00:00Economist and former minister in the Ministry of Finance, Mariano Brown, says
00:042026 has delivered little to no economic growth
00:08and the 2027 budget raises questions about how the country will turn forecast earnings
00:15into lasting economic progress, whether it's energy, business or tourism.
00:21He's talking about 2030, right?
00:24In other words, nothing is going, what you're going to have is investment expenditure
00:28in the meantime with a couple of small hotels coming on stream.
00:32He mentions three projects in the budget speech to come coming on stream
00:37when the expenditure is likely going to take place.
00:39But the bottom line, it takes time to build those things.
00:42So it's going to take a while before it kicks into position.
00:46So he doesn't say what contribution it's going to make.
00:49He says what he wants it to make by 2030.
00:53Brown tells us managing expenditure will be critical
00:56as the country awaits new energy revenues.
01:00With major projects such as Manatee still to deliver their full returns,
01:04he warns that projected earnings may not arrive as quickly as people expect.
01:10The rate of growth projected is not so strong for 2027.
01:14My people are now beginning to look to 2028.
01:17But that still has a lot of time to take place
01:20in what's going to happen with Venezuela glass.
01:22And how is that going to be managed?
01:25Is it going to go straight to the LNG facility?
01:31Or how much of it is going to go to the petrochemical sector downstream?
01:38Those are not necessarily things in which NGC is in control.
01:42The economist also questions the government's plans to sell state assets,
01:47noting that key details remain unclear.
01:50What you're saying is we're remodeling E-Tech.
01:52What is E-Tech going to happen?
01:53There's no statement where that is concerned.
01:55It's just simply a statement with regard to Magdalena Grand
01:58and Hilton Hotel and Labitco.
02:01I don't understand what that means yet.
02:04I could understand selling off Magdalena Grand.
02:06I could even understand getting rid of Hilton.
02:10But I do understand the position with regard to Labitco.
02:13I think that requires far more explanation than we've had so far.
02:17So there are many things in the budget speech which require greater explanation.
02:20Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
