Economist Professor Roger Hosein believes that Trinidad and Tobago has been experiencing some economic growth and this has to be supported.
Speaking on the Power Breakfast Show this morning, he said the intention of the budget is to try to build on that economic growth that returned since 2022.
He acknowledged however that the country’s economic growth is not only because of the Government’s policies but because of the situation between Russia and Ukraine and the present price of oil and gas.
However he said that not all of the economic growth from 2022/2023 came from the energy sector.
He said that the manufacturing sector deserved praise.
Professor Hosein said that the review of the economy showed an improvement in economic growth in 2022 and a forecast economic improvement in 2023 and the data from the IMF shows that 2022 – 2028 is forecasted to be positive.
However he said he looked at the IMF 2022 document and the IMF Article 4 document and compared it with the Budget speech 2024 for each successive year.
He said although positive, it showed the forecasted numbers for 2022 was consistently brought down to lower positive numbers.
He said this was due to trend in gas production.