‘Focus on confidence’
Biman on national budget
MEMBERS of the public can expect some measures to curtail the high cost of living when the national budget is presented by the coalition Government in about six months, says Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad.
The budget will also encompass measures to create more jobs in the coming year, boost income and build confidence.
He said the high cost of living was something the coalition was very concerned about.
“So there are two things: one is the rising cost of living and that is something that we will immediately look at and probably think about some measures in the budget when it’s presented in about six-months’ time, and we are also concerned about the income of our people,” he said.
“Our focus will be on building confidence, improving economic growth, improving recovery in many of the sectors so that we can create more jobs.
“Our focus will be on removing all the bottlenecks that some of the investors have faced over the years. And we know that there are many investors out there who are ready to invest.”
“We want to assure them, we are calling on them that they now have a Government which is going to facilitate and remove those obstacles and bottlenecks that might have existed before.
“So when you put all that together, it’s a package that will not only address the decline in real income for our people but also help economic growth which means more jobs, more income for our people and also government policies to ensure that we deal with high inflationary situations.”
Prof Prasad said this would be done either through direct support to the most vulnerable or through policy changes, which could also be in the form of tax policy changes.
“So that’s a package that we are looking at and we are focusing on that. So our overall focus is to bring confidence, bring optimism, improve economic growth, improve income for our people and use that economic growth.
“In terms of expenditure, in terms of improving our health services, supporting our children in the education sector, all that will flow from an economy which is on a trajectory of growth.”