economy

Dr Farrell: Sustainability of downstream petrochemical sector under threat

A study by Dr Terrence Farrell has found that the sustainability of the downstream petrochemical sector is under threat because of uncompetitive natural gas prices. 

Dr Farrell this morning presented his year-long study of the country’s downstream sector.

The economist said both natural gas shortage and price has led to a reduction in methanol and ammonia production and a loss of jobs in the sector.

He predicted that unless there is a change in policy the sector will get to a point of no return and there will be a collapse of the Point Lisa’s Industrial Estate.

Jamaica's economic turnaround

Fol­low­ing decades of eco­nom­ic stag­na­tion, the largest Eng­lish-speak­ing coun­try in Cari­com has wit­nessed an eco­nom­ic turn­around, with grow­ing lev­els for­eign ex­change, four years on un­in­ter­rupt­ed growth and un­em­ploy­ment now at its low­est in the coun­try's re­cent his­to­ry. Ja­maica's econ­o­my has roared back and it was done on the back of a strin­gent IMF pro­gramme.

In an ex­clu­sive in­ter­view with the Busi­ness Guardian's Hema Ramkisson the coun­try's Fi­nance Min­is­ter ex­plained the se­cret to a re­al turn­around.

Central Bank Governor: Hosting Venezuelans could cost $620M/year

The Central Bank Governor has estimated that it will cost the state around $620 million dollars a year to support the Venezuelans who have migrated to this country.

Dr Alvin Hilaire said at first he was skeptical about that figure but then said after looking at the impact on Colombia, that 600-odd million-dollar figure seemed plausible.

Colombia has so far taken in almost 1.2 million Venezuelan migrants and refugees. This has cost that country around 0.4% of its GDP.

Imbert: Billions being held up in Tax Appeal Board

Finance Minister, Colm Imbert says that billions of dollars are being held up in the Tax Appeal Board.

Speaking to members of the media Friday morning, Minister Imbert expressed his hope that the three-month tax amnesty, starting from mid-June, would push persons to withdraw their matters from the Tax Appeal Board and pay their taxes.

The Minister explained that the government wants a clean slate when the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA) comes on board hence, its decision to implement a tax amnesty.

Driver: Gas shortfall could affect growth

The fate of T&T’s con­tin­ued eco­nom­ic growth could be par­tial­ly hinged on the suc­cess of BPTT and At­lantic find­ing a so­lu­tion to the short­fall in gas sup­ply that is pro­ject­ed in 2020/2021, as fail­ure could hurt the coun­try’s rev­enue stream.

Asked about the worst-case sce­nario fol­low­ing BPTT’s re­cent dis­ap­point­ing drilling at two in­fill wells yes­ter­day, En­er­gy Cham­ber CEO Dr Thack­wray Dri­ver told Guardian Me­dia that it could lead to At­lantic’s Train 1 be­ing moth­balled.

Babwah: Increased car sales no indication of robust economy

President of the T&T Automotive Dealers Association Visham Babwah says increased vehicle sales is not an indication of a robust economy but highlights the failures of public transportation.

He was responding to statements from Minister of Finance Colm Imbert that vehicle sales were averaging over 25,000 per year and the to­tal num­ber of ve­hi­cles registered in T&T was well over the one mil­lion mark.

Colm gets a fair rating from stakeholders

Econ­o­mist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon says from a short-term per­spec­tive, Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert did a fair job with the coun­try’s econ­o­my. He, how­ev­er, not­ed that for cit­i­zens to ex­pe­ri­ence the ben­e­fits from any eco­nom­ic growth more needs to be done.

“To the ex­tent that there is growth – it is pos­i­tive and I think we have to recog­nise that. Un­less we come up with the strat­e­gy to grow by up­wards of three, four per cent – some would say five per cent – we not go­ing to make any fun­da­men­tal change to the lives of peo­ple.”

Kamla: Economy dead under PNM

The econ­o­my has gone from be­ing on life sup­port to to­tal­ly dead un­der the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment.

This was how Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar summed up Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert’s pre­sen­ta­tion on the Mid-Year Bud­get Re­view yes­ter­day in Par­lia­ment, adding he did not put for­ward any pol­i­cy or plans in place for the coun­try’s re­al de­vel­op­ment.

Over 1 million cars on T&T's roads - positive economy says Imbert

There are over one million cars on the roads of Trinidad and Tobago and that's increasing by over 2,000 every single month.

This was among the revelations of Finance Minister Colm Imbert, as he sought to show how the economy of Trinidad and Tobago has been progressing.

"Vehicle sales continue to charge along at an average rate of over 25,000 new registrations per year, with the total number of vehicles now well over the one million mark," Minister Imbert said.

The population of Trinidad and Tobago is 1.3 million.

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