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Imbert: Heritage and Stabilisation Act ‘has to be looked at’

Alina Doodnath

May 10, 2024 2:50 PM ET

5 mins read

Acting Prime Minister and Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the Heritage and Stabilisation Act should be reviewed as there appears to be some “ambiguity” regarding the submission of revenues within the Act’s stated timeframes.

Speaking at a media briefing at Whitehall on May 9, Imbert responded to reports made by Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass regarding a deposit of US$182 million (TT$1.2 billion) into the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF), which she said in the 2023 annual report of the financial statements of the HSF was in contravention of the Act.

According to the Section 13(1) of the Act, where petroleum revenues collected in each quarter of a financial year exceed the estimates for that quarter by 10 per cent, the US equivalent of the excess should be deposited into the HSF. 

According to Section 14(1) of the Act, a minimum of 60 per cent of the aggregate of the excess revenue must be deposited in to the HSF for that financial year. 

The deposit, which was allocated to the quarter for July-September 2022, was calculated by the Finance Ministry to be done in October 2022 but was actually done on December 23, 2022 – two months later. 

Imbert said amendments must be made as there appears to be some “ambiguity”, adding that it’s “almost impossible” to submit the funds within a month of the end of the quarter in which it was calculated.

“The way revenue is calculated, the actual revenue is never really determined or cannot be determined until three to four months after the end of the fiscal year, because receivers of revenue have to report…it’s impossible for everybody to report on the 30th of September, some people are still receiving revenue on the 30th of September.

“So that if one has to deposit into the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, the surplus revenue for the fiscal year, and you’re required to do it virtually immediately, by definition is going to be inaccurate because you don’t know what the actual surplus revenue is. So that the whole question of depositing, virtually immediately, the surplus revenue is really an impossibility…

“…The Act appears to have some ambiguity…that is referenced in the report that there is some ambiguity there and perhaps the Act should be amended.”

“It’s almost impossible because the closing of accounts is required by January 31, the whole point of the auditing of the financial year 2023, the whole question of Section 24 of the Exchequer and Audit Act, the deadline for submission of the information on the public accounts is January 31…which is four months after, which is virtually impossible and it’s something that has to be looked at.”

He said the Ministry’s Budget Division goes through constant revisions.

“In these particular cases the Budget Division is constantly revising their figures, because when the Budget is delivered you have an estimate, then a month or two later you have a revised figure. Then three months later, you have an actual figure. So if you look in Budget documents you’ll see these terms…original, revised, actual.

“So it’s virtually impossible within 30 days of the end of the financial year, you might not even have received all the reports…it’s something that needs to be settled.”

The auditor’s report also noted that the Act is “open to interpretation” and advised that “suitable amendments” be made to the Act. 

The development comes after a legal matter between the Auditor General and the Attorney General regarding legal costs for advice on how to proceed regarding a variance of about $2.6 billion in revenue for the financial year ending 2023. 

According to reports, Ramdass said the Finance Ministry was unable to produce documents supporting the amended statements and increased revenue, hence the impasse.

The Finance Ministry is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.