Having sat through the more than five-hour budget presentation, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said while the budget is big on spending, much of that spending will not directly impact the lives of citizens who are faced with rising inflation and a high cost of living.

In an initial response to the 2023 budget, Mr. Norton said more should have been injected to deal with the inflation problems that have been plaguing the country.

“The most critical thing at this stage is inflation, and what inflation is doing to the country and there are absolutely no measures in this budget to deal with inflation. While I agree that there is need for assistance, one also recognises that if you are putting money into the system without measures to deal with inflation, the cost of living will go up further. This budget is a recipe for increasing the cost of living of the people”, Norton said.

He said the PPP Civic administration also seems to be measuring the economic growth of the country as development. Norton said the government should not be confused with the two.

“Growth is not development. Development is when resources are meeting the people and it’s impacting their lives in a positive way. This budget is a large budget that puts a lot of resources in the hands of the PPP elites, their families, friends and favourites”, he said.

The Opposition Leader said while the Minister announced billions in earnings from the oil sector, the increases in the threshold and social programmes are minor. Norton said the Opposition will dig more into the budget in the coming days and during the budget debates which begin next Monday.

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