Karen Nunez-Tesheira

The Hon. Minister of Finance, Mr Winston Dookeran, has reportedly claimed that no deposits were made into T&T's Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) in 2009/2010.  The ex-Finance Minister, Mrs Karen Nunez-Tesheira, has responded that Mr Dookeran's allegation was wholly inaccurate, and made some other claims regarding the HSF during her tenure as Minister.  Both statements contain inaccuracies.

I wish to deal with four issues arising on the campaign trail this year.

Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF)

The PNM manifesto has highlighted the HSF balance of US$3.2 billion as being one of their major achievements despite the global economic turmoil. However, if you check other official documents, there appears to have been an unexplained lack of deposits for five of the last six quarters. This suggests that the HSF is not as high as it could have been, and raises questions about the approval of the deposit on 01 May 2010.

As someone who is constantly looking for information on Trinidad and Tobago's Property Tax Reform - and since we at KnowTnT.com have been keeping an eye on it and writing about it - it is somewhat humorous that there has been an announced extension on Property Tax Reform. And even some information: