The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (T&T Chamber) said it recognises the unprecedented economic challenges which have impacted the National Budget 2021.
“The budget is based on the oil price of USD45/barrel and gas price of USD3 per MMBTU, which appears reasonable at this point.”
While the Minister has projected revenue estimated at $41.361B, and expenditure $49.573B with a fiscal deficit of $8.209bn for fiscal year 2021, we believe more detail is required with regards to the income from non-energy as it appears high.
The T&T Chamber said it “would have liked to see more effort towards tightening government expenditure to reduce the deficit.”
The T&T Chamber has consistently advocated for an enabling environment to sustain and develop our business sector, particularly our manufacturing sector, which is crucial to foreign exchange earnings and diversification”.
The T&T Chamber thanks the Minister for adopting some of the recommendations made in our submission earlier this year.
It said “Minister acknowledged the challenges faced by the gas value chain, and the need to become competitive.”
“It is critical that the work being performed on the gas value chain be completed quickly to ensure long term sustainability of the sector.”
The positive adjustment to the Supplemental Petroleum Tax (SPT) regime will have a significant impact on small producers, where we expect increased activity.
The Chamber said it is also encouraged by the statement that the Petroleum Act will be reviewed.
“Hopefully this can be done sooner rather than later.”
COMMENTS