00:00Finance Secretary Petalan Roberts says this year's budget plans are designed to energize key sectors and equip residents to take a more active role in the island's growth.
00:12Roberts says the goal is to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth by aligning policy with innovation and community involvement.
00:21These will include the tourism sector, agriculture. We want to look at human capital development. We want our people to become more resourceful, productive, efficient.
00:33We want to look at advancing digital technologies, utilizing digital technologies, especially in the core areas of the areas under the Tobago House of Assembly.
00:45In the public service, we want to look at the SME sector.
00:49She says public infrastructure systems, public housing and coastal protection are also being prioritized as part of the broader strategy to support economic development and safeguard the island's long-term resilience.
01:04We have had discussions with, I think it's CAF, the Latin American Bank. We did have discussions with them on the coastal protection works that we expect to see.
01:16We want to really advance some of these areas.
01:19So those are some of the broad areas that we've been looking at in the budget.
01:22The budget will also consider the other areas like settlements, we will consider community development, health, education.
01:32Secretary Roberts also confirmed that she met with the Minister of Finance and is optimistic about collaboration and mutual respect moving forward.
01:40She says during their discussion, she stated her expectation of a minimum 5.1% allocation for Tobago, which the Minister agreed to in principle.
01:52Roberts also raised concerns about the impact of delayed allocations to the THA and the burden of overdraft interests.
02:00Also, the cumulative overdraft interest affects the liquidity on THA's resources because we have not yet cleared that backlog of overdraft interests over the years.
02:13Because as you know, the bank takes their overdraft interest. It's not a budgetary expenditure.
02:19It's an off-budget expenditure and it actually affects the bank account.
02:23However, she believes there will be improvements in both the allocation amount and the timeliness of disbursements under the new government administration.
02:34Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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