00:00The Lions, a share of the government's $2.93 billion supplemental allocation is expected to go towards recurrent expenditure, including
00:08salaries and other operational costs.
00:11Former Permanent Secretary Vishnu Danpoll says while public servants must be paid, the allocation leaves little room for development projects.
00:21293, the majority would be used for recurrent expenditure.
00:26I think 2.8?
00:272.8, correct.
00:28Yeah.
00:28At recurrent expenditure, essentially, to pay the public servants.
00:33Now, on the $92 million, which is, if you're designating that to the development program, that is absolutely nothing to
00:43the development program.
00:44When you consider it costing the country about $450 million a month to run the country, $92 million as a
00:57development program is absolutely nothing.
01:01Danpoll also questioned the government's financing strategy, warning that borrowing to fund a recurrent expenditure is not sound fiscal policy.
01:11He says he would have preferred a greater use of reallocations within the budget rather than relying heavily on supplemental
01:17spending.
01:18Meanwhile, the business community is also calling for a stronger focus on economic expansion.
01:24But I do also believe that a larger portion should have gone into understanding how we do new developments, you
01:30know, how do we create more jobs in the economy, how do we prepare ourselves for what is going to
01:35probably come with this new gas windfall that we're going to see over the next 18 months.
01:39So I think part of that has to go towards that part of Trinidad and Tobago.
01:43How do we develop ourselves?
01:45How do we position ourselves to now capture what is going to happen in the next 18 to 24 months
01:50so that Trinidad itself benefits long term?
01:53Rampassad says upcoming gas revenues should be used strategically to strengthen exports, support manufacturers and create sustainable economic opportunities beyond
02:03the energy sector.
02:04Artificial intelligence specialist and criminologist Professor Rene Cummings says while she welcomed the funding for a national data center, she
02:14wants to see a broader AI investment strategy.
02:17A data center is critical to any country trying to stand up also an AI industry, but not seeing more
02:25information as to how this data center is going to be built, how it's going to be staffed, how it's
02:31going to really assist the country when it comes to really thinking about itself in a more global perspective, in
02:40a more AI driven world.
02:43Sharla Kistel, TV6 News.
02:47Sharla Kistel, TV6 News.
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