The next general election at its latest is now one year away. It should be incumbent on the contesting parties to tell us how they will manage the economy so that the country will keep its head above water financially. Cutting government expenditure is one way, but that immediately raises …
Read More »Daly Bread: Champagne taste, mauby pocket—tale of the T&T economy
In August this year, I expressed concern that our country might go broke. A month before, commentators had been calling for an explanation of a withdrawal of TT$1.09 billion from the Heritage and Stabilisation fund. Accountability for the nation’s assets seemed to require specific identification of what aspect of public …
Read More »Noble: ‘Greed and selfish living result in social instability’—T&T needs more financial transparency
The autocratic nature of our politics is most memorably captured in the sordid 1962 episode featuring Dr Patrick Solomon, minister of Home Affairs in the People’s National Movement (PNM) government—with responsibility for the police service. His stepson was arrested and incarcerated for throwing missiles in a public space. Solomon allegedly …
Read More »Noble: Forget KFC condiments and Cabinet reshuffle, new IMF Report affects our future way of life
This week, the most important business news story was not the $2 that KFC wants to levy for their condiments, nor the shenanigans surrounding the Cabinet reshuffle. The week’s critical story was the release of the IMF 2021 Article IV Consultation Report. To reduce the Report to a sound bite, ‘our …
Read More »Budget analysis: Online tax fiasco, ageing population, diversification dilemma and more
Two Tuesdays ago at a meeting in Mt D’or, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert boasted that there were only two people who knew the contents of the budget, the Prime Minister and himself. The subsequent applause for this revelation is symptomatic of the nature of our state. We are accepting …
Read More »Whey the money really gone: Shah identifies our other big users of forex
Central Bank governor Jwala Rambarran was the unlikeliest man to kick the hornets’ nest. But that he did when he named the firms that used the most foreign exchange—or forex—over the past three years. Amidst a cacophony of complaints from businesses and individuals about being denied adequate sums of forex …
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