Econ­o­mist Dr Roger Ho­sein is urg­ing cit­i­zens to tem­per their ex­pec­ta­tions as the Gov­ern­ment pre­pares to seek an ad­di­tion­al $2.8 bil­lion in the up­com­ing mid-year bud­get re­view to ad­dress wage ne­go­ti­a­tions and out­stand­ing salary pay­ments.

Speak­ing on CNC3’s The Morn­ing Brew pro­gramme yes­ter­day, Ho­sein said the coun­try must recog­nise that cur­rent eco­nom­ic re­al­i­ties dif­fer sig­nif­i­cant­ly from pe­ri­ods of stronger en­er­gy sec­tor per­for­mance.

“What I would say to peo­ple is that you can­not ex­pect the same stan­dard of liv­ing at 2,500 MM­CF per day of gas as com­pared to 2010 when it was 4,300,” he said.