PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad– Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley Thursday Friday defended the socio-economic policies of his administration during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic saying that Trinidad and Tobago is emerging from the “economic difficulties” brought on by the pandemic.
“We now have to continue to stay the course. If we don’t stay the course, we could undo a lot of the good work that we have done,” Rowley told a one-day forum titled “Spotlight on the Economy 2022,” organized by the Ministry of Finance.
He said he is hoping that during the presentations, “we would want to identify some of the particular things that were done, and I would like to speak to the people of Trinidad and Tobago that the fiscal behavior of the government …under these circumstances has been exemplary.
“We have lost a few friends along the way by doing that, but it was the responsible thing to do, and it continues to be the responsible thing to do because it strengthens us all,” Rowley said.
He told the audience that financial experts were predicting the economy’s collapse “consistently, today I could say to you without fear of contradiction our economy has not collapsed.
“As a matter of fact, in the darkest moments of the pandemic and our retail trade was shut down, and those of little faith thought that was a symptom of collapse, today I can tell you that our retail trade is almost as vibrant as it has ever been.”
Rowley said that due to the “responsible action” taken by his administration, Trinidad and Tobago was fortunate to have “seeds grow out of a very hard and possibly infertile ground|.
He praised the private sector “for getting up, taking up our beds and walking back into a future,” adding that he expects Finance Minister Colm Imbert in his presentation to outline “some good news that some things are going well.”
Rowley said that the international market has been good to the oil-rich twin island republic, with increased prices for the commodities, “but over and above the declining revenues and the pandemic, we also had the war in Europe injecting into the scheme of things, driving inflation, something that we could not escape because of our connection to the outside world.”
Rowley said he looked at the performance of the wealthy European countries that “declared a 9.1 percent inflation in Europe across the board a few days ago.
“I don’t think the Minister of Finance in Trinidad and Tobago will declare that today in Trinidad and Tobago. But inflation has been one of the injectors into the basket of challenges we have. Coming out of that difficult period…we have some legacy items which may have or probably find themselves into line items in the budget,” Rowley said.
He reiterated that despite the difficult economic window, “Trinidad and Tobago has done well and a good spirit of positive, a good spirit of high morale is the best position to be in walking forward into this battle in the local and international community.”
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