AmCham head: TT needs truth, not politics, to battle recession

American Chamber of Commerce (AmChamTT) CEO Nirad Tewarie says the country needs to put politics aside, seek the truth, and face economic realities in order to get past what he described as the worst recession in three decades.

Tewarie encouraged his audience to look at the figures and ask questions, while delivering the welcome remarks on day two of the chamber's 23rd annual Health, Safety, Security and the Environment (HSSE) Conference and Exhibition on Thursday.

"According to the data, this is the worst recession that we have been in since the 1980s and, therefore, how we get out of it and what we do requires the truth," he said, adding that official statistics do not paint the entire economic picture.

"To give just one example, the central government’s debt is recorded to be 62 per cent of GDP and continues to show an upward trend. However, this recorded debt does not include the $40 billion exchequer overdraft, upcoming payables or VAT refunds. Therefore it does not reflect the government’s true indebtedness," Tewarie said.

The chamber, he added, does not view TT's economic standing to be as dire as "an 80s-style gloom and doom situation," but the country "will have to face the truth and answer to indisputable facts regarding our economic reality."

There is none better suited to find the truth, he said, than the business community, which has the responsibility to "go into the numbers" and "not get caught by promises that are not based on reality.

"Where there is spending promised and cuts are promised, but at the same time balancing of budgets and economic growth, we have to ask some questions and we have to use our connections and our resources to ensure that we are pushing the parties to come up with sound economic plans, because if we don’t, what therefore is our reality?"

The GDP growth of 1.9 per cent, as projected for 2018, which turned out to be negative two per cent, was an example he shared.

"How can we have those things? How can we plan? Can you plan your businesses based on that? So how do we plan a country?

"The business community is going to have to organise and demand that both the government and the opposition provide economic plans based on reality, especially with this being an election year. AmChamTT believes any person who is seeking political office, regardless of the party, should lead by truth and reality."

With the government having recently presented the 2019-2020 budget and the opposition's response, he argued the politics of the budget can be put aside and the truth revealed.

"We have two options," Tewarie proposed. "We can complain, or we can put our shoulder to the wheel, and do what all resourceful Trinidadians have always done, and find ways to thrive once again."