Cabinet caucuses on September budget

Yesterday’s two-part Cabinet meeting concerned budget planning towards a projected September budget delivery, a Government spokesman said. Yesterday’s special meetings at the Prime Minister’s Phillipine home climaxed several other Government meetings on Tuesday concerning the state of the economy and finances. The round of meetings on Tuesday involved presentation by technical experts, Government officials said. Another meeting involved the Cabinet’s Energy Committee. They said this was all meant to inform ministers what platform they had to build on “going forward,” including   planning of the 2012 budget.

Ministries started preparing budget allocation requests since late May, the Finance Division confirmed Thursday. The Government is aiming to present the budget in September, ahead of the start of the new financial year in October.  Up to yesterday, it was uncertain if the administration will stick to the early September date on which the 2011 budget was presented. The 2011 budget of $49 billion was  extended by $3.5 billion in May when the Government presented a  supplementation bill in Parliament.  During that debate, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said T&T’s economic position had improved and the country had started “seeing blue sky” and could  possibly look towards a bigger budget of over $50 billion in future.