With the election of Donald Trump, the USA is set to leverage vast shale resources to further their energy independence agenda. That means that any reduction in OPEC production will most likely be offset by increased production from the shales. Finance Minister Colm Imbert must be racking his brain and …
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 »Lead, or shut up! Raffique challenges Rowley to lift his game as T&T prime minister
I don’t know what plans he has for his vacation, but I strongly recommend to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that he spend all of it in solitary self-confinement seeking guidance from whatever deity or deities he believes in regarding his leadership capabilities. I don’t care whether it’s an ashram, …
Read More »Our other oil: How the T&T economy can benefit from arts and culture
The proceeds of our oil and gas production are no longer sustaining the high life. As they say in Grenada, “the money can’t reach.” For decades there has much talk about diversification of the economy, but no action. This is a pity because we have other oil. I refer to the …
Read More »Dear Prime Minister: A policy switch can help T&T though economic crisis
The following open letter to Prime Minister Dr Keith Christopher Rowley, which is titled ‘the leadership we require for these tough times’, was sent to Wired868 by author Keston K Perry: Dear Dr Rowley, It has just been six months since your entry into this office as the fourth head of …
Read More »Raffique rates Rowley’s Gov’t: the PNM’s inherited traps, pitfalls and own goals
I am relieved to learn that the Cabinet “retreat” in Tobago last weekend did not have, as a main item on its agenda: “Achievements of the not-so-new Government during its first six months in office.” If it did, I would have screamed bloody murder. Not to add rape of the …
Read More »Destiny in our hands; How T&T can respond positively to falling oil prices
As a nation, we can do nothing about the plunging price of oil except watch with alarm as crude slides below US$30 a barrel. Even if we ramp up production, which has fallen by approximately 50 per cent over the past decade, it will make little sense. At this point, …
Read More »Recession was predictable: Save the country and jail the culprits
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 …
Read More »Sending the wrong signals: Why Raffique is wary of ‘Santa Colm’
If “Santa Colm” assures the populace that their Christmas will be bright, not blue, then we have no reason to doubt the man. After all, Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert is the substantive Minister of Finance, in which capacity he has access to data and information pertaining to the state …
Read More »Change and foreign exchange: Rowley’s Gov’t must lead economic adjustment
The great howl that goes up with every significant decline in foreign exchange income betrays the country’s dogged refusal to even entertain the option of adjustment until forced by the IMF. Led by some of the most powerful forces of the business community the instinct is invariably to press the …
Read More »Weathering the storm: Raffique gives his financial forecast for T&T
Tomorrow’s Budget presentation by Finance Minister Colm Imbert is the most eagerly anticipated Appropriation Bill in many years. The main reason for heightened interest is the depressed state of the economy. With low oil, gas and commodities prices, hence lower-than-normal revenues accruing to government, citizens are waiting to see just …
Read More »Undernourished democracy; moral decay spreads to Flow and Integrity Commission
I am not a seer man but I do try to pierce the fete and freeness veil drawn to conceal and dumb down the real and pressing issues facing our little country. For that reason, like several of my fellow columnists, I am not impressed with the false images which …
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