‘Arches are lovely but you got to find jobs for people’- Teixeira on Budget 2018

Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira today accused the government of not doing anything to stimulate investments in the economy. During her presentation on the 2018 National Budget, Teixeira said the government is only competing with the private sector and has failed to bring projects which will bring about economic activity.

“Arches are lovely but you got to find jobs for people. D’Urban park – I can say its aesthetically pleasing – it’s a waste of money.

“…you are not doing things that will bring activity for our people – economic activity. You are fiddling and diddling with the economy, you are not pushing this economy to stimulate it,” the Opposition Chief Whip outlined.

She expressed the view that the government is competing with the private sector for credit, for loans and also for activities, noting that this is nowhere to push development.

Alluding to the fact that Government Ministers in recent months have pinned the development of the country on the emerging oil and gas sector, Teixeira noted that there should have been more mention of this major sector in the 2018 Budget.

“You talk about the answers lie in the one industry and even your budget document you ain’t got much on oil as you should have.”

In its statement on the Budget, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) had also highlighted this point.

The PSC stated: “We would expect this Budget to have devoted a great deal more than seven paragraphs to the preparation of our country for an event which will hugely transform the future of the nation. It is obvious that our Government should already be engaging the services of industry experts to negotiate and engage, as equals, with the multinationals such as Exxon.  The budget is, however, peculiarly silent on this need to build our capacity.”

The Opposition Member of Parliament also noted that no member on the Government side of the House who spoke thus far has pointed to measures to help the bauxite industry.

She alluded to the painting of government buildings in green, noting that this does not create jobs.