Media Release from Minister of Finance – Donations to Churches and Religious Bodies

TRINIDAD: April 18, 2016: The Minister of Finance has taken note of an article in the Guardian Newspaper of April 16, 2016 with the headline “IRO on Imbert’s Austerity Measures” which contained adverse commentary from religious leaders in response to an alleged statement made by the Minister about alleged austerity measures regarding donations made by state agencies to churches.
This article is apparently based on an inaccurate and misleading story in another newspaper and is thus based on a false premise.
It is incredible that a contentious story of this nature could be published by the Guardian based on no facts nor any statement made by the Minister of Finance nor any interview, discussion or communication of any kind whatsoever with the Minister of Finance.
For the record, the Government appreciates the work done by charitable organisations and churches and intends to partner with these organisations to assist the less fortunate and the underprivileged, to do social and community work, and to build and develop moral and spiritual values in our society.
In fact, the theme of our 2015 Manifesto is “Let’s Do This Together”.
The newspaper article thus runs counter to Government policy and is completely inaccurate.