An “excellent budget!”
That’s the way Finance Minister Colm Imbert described his 2024 Budget presentation while closing the debate in the Parliament on Thursday.
Imbert added that government’s “excellent” budget has baffled the Opposition UNC and left it writhing in “so much pain and gastrointestinal distress.”
He said in his 32 years as a parliamentarian, the October 6 budget response by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the subsequent responses of the other 18 UNC MPs were the most abysmal he had ever seen and heard.
He said the budget had something for everyone.
He said that the UNC was upset there is no general election this year and he did not present an election budget on October 2.
“It have a next budget to come. That will be an election budget that will blow your mind.”
He slammed the UNC and other commentators for misleading the population about facts, saying the PNM increased the minimum wage six times and the UNC only once.
The House’s Standing Finance Committee will begin deliberating on the budget from 10 am on Friday. Under the Standing Orders, the committee has five days to complete this.
The Senate will then sit to debate the already-passed budget. However, the Senate cannot vote on money bills, such as the budget as per Standing Orders.