mid-year budget will not help unless the money is spent fairly and properly. They warn the island’s economy is struggling and without real action and transparency, Tobago will continue to fall behind.
While they welcome the additional funding, most of the island’s stakeholders say more money is needed because the Tobago House of Assembly owes a lot of people.
Tobago is expected to receive $134 million more for the THA, including $32 million in supplementary mid-year budget allocation and $102 million in loan funding from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF).
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo said the loan will be used for coastal protection work. In addition, the minister hinted that Government ministries and state agencies are expected to spend another $621 million on the island in the coming fiscal year.
Commenting on the allocation, Tobago Division of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce chairman Curtis Williams said they welcomed the funding, although some of it was in the form of a loan.
“We welcome the additional funding. Yes, I know it’s coming via a loan, but we still welcome it because it really can go into a real need.”
He hopes some of the money will help pay off long-standing debts.
“Those long-lasting bills might not be paid off immediately, but I know something may go towards that. And then those outstanding service providers and suppliers, they definitely will get something,” Williams said.
However, the chamber’s former chair, Diane Hadad, says Tobago keeps asking for more money but has little to show for what it already received.
Speaking on CNC3’s The Morning Brew on Wednesday she said, “Farley Augustine has had the leadership role of the island for the last three and a half years… As an island, we have not seen any economic stimulation.”
She questioned where the money went, saying, “Is it that it is in recurrent expenditure, and we just hired a lot of people? We surely not seeing it in Tobago. We are not seeing it or feeling it.”
Hadad said the economy has remained flat and there has been very little development.
Meanwhile, Tobago Business Chamber head Martin George said the outlook report by the minister shows the country is in crisis, and the Government must show how it plans to fix the situation.
“As part of the Government’s package for the Mid-year Budget Review and our economic projections going forward, it would be good for us to see some sort of economic roadmap towards a sustained fiscal recovery for Trinidad and Tobago, because the reality is that as a nation, we are not in a good place.”
He believes the forex crisis is hurting everyone and again suggested a repeal of the Foreign Investment Act as a solution.
“One of the most burning issues, of course, is the forex crisis, which I think impacts all businesspersons and ordinary citizens... We of the Tobago Business Chamber have said on more than one occasion that a simple and immediate strategy to try to ease that would be to try to increase the flow of direct foreign investment into Tobago. And to do so, you must immediately repeal that Foreign Investment Act,” he said.
George said without that change, Tobago would remain stuck while other islands move ahead.
“We are actually the laughingstock of the Caribbean because of our foreign exchange rules, and yet still you have this deleterious legislation hanging around... If we repeal that legislation... then you will see all the trickle down and all the flows into the Trinidad economy also.”
Tobago Fisherfolk Association president Curtis Douglas said he was shocked by the mid-year review.
“I am totally surprised. I am shocked, but yet still I’m so disappointed. I’m very much disappointed in the mid-year review, especially for Tobago. It’s more than insulting in my book.”
Douglas said it’s been over a year since the oil spill, and contractors who responded are still waiting to be paid.
He hoped the new funding would help clear those debts.
“I hope that good sense would prevail and they would pay off the contractors that would have worked seriously during the oil spill. Preferably ATFA and other contractors... so that they could be paid off completely.”
He also called for more transparency in how the THA uses money.
“Taxpayers need to know where their money goes and how it has been spent... I would like to see more transparency in that money being allocated and spent.”
On the other hand, TTUTA Tobago officer Brandon Roberts welcomed the extra funding but raised concerns about how it would be managed.
“It’s always good news to know that more allocations are coming to Tobago. However, it’s not just giving more money... is there the management of it? And I have always asked for the THA to be a little bit more transparent.”
Roberts said the Division of Education still owes a lot of people.
“There are a lot of outstanding bills. They owe a lot of people, especially when the Division of Education is concerned... not just teachers that they owe, they owe other sectors that are aligned with the Division of Education.”
He said if the THA is serious, it must fight for a proper budget.
“We need to ask for the maximum, as the THA owes a lot of people... We have our contract teachers that are owed $10 plus million.”
Chief Secretary Farley Augustine could not be reached for comment.