Kamla: THA got more than ever

Tobago receives significantly more financial support from the central government than is reflected in its annual budgetary allocation, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday.

Persad-Bissessar said hundreds of millions of dollars in additional expenditure, including a $300 million loan refinancing arrangement, security infrastructure, health care, social grants and other investments, were funded directly by the central government and did not appear in the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) annual allocation.

Speaking at the official commissioning of the East Terminal of ANR Robinson International Airport, Crown Point, yesterday, the Prime Minister acknowledged THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine’s concerns about Tobago’s allocation but maintained that her Government had provided the island with its largest allocation in history.