TTMA IN THE NEWS
Chambers: Positive business outlook for 2025
For the first time in a decade, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found TT has undergone gradual and sustained economic recovery in 2024. A press release from the IMF on June 5, 2024, said real GDP expanded by around 2.1 per cent in 2023 owing to developments in the non-energy sector, a decline in inflation and a drop in prices of global food and imported goods. With the World Bank estimating global economic growth of around 2.7 per cent, alongside modest expansions in trade and investment, the business landscape for 2025 is filled with promise. Read more here
Caribbean Blue Waters
Blue Waters Products started in 1999 with only 12 employees, which included one salesman, and two trucks. Now, some 26 years later, the Blue Waters brand has become iconic in the Caribbean, with its flagship facility in Orange Grove, Tacarigua employing more than 600 people. The company also exports to several countries including Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, St Martin and St Thomas. The company is also well-decorated, earning awards for its performance from local entities such as TTMA, and the Supermarket Association and international entities such as Deloitte. Read more here
NEWS
Police: 400 new officers coming soon
The TT Police Service (TTPS) should have 700 new officers by the end of this year with more than 100 of them expected to hit the streets by the end of January, and 300 more in the coming months. ACP Richard Smith gave the numbers as he spoke at a police media briefing on January 15. Smith explained there were 300 recruits in training and just over 100 had recently graduated. Read more here
Tourism Ministry creating system to count Carnival visitors to T&
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts has worked closely with the Ministries of National Security and Digital Transformation, in the last year, to create a system that will capture and calculate members of the diaspora visiting T&T. This was announced by acting Permanent Secretary Videsh Maharaj during the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Foreign Affairs titled An Inquiry into the Role of the Diaspora in National Development. “One of the things we realised that it’s lacking is really data on diaspora...it’s a lil unfortunate that the data we get do not capture the diaspora,” he said. Read more here
POLITICS
Rowley bids media farewell: Please don't forget me
The Prime Minister spoke cryptically to ask that he not be forgotten, as he prepares to demit office soon, for Energy Minister Stuart Young to take over the reins of government. Dr Rowley said goodbye to the media at a mix-and-mingle function held by the PNM at Balisier House on January 15, but left listeners wondering exactly what he meant. "As I address you here, I don't know how many of you believe in I-don't-know. But there is something happening that I will share with you. Read more here
BUSINESS
Rowley’s past is Young’s prologue
The election year has dawned and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is resigning. The country will have a new prime minister shortly with Stuart Young, current Minister of Energy and Energy Industries as well as Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister. The issue of who will be the political leader of the ruling People’s National Movement, going into the general election, remains to be decided by the party. Following the party’s general council meeting last Saturday, all 21 PNM Members of Parliament signed a document pledging support for Young as prime minister when Rowley steps down. Read more here
Crime needs a holistic approach
The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce (T&T Chamber) says while it recognised the need for Government to extend the state of emergency (SoE) by three months, some investors have raised concerns about the current situation and how it might affect their investment decisions. Read more here
REGIONAL
PSC engages EXIM Bank President to discuss financing opportunities for Guyanese businesses
THE Private Sector Commission (PSC) recently hosted a high-level meeting with Ms. Reta Jo Lewis, President and Chair of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), to explore financing opportunities and address challenges faced by local businesses in accessing EXIM resources.
According to a press statement, the discussions provided PSC members with valuable insights into EXIM’s loan offerings, which are designed to support businesses of all sizes, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs). During the meeting, EXIM representatives emphasised their extensive financing options available for various sectors, including agriculture, and highlighted initiatives aimed at assisting minority groups. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Bowen: Long-overdue ceasefire may stop the killing but won't end the conflict
A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas would release three female soldiers on the first day of the ceasefire. Mediators in Doha are trying an earlier start to the ceasefire, Thursday evening instead of Sunday. Until the ceasefire does come into effect, the war that started when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023 goes on. At least 12 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on northern Gaza around the time the ceasefire was announced. In what has been at times even an hourly ritual over the last 15 months, video has come out of northern Gaza showing their bodies being carried out of ambulances in sheets and laid out in a line outside a hospital. Read more here
16th January 2025