SECRETARY of Finance, Trade and the Economy Petal-Ann Roberts has said the late release of funds from the central government is affecting THA’s plans to develop the island.
In his presentation of the Tobago budget last June, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine requested 5.8 per cent of the government’s fiscal package for 2025.
But the assembly, in the national budget in September, received an allocation of $2.599 billion to manage the island’s affairs, which represented 4.35 per cent of the national budget.
Speaking on the Tobago Updates morning show on Friday, Roberts said the division received releases for January and February only last week.
"But I can’t tell you when I will receive March. That is what is happening in the space," she said.
Roberts, who assumed the position of finance secretary on June 28, said the THA Act states the assembly must receive money from the central government in a particular way.
"That is for us to plan and to manage it effectively. We are supposed to receive our allocations quarterly or a block in advance. So it means that you must give it at the beginning of the quarter in whole, every quarter."
She said as secretary of finance, "I cannot tell you when I am going to receive my next tranche of releases."
The lateness in the disbursement of releases, she said, has prompted her to activate an overdraft policy, which is very costly.
"It’s eight per cent with the bank and the overdraft interest is something that I don’t cater for in the draft because we can’t really tell how much it is and we can’t make a provision for it because we expect, according to the law, to receive allocations in a particular way."
Roberts, a chartered certified accountant, added, "So when people are quarrelling and complaining about the lack of payments, it’s as a result of how we receive the allocations from Trinidad. So that’s a real pain for us."
She said she has spoken to Finance Minister Colm Imbert about the situation.
"We have overdraft interest right now, an accumulation of it about $50 million. I am not kidding you. I am not over-exaggerating. It is the reality because we do not receive our allocations in time."
Roberts also said during her meeting with Imbert before the 2025 budget presentation, he indicated that the THA’s request for 5.8 per cent of the national pie "would be a lot.
"He said it would also mean reducing the allocations for ministries in Trinidad. We found that to be a disadvantage to us because Tobago’s economy has been a particular way and that is because of lack of funding."
Saying that money is a critical factor in the success of many things, Roberts said the THA may have difficulty carrying out some of its plans in 2025.
"We got about $2.5 billion (in the budget) and URP and CEPEP remained the same despite the fact that they raised some aspects of the public service by $2 and we continue to get $18 million for URP and $9.2million for CEPEP.
"So you could imagine the expectations of workers and our allocations remain the same. We just have to try to