00:00Speaking to the media before the sitting of the Senate today, Dr. Marlene Atts, who is a development economist and
00:05strategist, pointed to the realities of the state of the country's economy.
00:09The fact is we know that the Minister of Finance has been on the international market raising funds.
00:14That is a cost to the country. That is a debt that is being incurred.
00:19Those are facts. Those are not speculations.
00:21The fact is we've not been earning, the country has not been earning as much from our primary sector, the
00:26energy sector,
00:27for many, many years because of geopolitical reasons and because of the mature state of our energy sector.
00:32Those are facts. And I think those facts have to be juxtaposed as to what is reasonable at this point
00:39in time.
00:39But a fact also is that promises were made.
00:42So I think we have to align all of those and determine what is the best possible position for the
00:49country moving forward.
00:50Atts says she is not envious of the finance minister, who has a big task on his hands in presenting
00:55the national budget in October.
00:57Because while we want to be fair to public sector workers, the country has to deal with the fact that
01:03we have an increasing debt profile.
01:05The country has to deal with the fact that inflation affects everyone.
01:09The country has to deal with all of these realities.
01:11So I think there is a balancing act to be done.
01:14I'm very happy I'm not a politician. I'm very happy I made no promises.
01:17I'm very happy that I'm not the minister of finance who has to balance his books in a couple of
01:21weeks' time.
01:21Atts also spoke about the state of negotiations between the PSA and the CPO,
01:26saying she understands the plight of the PSA workers and what is owed to them should be given.
01:30But the state of the economy must be taken into consideration.
01:34I understand that public sector workers and many other workers in the country
01:39have been living under financial and economic strain for many years.
01:42That is a reality. That is not something. That is not a figment of anyone's imagination.
01:46So I think what is owed to persons in terms of what they've worked for and what they've negotiated should
01:51be paid to them.
01:52But that has to be balanced against the current state of the economy.
01:56And she's also of the opinion that we need to move past the complaints of which sector received more money
02:01than another
02:02and actually look at the returns from the various sectors.
02:06Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
02:07T
02:08You
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