Amcham head: Country will be isolated without more vaccines

Patricia Ghany, head of the American Chamber of Commerce of TT's (AmCham), fears this country is on track to be among the last to fully re-open at the rate covid19 vaccines are being imported.

Ghany, speaking at the chamber's Economic Outlook Forum for 2021 on Thursday, warned, "It is likely that Trinbagonians may go from being stuck abroad to stuck on an island without widespread vaccination," effectively cutting off Trinidad and Tobago from developed countries with wider access to the vaccines.

"While certainty will be elusive for several months," she said, "the country does need a clear and coherently articulated vaccination plan."

Earleir this month, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said 25,000 citizens will receive an initial 50,000 vaccines doses each on a phased basis later this year.

Ghany, however, warned, "With the confirmation of just 25,000 full doses of the vaccine and no clarity around orders of additional doses, TT is on track to be one of the last countries on the planet for full re-opening.

"We must move swiftly to secure additional doses of the vaccines – Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca-Oxford – and have a plan to ensure that the majority of the population is vaccinated in the shortest possible time, ideally by the middle of the year at latest."

Ghany said there are otherwise many things the government must do to improve ease of doing business, which she did not elaborate on. But she said the economy is less competitive today than in 2000.

"Being bolder and more innovative – attracting more investment – would be easier if the organs of state were more efficient."

She cited Central Bank Governor Alvin Hilaire, who wrote in a recent newspaper article that one of his biggest issues with TT is the way business is done, and the way that "we sort of revere bureaucracy,"

Hilaire wrote, "Everything takes a long time. Everything...A lot of times, bureaucracy is nonsensical, but we get wedded to it."

Ghany continued, "There is a lot that Government should do, and these things have been clearly identified before. So now it is up to those in authority to act.

"What would be useful is a more effective reporting and evaluation framework, ideally as part of the national budget presentation."