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  • 10 months ago
The newly-installed Minister of Finance Vishnu Dhanpaul, though cautious, is making a bold statement to the nation.

He says under his lead, there will be no hardship.

As the Former T&T High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, he has also given his take on the Visa controversy.

Alicia Boucher tells us more.
Transcript
00:00I wish to Dan Paul, swear by Almighty God, that I will bear true faith and allegiance
00:07to Trinidad and Tobago.
00:08I am prepared to serve. Words of new Finance Minister Vishnu Dan Paul, who views the opportunity
00:13he has been given as a privilege. He is eyeing economic growth within the non-energy sector,
00:19saying it can solve a lot of problems, including that of foreign exchange. Dan Paul, who has
00:25served as Permanent Secretary in Finance under a number of Finance Ministers, has taken office
00:30at a time when the country has been put on notice by former Prime Minister Dr. Keith
00:34Rowley, who warned in September 2024 of difficult times ahead, at least until the second quarter
00:40of 2027. This statement was made in relation to the situation in the energy sector, including
00:46low levels of production in this country, and came before what has been unfolding with
00:51the Trump administration policies on Venezuela, inclusive of cutting their permit to export
00:56oil. Dan Paul is aware that hard decisions form part and parcel of his new portfolio.
01:02You have to make tough decisions as a Minister of Finance. You would like to not make tough
01:09decisions. But what I will tell you, and I don't want to say a promise to the country,
01:15but the people of Trinidad and Tobago, there will be no hardships. Not under my watch.
01:24That is not going to happen.
01:27Expounding on that pronouncement, Dan Paul points to economic policies.
01:32Economic policies, you don't have to put pain on people necessarily. We are not going through
01:38austerity measures. At least I have no intention of implementing any austerity measures to
01:45literally punish the population. It's as simple as that. We're going to keep it simple. We're
01:51going to keep it above board. We're going to keep it with integrity and get the job done.
01:57While the Auditor General's Office and the Finance Ministry under former Minister Coleman
02:01Burt has had a strained relationship for months following the understatement of $2.6 billion
02:07in the 2023 public accounts, which spawned a legal battle between Auditor General Jayawanti
02:13Ramdas and Imbert, Dan Paul is hopeful.
02:16I don't want to comment right now on that matter, but what I will say is that I have worked
02:21with many Auditors General over the years. And we have had a fantastic relationship,
02:31professionally, very cordial, and I don't see why it should change now.
02:36He flew into TNT from the UK on Friday after retiring as TNT's High Commissioner. Two days
02:42prior, on March 12th, the United Kingdom announced that TNT nationals would now need a visa to
02:47travel to the UK instead of the Electronic Travel Authorization. It's a move which took
02:53many, including him by surprise, based on his response to a question on whether there
02:58was any dialogue between himself and UK officials.
03:03Simple answer. We were ambushed. It's disappointing. To me, personally, it was very disappointing
03:08because, as I said and I repeat, we were ambushed.
03:11And while the UK has cited the amount of TNT nationals seeking asylum in the UK as the
03:16reason for the decision, Dan Paul points to a very minimal level of information provided
03:22where that is concerned.
03:24They met with us in London, but no names or anything like that, just bare numbers. But
03:32I am also convinced that while they may be suggesting that there's an uptick in refugees,
03:38it could also be that people were trying to get into London before the ETA came into force
03:45on January 8th. I have yet to see the January numbers, but I suspect there will be significant
03:51decline in January.
03:53Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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