Browne: Too early to celebrate turnaround

Businessman and former Minister of Trade and Industry Mariano Browne on Tuesday said while their were some improvements in the sale of natural gas, it was too early to celebrate a complete economic turnaround as several key issues remained unaddressed.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club of Port of Spain at Goodwill Industries, Fitzblackman Drive, Port of Spain, Browne said improvements in the sale of natural gas should not be the sole indicator of an economic turnaround. Citing slow economic activity and scarce foreign exchange, he said there was need for a more thorough approach to economic development.

“It’s a quiet recovery in one particular sector, the construction sector is still depressed, financial activity is still slow and the rate of decline has slowed in the non-energy sector. We haven’t come out of the decline as yet. The foreign exchange still appears to be in decline, there was some stabilisation of the numbers in December, but essentially we have moved from US $10.5 billion in December 2015, to about US $7.8 billion at today’s date.”

Browne said the changing of governance every five years and the inability to stick with a consistent plan for economic development, were the biggest challenges to long-term economic growth.

He said while there were some limiting factors affecting Caribbean economies, such as size and scale, there was still hope for TT to make a recovery, if citizens and leaders were ready to adopt a change in thinking, lifestyle and habits.