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Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo yesterday announced the PNM legacy was a $9.67 billion budget deficit, which had risen from the original projection of $5.5 billion.

“That is the PNM legacy. That is their $9,670,000,000. They need to take ownership of it, Mr Speaker,” he said.

“Given the state of the economy at present, we are forced to fund this increased deficit principally by our borrowings on the local capital market as well as by drawing down on existing multilateral facilities,” the Finance Minister stated.