Imbert: TT has lowest inflation in the world

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert said TT has the lowest inflation in the world.

He was speaking Thursday at the Finance Ministry's spotlight on budget 2020 held at the Radisson Hotel, Port of Spain.

He showed a graph with a line of inflation and pointed out it was almost zero. He said the Global Competitive Index which was released this week listed TT as having the lowest inflation in the world "believe it or not".

"And that is no mean feat. That has managed to keep prices stable and managed to keep the cost of living down in TT."

Imbert said this was a policy decision and this was one of the reasons Government chose not to devalue the dollar. The inflation rate is currently 1.2 per cent.

He said what is rescuing the economy is not really the energy sector but the non-energy sector which has been a "bulwark" of the economy. He pointed out the upward direction and growth from 2016 to 2019 was not just energy because the country struggled up until two years with gas production and it has now gone back up from 3.3 billion to 3.7 billion standard cubic feet a day. Imbert said the non-energy sector keeping the country "whole" especially cited financial services, distribution and manufacturing.