“[…] Some people may feel justified in seeing our existence only through the prism of the negative lenses, and believe that runaway criminality is the hallmark and highlight of our efforts. “[…] As a people, we have been resilient, over these recent difficult years. It has been my honour and …
Read More »Noble: What empty Budget chatter reveals about T&T’s future and leadership
“Words are the clothes thoughts wear” — Samuel Beckett, Irish writer. The Budget debate and its fallout sent me scurrying to recall Beckett’s writings. He is the author of “Waiting for Godot”—a play the late James Lee Wah introduced to me in the early 70s. The state of play on …
Read More »Mottley: Rethinking confrontation; the pitfalls of the government and public sector’s existing relations
“[…] For many decades, T&T’s highly productive energy sector funded disproportionately high standards of living in its non-energy sectors, including the public service. However, production in the energy sector has been in decline since 2010, masked temporarily by extraordinary recent increases in energy prices. “[…] In such difficult circumstances, governments …
Read More »‘The numbers don’t add up’: Dr Farrell on Covid, costs, challenges and consequences
“[…] Non-energy revenues have fallen in 2020-2021 and for next fiscal, 2021-2022, it is going to be worse—partly because people pay taxes on the previous year’s numbers and partly because the recovery is going to be slower than expected because of the state of emergency and the impact of the …
Read More »IEA: Low oil prices threaten ‘weaker producing countries’, but policy makers are working on fix
“[…] The measures announced by OPEC+ and the G20 countries won’t rebalance the market immediately. But by lowering the peak of the supply overhang and flattening the curve of the build-up in stocks, they help a complex system absorb the worst of this crisis, whose consequences for the oil market …
Read More »‘We can emerge from this successfully…’ Heritage Petroleum and ex-energy minister react to fallen oil prices
“[…] As the oil price is expected to be in the low teens in this quarter, we are pursing a strategy of storage of oil production which will be sold as the oil market improves…” The following are statements from the Heritage Petroleum Company and former Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine …
Read More »Dr Farrell: Gov’t must reform labour market NOW, as rising unemployment meets global pandemic
“So we can assume that the restrictions now in place worldwide will only be lifted gradually over the next 12 months. Some semblance of normalcy will not return until the middle of 2021. “There is no way that the private sector and the government can carry the labour force for …
Read More »Dr Farrell: Covid-19 and falling oil and gas prices made perfect storm; and T&T’s not ready
“[…] Ultimately policy is made by politicians who of course, may have other considerations which influence their decisions. However, just as it would be folly for politicians to ignore the advice of medical professionals in dealing with the coronavirus public health crisis, so too the laws of Economics are inexorable. …
Read More »Daly bread: A more fearful future; soaring crime, falling oil prices and coronavirus
We washed and put away our sailor costumes last weekend. That induced a stronger nostalgia than usual for the carefree days of Carnival generally and, in particular, for Carnival Tuesday as All Stars sailors. The nostalgia was a brief antidote to the keen awareness that murders—albeit unrelated to Carnival—remained an …
Read More »Dear Editor: Five reasons the worst is yet to come in T&T
Recent events in Trinidad and Tobago like the closing of Petrotrin and many other examples have signalled that we are in crisis. For some, we are seeing a crisis of leadership, for others, we are seeing a crisis of governance. It is hard to deny that our future is uncertain. …
Read More »SALAAM: Attitude lessons for T&T: seeing tomorrow’s salvation in today’s customer service
Once in a store in Canada, I saw a sign that read, “Customer service is not a department…it’s an attitude.” In Trinidad and Tobago, we have a serious problem as it relates to the attitudes of people who have to deal with customers and clients. For years, people have complained …
Read More »OLIVE OIL: Does Govt dare delay diversification action? Brian Harry urges speed
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 …
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