TT out of recession

TT is no longer in a recession. Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon made this statement as she addressed the TT Manufacturers Association's (TTMA) annual general meeting at the Hilton Trinidad yesterday.

Gopee-Scoon said, "We are out of the recession. We have had some small growth for 2018."

She said Government was hoping to build on that growth this year and also hoped the TTMA would help in those efforts. Identifying manufacturing as a "major pillar in the national diversification strategy." Manufacturing is a major contributor to TT's Gross Domestic Product, contributing just over $32 billion, she said, and a lot of those revenues came from the food and beverage sector.

Gopee-Scoon said contrary to what some critics said, the manufacturing sector is "creating and sustaining jobs," as employment in the sector is estimated at 60,000 workers at present.

With the Caricom market saturated, Gopee-Scoon said attention must be paid to the wider Caribbean and extra-regional markets and she was pleased that manufacturers are already focusing on one of those markets, Cuba.

Nevertheless, she hoped manufacturers would "get some penetration" into other markets.

She disclosed that the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is helping to develop a 2019-2023 trade policy for Government, and a draft policy is being reviewed and will go to Cabinet soon.

She congratulated new TTMA president Franka Costelloe-McKenzie, acknowledging that Costelloe-McKenzie was only the second woman to be elected TTMA president.

She said she was excited for the new generation of manufacturers and added that a new era of manufacturing lay ahead for those who were bold enough to take it.

She thanked outgoing TTMA president Christopher Alcazar for the association's partnering with Government while the country was "deep in the throes of the recession."