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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
Crime was one of the concerns as members of the manufacturing sector came together to discuss the 2025 Budget.


A view has been shared that the country will not prosper, if the safety of people cannot be ensured.


Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00Executive Chairman of Ernst & Young Caribbean, Wade George, says the property tax introduced
00:06by the government meets the international benchmarks and he's of the view that if people
00:10see they are getting value for money, they'll eventually have no problem with it.
00:15It was one of the talking points during Finance Minister Colin Mimbert's five-hour-long budget
00:20presentation on Monday.
00:22But George is weighing in on the problems faced on the crime front.
00:26National security is a foundational element in the state's right to tax.
00:32We do ourselves a disservice in focusing on the price of crime to business.
00:39What price can you place on the impact of crime on the national psyche?
00:44The anxiety of citizens and the migration of skilled young people, and I see that.
00:52The answer is obvious, there can be no prosperity without security.
00:58Economist Dr. Marlene Ats concurs.
01:00As she mentions the many plans in various areas, including diversification and tourism
01:06featured in the budget.
01:08While she states that financial resources are important, as it pertains to crime, she
01:12points to other elements that must be worked out.
01:15We need to look at both the internal processes of our national security architecture and
01:22also the wider national ecosystems that contribute to our current crime situation.
01:30It must not be lost on any one of us in this room or on the government, and I'm sure it's
01:34not lost on them, that we have a youth unemployment challenge and the players in the criminal
01:42enterprise also are our youth.
01:46On another note, while George believes the 2025 fiscal plan served to give hope for the
01:50future and outline plans on matters such as diversification, he says there were gaps
01:57especially as it relates to what he calls the hardest use.
02:01How do we wean and reskill the population from reliance on government employment?
02:07How do we enhance public sector efficiency?
02:10How do we ensure value for money?
02:13How do we better target subsidies and avoid wasteful and unaffordable expenditure?
02:20How do we increase business facilitation and public sector, private sector cooperation?
02:25How do we nurture entrepreneurship?
02:28Minister of Finance, Colin Briggs says the respective ministers will expand on the plans
02:33raised during his presentation under their ministries.
02:37Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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