Imbert: TT on track for recovery but not yet out of the woods

First the good news. Trinidad and Tobago is stable and moving on track for economic recovery, Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said in his mid-year review of the economy. Growth, while still negative for last year, has improved from -2.6 percent to -1.0 percent, according to revised gross domestic product values that have taken into account the increased output from the energy sector. The increase in energy activity has also had a knock-on effect in the non-energy sector, Imbert said, with the expectation that the sector will break even this year, following years of negative or stagnating growth. The government has also collected $1.1 billion more in revenue from income and profits for the first seven months of Fiscal 2018-- $4.9 billion compared to $3.8 billion for the same period in 2017. The estimated deficit for 2018 is also down, Imbert said, from $4.7 billion stated in the Budget in October, to $4.2 billion today—a $500 million reduction.

Nevertheless, Imbert warned that core revenue—from taxation—is still fragile, at $40 billion, when the country’s expenditure is $50 billion. “I am convinced that as long as we as a people are disciplined and productive, our country will recover, grow and prosper. And from all indicators, we are on the road to economic revival,” Imbert concluded.