Page 11 - PNM General Election 2020 Manifesto

desired results and are putting our country on a dropping to the hitherto unthinkable level of $26 and an increase in the Personal Allowance for
path of economic growth and human per barrel in February 2016 and to ZERO and then Individuals from $60,000 per annum to $72,000
development. This country has demonstrated negative in February 2020, is testimony to the per annum, which reduced the tax take from
time and time again that when it is under capacity, capability and resilience of the Rowley those taxes, by 2019, current revenue, i.e.
pressure, it rallies and overcomes its problems, Government. revenue from taxes and royalties had improved
however insurmountable they may appear. by $11 Billion per annum from $35 Billion in
To put things in their proper perspective, we 2016/2017 to $46 Billion in 2018/2019.
The effects of the reckless and profligate need to understand that in 2014, total
expenditure of the former administration over Government revenue was $56 Billion. However, The improvement in revenue collection was also
the period 2010 to 2015 are still with us, but the in 2016/2017, as a result of the double whammy due in no small measure to a number of proactive
assignment given to the new Rowley of depressed oil and gas prices and ill-advised strategies employed by the new PNM
Government in 2015 was clear. We were changes in the fiscal regime for the energy sector Government, including high level meetings led by
required to stabilize a dangerously slipping introduced by the former regime, Government the Prime Minister with the major gas producers
country and provide the country with an honest, revenue crashed to $36 Billion, an annual loss of at their head offices in Europe and the USA.
clean and transparent Administration; revitalize $20 Billion, a decrease of 36%. This was the
an economy after several years of economic reality that we had get used to, i.e. we could no Arising from these meetings, the major
stagnation; and repair the fiscal accounts, which longer spend money that we did not have, companies, such as BP, Shell and BHP, made the And when the Covid-19 catastrophe arrived on
were seriously damaged by wasteful expenditure without regard for the consequences. However, decision to invest US$10 Billion (TT$68 Billion) in our shores, we rose to the occasion and swiftly
even as revenues deteriorated as a result of notwithstanding the crisis we faced in our first exploration and production in Trinidad and and immediately put in place a comprehensive
adverse commodity price shocks. We were also year in office, we were able to stabilise the Tobago during the 2016 to 2020 period as well as broad based multisectoral plan that addressed
mandated by the people of Trinidad and Tobago economy and bring our expenditure profile into approving a number of new projects. This has the every critical aspect of the virus and its effects on
to re-establish confidence and trust in the better alignment with revenue. effect of increasing gas production by as much as our country, our people and our economy. Our
management of the country’s business. 15% to as high as 3.8 billion cubic feet per day in swift and focused response to all aspects of the
2018, with gas production stabilising at 3.6 billion
We have shown by our plans, our deeds, and thereafter. threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic (health,
social and economic threats) has received
action-oriented programmes that our mandate
has been appropriately discharged. In fact, worldwide recognition and accolades from
Oxford University, the Economist, the World
corruption is no longer a feature of public
transactions as it was prior to September 2015. Bank, the IADB and many other international
bodies and commentators.
The people of Trinidad and Tobago spoke in 2015 We firmly believe that our political opponents
and rejected the politics of deception, betrayal,
greed, arrogance, waste, and mismanagement. would not have been able to handle this virus
successfully.
They rejected officially sanctioned corruption.
They rejected squandermania. They rejected Amazingly, we were able to reduce public In our view, the other main political party would
discrimination. They rejected immorality. They expenditure by $13 Billion, from the 2014 high of have allowed the virus to consume and collapse
rejected inequality. They rejected nepotism and $63 Billion to $50 Billion in 2017, or by 20%, It is noteworthy that over the 5 years from 2015 our health system, and destroy our economy and
cronyism. At the same time, the electorate without shutting down any part of the public to 2020, despite the tremendous financial way of life. Under them, Trinidad and Tobago’s
embraced the values of honesty, integrity in service, or jeopardizing any project, programme challenges and against all the difficulties that we social fabric and economic structure would have
public life, and value for money in public or social service delivery, which goes to show the faced as a country, we were able to pay the collapsed in the face of Covid-19, as has occurred
expenditure. They asked for impartiality, level of waste that existed in the pre-2015 years. salaries of all public officers and workers in state in other countries.
transparency, and sincerity in government. They enterprises on time, initiate new development
asked for equity and prosperity for all. They asked By 2019, the economic slide had been stopped projects, clear off the backlog of bills that we
for growth, progress, harmony, and social peace. and with innovative and modern reform of our found in 2015, pay backpay and keep the country
petroleum tax regime, moving from a profit- running efficiently. We did this without any
The fact that we have survived the oil crash of based system to a volume-based system for oil traumatic measures such as devaluation of our
2016 and Covid-19 in 2020, without any major and gas taxes, we were on a firm pathway to currency.
financial trauma, while meeting our growth. Indeed, notwithstanding a reduction in
commitments, in the face of the price of oil the rate of Value Added Tax from 15% to 12.5%,

PNM THE RIGHT CHOICE ON AUGUST 10 People’s National Movement Manifesto 2020 7 PNM THE RIGHT CHOICE ON AUGUST 10 People’s National Movement Manifesto 2020 8