Minister: Gas hike will curb road rage

[Exile]

Minister: Gas hike will curb road rage

Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, September 23rd 2008
Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said yesterday there is now an average of one car for every two people in this country, as she defended the new $4 per litre price for premium gasoline that was included in the 2008/2009 Budget.
Saying that the new price, which is with immediate effect, is targeting high-end vehicle owners "who could afford it", Nunez-Tesheira said it is an ideal way of reducing traffic congestion and road rage without increasing the rate of inflation. She said this is because there would be no increase in the price of super unleaded gasoline or diesel used by buses, maxi-taxis and vehicles that transport food items and other goods.
"I got some figures from the Licensing Office and what we discovered, and I'm doing a guesstimate here, eh, when you're looking at the persons, registered drivers, there are about 800,000, 900,000, because there are a number of persons under 17, and when you look at the number of vehicles registered it's over 400,000, that's about one vehicle per two persons," Nunez-Tesheira told reporters at the Red House, Port of Spain, after she delivered the 2007/2008 Budget during a special sitting of the Parliament.
"You have to do a balancing act. You have to look at the traffic congestion, the loss of productivity, the road rage way and then you do some complimentary things for the middle class."
Nunez-Tesheira said the new premium gasoline price was not targeting the middle class, even though a large number of car owners, including taxi-drivers, use premium gasolene.

She also said the increase in the Motor Vehicle Tax on the importation of private motor vehicles is not meant to be a clampdown on the foreign used car industry, as she maintained it was targeting traffic congestion and road rage "in the context of the liberties as a market economy".
She then made reference to the decision to increase the qualifying property value subject to Stamp Duty to $850,000.
"The middle class has benefited by the stamp duty measures because clearly that is a big cost when you're looking at buying a house," Nunez-Tesheira said.
As she defended the increased cost of gasoline, Nunez-Tesheira also made it clear that the Government's decision to set the record $49 billion a year Budget at an oil price of US$70 a barrel was not a risky move, given the sharp decline in oil prices from a record high of $145.29 a barrel in July to around US$100 as of yesterday. The 2007/2008 Budget was based on an oil price of US$50 a barrel.
"It is informed by a number of factors, OPEC. It is also informed by, as I say, the planning price of the local oil companies such as bpTT and also by the economic world forum. So it's a full combination of factors and we use what we call an 11-year ... average which is in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund," she said.

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Panday: Mere pittance for poor people

Tuesday, September 23rd 2008
Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday has described the Budget as a "tragedy".
"Except for the provision for the people pursuing their PhDs, and that is for a small percentage, when one looks at the mere pittance that was given to the poor and disdain, this budget is a tragedy," Panday told the Express yesterday by telephone.
Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira presented the billion-dollar budget at the Red House, Port of Spain, yesterday, but Panday was unable to attend due to this suspension from the Parliament earlier this year for defying the orders of the Speaker over the use of a laptop.
"What this budget lacks is credibility. It sounded like a manifesto just before an election," Panday noted.
"The minister was saying the same thing over and over again, as though she was trying to believe what she was saying herself. We know all those promises will not be kept."

Panday said Government knows what the problems facing the country are, as they have outlined all the issues confronting the people, but has no solutions because it has failed at implementation.
He said the increase in the cost of premium gas will also have an impact on every man in society, because this will lead to further inflationary pressures, adding the little increases the elderly received will be eaten away by a rise in transport and cost of living.
Political Leader of the Congress of the People (COP), Winston Dookeran, meanwhile noted that inflation will continue to grip this country unabated.
"The minister gave an account of the potential of the country by outlining all the good economic indicators and ended up telling us that inflation is not likely to improve and she proposes a number of inflation-proof measures at the end," Dookeran said.
"There has been, therefore, a situation in which the minister has found herself, as I suspected, in the quicksand, not knowing how to get out of the dilemma which this country has faced and not able to fundamentally push the nation forward."
Dookeran, together with his team, are expected to give the party's deliberations on the budget today at a press conference. (AR)

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Kamla: More inflation, meltdown coming

Anna Ramdass aramdass@trinidadexpress.com
Tuesday, September 23rd 2008
well done: Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira, left, speaks to Prime Minister Patrick Manning, centre, and Energy Minister Conrad Enill after her presentation of the 2008/2009 Budget. -Photo: DEXTER PHILIPSiparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the Budget contains no remedies for the real problems of the people and will only contribute to inflationary pressure and an economic meltdown.
"On Friday last, the honourable Minister and the Prime Minister indicated that there would be a lot of surprises today, but I think the only surprise that we had was that there were no surprises whatsoever," Persad-Bissessar said as she spoke to the media following the budget presentation.
She advised that the country look out for her reply on Friday, where she intends to look at the macro-economic framework.
"The Minister (Karen Nunez-Tesheira) said last Friday that she will save her fire power for Monday. There is a missile, a nuclear missile that is known as the 'agni' missile and agni, as you know, means fire, more of that on Friday," she said.
Persad-Bissessar added that the budget presentation was like "deja vu".

"It is the same old, same old. It's like a recurring nightmare. About 81 per cent of what has been disclosed here today represents the same old, same old," she said.
Referring to the increase in the cost of premium gas, she said, "Majority of cars, that's what they are using now, so to give the impression that the other gas is not going to be raised and everything will be fine is not true. That is going to impact on the cost of living. Prices are going to go up."
She said this country is already facing inflationary pressures on the Trinidad and Tobago dollar and that will continue.
"The Government, the programmes put in place will continue to overheat the economy and we will have a meltdown, we will certainly have a meltdown in this country," Persad-Bissessar lamented.
She said the major issues such as crime and high food prices were also not dealt with.
"It took almost 120 minutes before anything was said about crime and then all that we heard when it came was that they're going to set up an academy," she said.
Persad-Bissessar said it was clear Government was not taking agriculture seriously, as only $2 billion was allocated to this sector.
"It's like back to the future, we are supposed to be going forward but all the progresses we are going backward," she said.
She added that the increases to the various pensions were not enough, given this country's inflationary pressure.
"Surely with all the inflationary pressures you cannot come and give $300 increase or a $210 increase. Ten dollars today, I don't think you can't even buy a proper roti with that," she said.

[Peter R]

Curb "Road rage"? how? I'm not seeing the connection; if yuh ask mi the man dem who have to use Premium might be even more vex...

And it WILL NOT cut down on the # of cars on the road... people will just buy more of the cars that use the cheaper gas or diesel...

And there cannot be 800,000 to 900,000 drivers in T&T, that is virtually the entire population and at least 1/3 is under 17. The ratio of car to driver is therefore even higher...but what the minister should do with that stat is to inissst on a clean up of the Licencing Office.