‘I expect Imbert to say things are great’

FORMER minister in the ministry of finance Mariano Browne said he expects Finance Minister Colm Imbert to say things are great with TT’s economy when he delivers the mid-year review on May 13.

“I expect him to say we have enough foreign exchange and government is going to increase its expenditure,” Browne said yesterday after the, Future of Work in TT: Why does decent Work Matter? forum at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. Browne said that as far as he is concerned, TT has experienced no economic turnaround.

Browne said TT’s economy is at a turning point. He said there were substantial structural issues in the energy sector which could not be overcome by Government spending more money.

“I can not see how TT’s economy is turning around when there is an increase in unemployment. If you shut down Petrotrin, the numbers have to demonstrate a substantial decrease.

“I would expect the unemployment number to go up. There are bound to be productivity issues because management in the private sector of labour and the measurement of output are not some things that are tied to productive output. If you look at the tourism numbers, tourism is falling, so those are critical factors.”

Browne said there were people who were skilled and qualified and could not get jobs. Browne said in 2018, Energy Minister Franklin Khan had said that state and oil companies through scholarships, invested heavily in tertiary education.

But while many of them have graduated, most are unemployed or underemployed. Despite the significant funding for the training of young energy professionals there is a substantial amount of unemployment.

Browne said when the ministry advertised six vacancies for petroleum engineers last year, a staggering 241 people applied.

“There is a mismatch between job functions and skill sets. And the sort of mismatch also has to do with the structure of the economy. If we are going to be largely in the retail and distributive sectors there are different types of skills and that unfortunately is where we are if you are focused largely on the export of services then your skill set will be different.”

Browne said in every economy there were areas that had more jobs than others. He said there would always be jobs for people who were the best in their field, but there would not always be jobs for everyone in that field.