Political Scientist Sees Positive Economic Outlook Following Mid-Year Budget Review
Following the presentation of the Mid-Year Budget Review, Political Scientist Dr Maukesh Basdeo highlighted encouraging economic projections driven by developments within the energy sector.
With approximately 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that could be delivered to processing facilities in Trinidad and Tobago, he noted that this has important implications, not only for the current fiscal year but also for future fiscal periods, providing optimism for longer-term economic growth.
« Now, that’s a significant increased projection. So, although the budget is treated with regard to the fiscal year, the projection for the 2026-27 fiscal period, and even going further than that, the 2027-28 fiscal period, that these announcements in the budget does augur well for the economy. »
Speaking on how a reduction in the fiscal deficit affects ordinary citizens, he highlighted the developments as encouraging.
« We have to look at it in the context of what the international rating agencies have actually projected. Now, this is coming from the government has been in office for approximately 14 months. So, these economic outlook and these figures that are presented augurs well for the economy. »
With four months left before the end of the 2025/2026 fiscal year, Dr Basdeo said citizens will be looking to see if the revenue figures are maintained for the projected period.
« But a lot of this information that is presented in the Parliament by the Minister of Finance has to be set against the backdrop of what was the promises that was made because a significant portion of the supplementary appropriation will go towards meeting those promises that were made to what we call the various trade unions. A significant amount of it goes towards meeting those wage requirements. »
Day-to-day expenses such as utilities, the price of gasoline, transportation costs and the costs of grocery items are some of what citizens will be looking closely at in the upcoming fiscal year, according to Dr Basdeo.
He noted that if the Government can keep these costs stable, the economic outlook for the next fiscal year will remain positive.
