Here we go again! In the Business Guardian of Thursday 8 April 2021, Joel Julien reports on the virtual Demas/Rampersad Seminar Series under the aegis of The UWI St Augustine Department of Economics. ‘Foreign Exchange Challenges in Trinidad and Tobago: What are the real implications?’ the title asks. Let us …
Read More »Noble: Economic expectations and emotions; T&T’s unique challenges must factor into analyses
The recent utterances of a UWI economist about our economy (‘dire straits’) had me scampering for a Lloyd Best quote: ‘Palpably, we lack the pegs on which to hang ongoing events, and which would allow us to convert arbitrary detail into a systematic pattern, arithmetic into algebra, the specific into …
Read More »Dear Editor: Scrap iron proposal can earn forex for TT, Dr Rowley must think outside box
‘[…] [The scrap iron] sector has been disregarded by officialdom, perhaps because it is not a fancy or glamorous business, operated in the main by small business people who are socially unrelated to the traditional elites… ‘[…] Dr Rowley’s leadership will be judged [on] whether or not his government has …
Read More »Dear Editor: The lessons of Easter—redemption and renewal in a pandemic
“[…] The Easter message says ‘Yes we Can!’ There can be redemption and renewal! We can find our way out of the pandemic, though it will take time and patience. “The more troubling problem is not the medical challenge of keeping people safe and alive; it is how do we …
Read More »Demming: The Covid-19 opportunity: how leaders can collaborate to develop T&T
The opportunity provided by Covid-19 is transformational, but only if we remove the blinders of racial politics and the winner-take-all approach to developing our country, then engage a collaborative approach. Before March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the pause button on much of our activity, our systems were broken, …
Read More »Daly Bread: Straight answers needed on vaccines, Wasa and recovery committees
Last Sunday’s column touched on multiple subjects about which there are a lack of straight answers. The range of coverage seemed well received, but there was a common observation: ‘you left out Wasa’! First, however, to return to the growing uncertainty about when will we receive a supply of Covid-19 …
Read More »‘I hope restrictions are lessened safely so sales can get going’: Day in the life of a bar owner
“[…] Business is slow [as] not much people want to come here to buy alcohol or beer to go. They would prefer to go to the grocery and the groceries are now open on a 24 hours basis. “[…] One thing that could have probably been given a try is …
Read More »Demming: Use Covid-19 lockdown to re-imagine our creative economy
It’s January 2021, and I can only reminisce and fill the silence of pan-less evenings with musings about what can be done to make magic in 2022 or possibly 2023. January is usually my month for late evenings filled with the repetition of steelpan notes and chords, deciphering the phrases …
Read More »US Ambassador: Our security, health and cultural relations are fine, ‘ease of business’ and Venezuela are problems
“[…] The state of our bilateral investment relationship can be improved. The United States Government cannot mandate its companies to invest here, unlike others that can direct their state-owned enterprises to invest regardless of whether they make a profit or not. “Instead, US investors are attracted to countries where …
Read More »ACTT: Aboud is right, T&T must let ‘Virtual Carnival’ fast-track its digital economy
“[…] ACTT believes the Virtual Carnival also could be the leverage for the fast-tracking of T&T’s digital economy. With no physical Carnival we will lose 55,000 visitors—but we can gain 55 million pairs of eyes! “We will never get a captive audience like this again…” The following press statement on …
Read More »Noble: Covid isn’t only a health issue, but also an economic one; how will T&T society adjust?
Coming events cast their shadows before them. Pay attention to the news and you can generally foretell when something momentous is about to happen. Like the closing weeks of 2020. The question, in the light of the impending outcomes, then is: what do we owe each other? Are we, who …
Read More »Dr Farrell: No Sacred Cows revisited; understanding the PNM’s assault on Central Bank
“[…] The PNM administration seems allergic to institutions which are independent within the executive and run by unelected persons. “It is clearly one of the reasons for the pre-emptive assault on the Office of the Procurement Regulator rendering it a eunuch, so that the hands of elected ministers will not …
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