Tag Archives: Colm Imbert

Citizens to pay more for food

No more VAT for 1,300 businesses

By Richard Lord
January 11, 2016 – guardian.co.tt

Colm ImbertFinance Minister Colm Imbert reads the price of oil from his cellphone while Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley looks on attentively during the sitting of Parliament yesterday. PHOTO: MARCUS GONZALES

While an estimated 1,300 businesses will no longer have to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) from next month, thousands of citizens will have to dig deeper in their pockets to buy several items, such as rice (except parboiled and boiled), flour (except all purpose and wheat), coffee, orange and grapefruit juices, mauby, tea and tomato ketchup.
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Govt axes Rambarran

By Renuka Singh
December 24, 2015 – guardian.co.tt

Jwala RambarranCentral Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran has been fired. The T&T Guardian confirmed that Rambarran was dismissed by the Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert yesterday.

Word of this unprecedented dismissal came late last night, but only one day after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said that a Government “ought to have confidence” in any Central Bank Governor. That comment and his refusal to give any ground to Rambarran made clear that he did not have any confidence in the Governor.
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Whey the money really gone

By Raffique Shah
December 14, 2015

Raffique ShahCentral Bank governor Jwala Rambarran was the unlikeliest man to kick the hornets’ nest, but that he did when he named the firms that used the most foreign exchange (forex) over the past three years.

Amidst a cacophony of complaints from businesses and individuals about being denied adequate sums of forex for legitimate uses, Rambarran went on the offensive by identifying the 18 biggest users.
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Imbert: PP raided NGC of $14b cash

…Used Green and Unemployment Funds as collateral

By Richard Lord
December 05, 2015 – guardian.co.tt

Colm ImbertFinance Minister Colm Imbert says the former PP government raided the National Gas Company (NGC) of almost $14 billion in cash. He made the claim while presenting three motions for debate in the House of Representatives yesterday.

The motions seek to increase the ceiling for government borrowing by $50 billion under the Development Loans Act, External Loans Act and the Guarantee of Loans (Companies) Act.
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Sending the wrong signals

By Raffique Shah
November 30, 2015

Raffique ShahIf “Santa Colm” assures the populace that their Christmas will be bright, not blue, then we have no reason to doubt the man.

After all, Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert is the substantive Minister of Finance, in which capacity he has access to data and information pertaining to the state of the economy, especially Government’s revenues and expenditures, that you and I will not see.
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PM: We will adjust Budget to suit

By Clint Chan Tack
October 06 2015 – newsday.co.tt

Prime Minister Dr Keith RowleyPRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said the 2016 Budget provides the Government with an appropriate roadmap to guide the country through the challenging economic times ahead. The Prime Minister made this point as he and Finance Minister Colm Imbert spoke with reporters at Tower D of the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Centre, after Imbert unveiled the Government’s $63 billion fiscal package.
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Wall at Maraval Roundabout Collapses after Showers

Country Club Wall at Maraval Roundabout Collapses after Showers
Click here for more photos

The retaining wall that collapsed was erected by the Government when they acquired land from the Country Club to widen the Maraval Road. The original wall was torn down to facilitate the new construction which was completed in May this year.
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No more wastage of public funds

Water Taxi
Water Taxi
By Raffique Shah
August 15, 2010

IT is easy for people to say that the new Government should stop looking back, stop blaming the ousted People’s National Movement (PNM) government for much of the mess we find ourselves in today, and just move on. Had the Patrick Manning regime been more circumspect in handling the huge windfalls we enjoyed from around 2004, I would have endorsed that view, asking the Government to get on with governance, make no reference to the past.
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Shame: President’s Roof Collapses

Top Floor of West Wing, President's House Collapses
Top Floor of West Wing, President's House Collapses
Shame, Shame, Shame

By Rhondor Dowlat and Andre Bagoo
Monday, May 17 2010

A LARGE section of the top floor of the West Wing of the President’s House in St Ann’s, directly above the visitor’s entrance, came crashing down on Saturday morning owing to the dilapidated nature of the Official Residence of the country’s Head of State/Commander in Chief.
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Firestorm is a-coming

By Raffique Shah
January 03, 2010
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

ProtestShould political turmoil erupt in 2010, it wouldn’t be because of the Property Tax or government’s now toned-down spending spree. The opposition, united or divided, cannot trigger mass action, the kind we experienced in 1970. If anything, it’s the extreme insensitivity of uncaring ministers-Peter Taylor’s ‘living off the fat of the land’, Gaynor Dick-Forde’s ‘only 12 people against the tax’, Neil Parsanlal’s Goebbels-like, weekly media-bashing-that would send angry masses streaming onto the streets.
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