The public cannot trust the structural integrity of the 2015 budget since the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) September 2014 report has cited concerns about lack of reliable data, says PNM MP Terrence Deyalsingh.
“It has no structural integrity—the backbone of the budget is built on yellow Jello,” Deyalsingh added in yesterday’s budget debate in Parliament. He said for the budget to be accepted by people, trust was important and this had been eroded during the PP’s term with “scandals and misapplied cosmetic policies.”
Noting that the Central Statistical Office (CSO) was responsible for data provision, he said the IMF’s report cited the lack of reliable data as hampering public and private decision-making and economic surveillance on national accounts, prices, balance of payments and other markers. “How is this budget to be believed when the IMF says we can’t trust figures coming out of the CSO?” he added.
Deyalsingh said the IMF also noted the foreign exchange faux pas by the Central Bank, which damaged the bank’s authority to guide the CSO’s data. He questioned who was collecting government’s data on which it based its declaration, for instance, that unemployment had fallen to three per cent. “What is the methodology, what is the true unemployment figure without CEPEP?” he asked, saying data on the labour force and other aspects were only available up to 2012.
Deyalsingh also said the government figures in budget documents were based on revised figures, which showed a data lag, so that in 2014, Government was relying on 2010 revised figures. Deyalsingh said the Planning Ministry—under which the CSO falls—and the Central Bank were “twins of deception” and there was buffoonery there. He further called on the Finance and Planning Ministers to speak on the IMF’s concerns.
He also said that the IMF had cited a large capital outlay which amounted to leakage of 11 per cent of GDP in 2010. Deyalsingh said the CSO was encountering problems with office space and personnel, as those joining the ranks were young, inexperienced UWI graduates. He said up to yesterday morning he was told of one such person who reported for work on Monday at the CSO and was told to “find a chair” when the person sought a desk.
He said Opposition Leader Keith Rowley had instructed him in the 2014 budget debate to raise the issue of starting a public debate among decision-makers such as the Chamber on making the CSO independent and trying to curb the executive’s power over it. He called out to COP San Fernando West MP Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, saying there were still people with a conscience.
Deyalsingh also said Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine had given dates for the projected start of the Mitsubishi plant even though the budget speech said the project was only in the advanced stages of “technical conceptualisation.” He complained bitterly that his St Joseph constituency was being “discriminated” against and he had to reapply for URP projects, among other problems.
