By Raffique Shah
December 07, 2015
This recession did not creep up on us like the proverbial thief in the night.
It was long in the making. In fact, from as far back as the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, when Clico collapsed and the price of oil plunged from a brief high of US $140 a barrel to $30, informed, patriotic citizens were warning governments to go easy on the wild spending, to set aside more savings in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, to wean the population off dependency on subsidies, and most of all to diversify the economy from its over-reliance on oil, gas and petrochemicals.
Continue reading Recession was predictable
What has been the impact on energy sector revenues of the fall in oil and gas prices? Data published by the Central Bank indicates that in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, energy sector revenues have declined by $3.3 billion or 27.5 per cent. Total Government revenues declined by only 1.7 per cent because the proceeds of the tax amnesty and NGC special dividend helped to offset the fall in oil revenues.
Trinidad and Tobago has suffered a big blow to its status as the place to invest in the Caribbean after international agency Moody’s downgraded the country’s credit rating from stable to negative.