Imbert: Economy fully recovered from pandemic

ACTING Prime Minister and Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said that based on statistics by the Central Statistical Office (CSO), it is clear the economy has "fully recovered" from the hardships faced as a result of the pandemic.

Imbert, who is acting in the absence of Dr Rowley who was out of the country, was speaking in the Senate on Tuesday morning during the second reading of the Finance (Supplementation and Variation of Appropriation) (Financial Year 2023) Bill, 2023.

He said the Central Bank issued its annual economic survey for 2022, and read a section of the document which says: "The TT economy was on a recovery path over the course of 2022 following two years of economic contraction.

"Official data from the CSO indicate that GDP at constant prices (real GDP) grew by three per cent during the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year."

Imbert reminded the Senate that the Central Bank is an independent body.

He said when the CSO publishes data from the fourth quarter of 2022, "Our estimate of economic growth – real growth – for 2022 of two per cent will be met or exceeded."

He boasted that the manufacturing industry expanded by 16.5 per cent in 2022 mainly owing to the food and beverages sub-industry.

"...The textile sector also expanded....Also contributing to this very positive performance of the non-energy sector in the first nine months of 2022 as measured by the CSO, was professional and technical services which grew by 61 per cent, transport and storage grew by 27 per cent, accommodation and food services grew by 20 per cent, and trade and repairs also grew.

"So based on the data, what we are seeing is out economy has fully recovered from coivd19 and, in fact, our nominal GDP today is higher than it was in 2015. Our GDP today is US$28 billion as compared to less than US$26 billion in 2015."

He said there are many commentators in TT who see good things like this and "can't believe it" so they "pretend it doesn't exist...

"Then you have people who just want to be negative. So if our nominal GDP is growing by leaps and bounds, and our nominal GDP has, in fact, increased by 25 per cent since 2020, they say, 'Oh, that's irrelevant. You should be looking at real GDP,' forgetting completely that our debt-to-GDP ratio is measured by nominal GDP. So as our nominal GDP goes up, our debt-to-GDP ratio goes down..."

He said this upsets some commentators, but, "Too bad for them because we on this side have been very forthright.

"When we get a bad report, we publish it, when we get a good report, we publish it," he added.

In August 2021, Imbert said the government had spent over $5 billion in its response to all aspects of the pandemic.

The UNC has since called for an audit into the government's expenditure with respect to its fight against the virus.