Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, just announced that the cost of airline tickets between Trinidad and Tobago will increase by TTD $50 from 1st January 2023. The Minister made the announcement at today's Budget Presentation (Monday 26th September 2022).

The Finance Minister said one-way flights will increase from TTD $150 to TTD $200. Ferry tickets will now incur a $25 one-way charge for persons over sixty (60) years of age. Meanwhile, a one-way ticket on the ferry will increase from TTD $50 to TTD $75. Premium cabins aboard the ferry will increase from TTD $100 to TTD $150.

​These new prices will come into effect on 1st January 2023.

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Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, just announced that fuel prices will be increasing for the second time for 2022. The Minister made the announcement at today's Budget Presentation (Monday 26th September 2022).

The new prices per litre will be as follows, with immediate effect:

• Premium: TT $7.75 (currently TT $6.75/Litre)
• Super: TT $6.97 (currently TT $5.97/Litre)
• Diesel: TT $4.41 (currently TT $3.91/Litre)
• Kerosene: TT $4.50 (currently TT $3.50/Litre)

Premium, super and kerosene have increased by TT $1/Litre and diesel by TT $0.50/Litre. LPG prices will remain fixed at TT $21 for a 20 pound cylinder of domestic cooking gas.

According to Minister Imbert, “Although oil prices have subsided somewhat and are currently in the vicinity of US $90 per barrel, the U.S. Energy Information Administration in its most recent September 2022 short term energy outlook, has estimated the price of oil in 2023 to average US $96.91 per barrel, which means that if this forecast is correct, we will be facing a fuel subsidy in 2022 of over TT $2 billion.”

The Minister added, “I am advised by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries that at a price of US $95 per barrel for oil, the unsubsidized prices of premium and super gasoline and diesel per litre, before any mark-up, are as follows:

• Premium: TT $7.66
• Super: TT $7.59
• Diesel: TT $7.75”

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Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, announced at the Budget Presentation this afternoon (Monday 26th September 2022) that the collection of property tax will commence in Fiscal 2023.

Minister Imbert stated, “...we are on track to commence collection of property tax in Fiscal 2023. The legal structure is already in place, but we intend to make some simple amendments before the end of the year to the Valuation of Land Act, to tighten and clarify the procedures for the gathering and processing of information and valuation of properties.”

​The Minister added, “...by August 2022, the Valuation Division had received 325,296 returns of property data. The Annual Rental Values (ARVS) of these properties are currently being assessed for insertion in the valuation roll. Within these 325,296 returns, the Division has in its possession information on over 200,000 residential properties, and is moving to complete the valuation of same in the first instance.”

​The Finance Minister also announced that the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) has begun to build out its governance structure following the partial proclamation of certain sections of the Act in March 2022. “We appointed a strong Board of Management in June 2022, and we envisage that the TTRA will be operational in 2023 with an improved revenue administration combining the operations of the Inland Revenue Division and the Customs,” the Minister said.

Watch the live stream of the ongoing Budget Presentation here.

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Today (Monday 26th September 2022) will be Minister of Finance Colm Imbert’s eighth Budget Presentation since he was handed the finance portfolio by Prime Minister Keith Rowley in September 2015.

While many citizens are anticipating the price of fuel will increase yet again during today’s Budget Presentation, Minister Imbert may be reluctant to increase the cost of the commodity today, so soon after April’s price increases. In April this year, the price of fuel increased by $1 and diesel by 50 cents.

However, the prices of two (2) widely-used fuels in Trinidad and Tobago — super and diesel — have more than doubled under the stewardship of the Finance Minister.

Five (5) months ago, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for T&T’s crude, was over US $101 a barrel. On Friday (23rd September 2022), WTI for November delivery slumped to US $78.74 a barrel, making an immediate price increase more difficult to justify by the Minister. Instead, he may advance the introduction of the liberalization of T&T’s fuel market, which was first outlined in the 2021 Budget as a means of reducing the Government’s fuel subsidy.

On the issue of fuel prices, Imbert signalled the possibility of an increase in the 2023 fiscal year at the Spotlight on the Economy forum earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency hotel, Port-of-Spain. The Government previously explained on 18th July 2022, the need to cap the fuel subsidy at $1 billion. There remains a possibility, therefore, that prices at the pump may escalate even more in the 2023 fiscal year, which starts on 1st October 2022.

Imbert said then that the fuel subsidy is estimated to cost the Government $2.6 billion for 2022 at current energy prices. He extrapolated that for fiscal 2023, it could cost $2.1 billion based on US $97.50 a barrel of oil. The Minister had noted that for the month of March, when oil prices were at US$130 a barrel, the Government’s fuel subsidy was $309 million. In May, it was $310 million and in June it was $341 million.

“We are going to end this year with the Government having to have spent $2.6 billion on fuel subsidies in the last 12 months,” Imbert said. He said the Government had expected a fuel subsidy of about $800 million - $900 million. “Nobody ever expected prices to remain at that level — US $105, US $110, US $120, that sort of thing,” he added.

“I don’t think we, as a country, can afford that. We have to, as the Prime Minister indicated, set up a limit on the amount of subsidy that we can pay and the rest of it will be used for other, more desirable, more productive purposes,” he said.

Minister Imbert has announced increases in the price of super gasoline on five (5) occasions in the last seven (7) years, driving up the cost of the commodity from $2.70 per litre in September 2015 to $5.97 per litre in April 2022. That is an increase of 121% between 5th October 2015, when the 2016 Budget was presented and today. Super is the fuel most used by drivers of small to medium-sized cars.

The price of diesel — used in the transportation industry — has increased even more, moving from $1.50 per litre in September 2015 to $3.91 per litre in April. That is an increase of 160%. The Minister of Finance also announced five (5) increases in the price of diesel between October 2015 and April 2022.

Flashback: The price of super gasoline was $2.70 per litre and the price of diesel was $1.50 per litre back when the People’s National Movement (PNM) was elected to office in the General Election held on 7th September 2015.

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​[Source: Trinidad Express]

Minister of Finance, the Honourable Colm Imbert, MP, will present the Budget for Fiscal Year 2022/23 this afternoon (Monday 26th September 2022) at 1:30 PM in the House of Representatives.

​Watch the live stream of the Budget Presentation below when it begins at 1:30 PM.

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Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee was arrested and charged on Friday afternoon (16th September 2022) with one (1) count of misbehaviour in public office and one (1) count of conspiracy to defraud. He was granted $1 million bail to cover both charges by a Justice of the Peace (JP).

The United National Congress (UNC) responded to the charges against MP Lee via a Media Release on Friday and today (Saturday 17th September 2022) the MP has responded via a Media Release of his own.

See MP Lee’s full statement below: