00:00For me, I see budget for fiscal 2027 as a significant one because this is no longer about housekeeping and
00:08dealing with what Minister Tanku might have inherited when he delivered his first budget in 2025, but now this is
00:17his budget in terms of what the government's direction is likely to be for the next fiscal year and beyond.
00:23Atz says one of the important matters on the table should be the departure of Nutrien after three decades in
00:30this country's energy sector.
00:31The budget usually begins with a preamble about how the energy sector is going to contribute to government's revenues.
00:37And you have a partner for about 30 years who has contributed, particularly in the downstream sector, in terms of
00:46things like urea and ammonia and would have contributed to our forex earnings.
00:50So I think that is an interesting talking point to find out what has happened and what is likely to
00:55be the outlook moving forward, given that we are still heavily dependent on the energy sector.
01:01She also offered her thoughts on the conversation surrounding the country's foreign exchange reserves.
01:07We would have seen some stakeholders signaling that they would wish to see greater allocations to them in the upcoming
01:14budget.
01:15But the reality is that there is a balancing act to be done in terms of forex availability because it
01:20comes primarily from our energy sector.
01:22And we know that there has been some challenge in that particular area.
01:26And of course, the unions are not to be forgotten.
01:30And then, of course, you have a number of unions clamoring for outstanding payments and wage negotiations.
01:36I saw one union quoting a figure of $20 million.
01:40That's outstanding to them.
01:42And then several of the other unions that we know about.
01:45Senior counsel Michael De Labesteed also offered his thoughts on what he would like to see in the budget.
01:50What I would like to see is steps taken to reduce the budget deficit.
01:56We've been running a budget deficit for a number of years now.
01:58But I appreciate that can't be done overnight.
02:01When I say overnight, you know, in one year.
02:03But I would like to see measures taken to reduce that deficit because if it continues to build, you know,
02:12it has a lot.
02:13Well, certainly it has an implication for our credit rating in terms of borrowings and cost of borrowings and so.
02:21Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
