Political analyst Dr Winsford James says the 2015 budget was intended to appease the population in the light of abuses the Government has committed over the years. And James says the measures proposed for the most vulnerable, if managed successfully over the next 11 months, could benefit the People’s Partnership in next year’s parliamentary elections. James spoke with the T&T Guardian in a brief telephone interview yesterday.
According to James, the “package of reliefs” in the $64.4 billion budget, which includes the $500 monthly baby grant for low income mothers; the increase in the minimum wage from $12.50 to $15 an hour; and the increase in old age pension “speaks to the most disadvantaged and least financially able and those people will be kindly disposed to the person or party giving the reliefs in the next general election.”
He said, however, during the election, citizens might consider whether the PNM would give such reliefs if it were elected to govern the country. James said the PNM must be careful not to make injudicious criticisms about the measures. The political analyst said there had never before been a budget that was so lavish in its offerings to the most vulnerable. “It is an election strategy.”
He said the Government made sure that many professionals were “not touched” in the budget as there was no loss in wages and salaries via any tax measure. That, he argued, was to ensure the fiscal package was not irritating to people, was inoffensive and did not add to the Government’s woes. He said that was an indication of “how badly the Government needs to stay in power.”
He said the reliefs were being funded from traditional revenue collected from oil and gas and other miscellaneous taxes, as diversification of the economy remained only talk, with no positive results so far. James said an independent performance audit of the previous budget should be done by the Economics Department at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies.
The Government could talk repeatedly about its wish list, he said, but “no one can truly say what has been achieved in the last budget. No one can say for sure what targets have been met.”
