THE October 4 budget must be people-focused, says political leader of the Movement for Social Justice David Abdulah.
Abdulah said Minister of Finance Colm Imbert must speak to opportunities to stimulate the economy and take into consideration the small and medium business sector, which has been struggling to survive in this pandemic.
He gave as one example the largely ignored scrap-iron sector, which he said could become viable with government support.
“We think this budget has to be focused on people. People have to be the first focus of this budget because the majority of the people in this country are in pain and hurting.”
He proposed that the creation of employment and stimulation of the economy must be organised in communities so wealth generated could benefit of the majority of people and not a few.
Financial resources must also be used for infrastructure development and to mitigate against flooding, possible storms that can become more frequent and severe, and also earthquakes, he proposed.
“People are still unemployed. Those who have recently been re-employed are still trying to catch themselves because they have been without an income for a very long time.
“Small business in particular, even some medium, are also struggling to survive.
"So the focus has to be on people. The focus has to be on finding the resources that would enable us to restructure and transform the economy.”
He said the MSJ is concerned that more than nine months have elapsed since the Scrap Iron Dealers Association (SIDA) tendered for scrap materials lying around in various former Petrotrin compounds.
He said had the process been completed, hundreds of people could have been employed.
At the MSJ virtual news conference on Sunday, Abdulah called for transparency and accountability in this process. He said he supported the SIDA’s attempts to regulate its industry.
He also supported its proposal to salvage shipwrecks around the coast, convert them into scrap material, generate foreign exchange and at the same time create hundreds of jobs.
“These are innovative things that can be done and we expect that the Minister of Finance would say something in the budget to stimulate this sector, which is not normally given any major consideration.
“We think the scrap iron business is a multi-million-dollar business globally, and certainly here in TT, it could be a very viable industry, creating work and supporting the small and medium business sector.”
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