Trinidad & Tobago

In a show of commitment to the well-being of citizens, the government allocated TT$6.03bn ($894.4m) to the health sector in the FY 2018 budget, placing it in the top-three publicly funded areas of the economy behind education and national security. While this figure represents a decline from FY 2017, when the allocation was TT$6.25bn ($927m), health funding has risen since 2010. Meanwhile, the...

Economic growth is expected to gather speed in 2018 and 2019, and the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange could benefit through higher share prices and more players becoming involved with the exchange. Even if T&T’s road to economic recovery is long, companies with a healthy cash flow have the option to return a higher percentage of their earnings to shareholders. Increasing dividend pay-...

The economic recession in recent years has forced the government to closely examine its consumption of foreign goods, and to prioritise domestic production and self-sustainability. The push towards wider economic diversification has highlighted agriculture as a potential sector for transformation. While the state has shown a commitment to change, Trinidad and Tobago still has room for improvement...

The banking sector in Trinidad and Tobago maintained profitability and consolidated its financial stability in 2017, in conjunction with broader improvements in economic health. Banking is poised to play an important role in supporting the country’s continued development, with executives in the sector expecting T&T’s solid economic performance in 2018 to continue into 2019. In a May 2018...

In conjunction with PwC, OBG explores Trinidad and Tobago’s taxation system, examining a wide range of areas of special interest to international investors, such as income and corporate tax, petroleum profit tax, withholding tax, VAT and customs tax, among others. This chapter features a viewpoint with Brian Hackett, Territory Senior Partner, PwC Trinidad and Tobago.

With global energy prices recovering and a new natural gas project now on-line, some predict an end to T&T’s recession in 2018. In May 2018 the Ministry of Finance reported that as energy activity recovers and other sectors begin to grow, tax revenues will likely exceed expectations, and the fiscal deficit was revised down from 3.1% of GDP in 2018 to 2.5%, compared to 8% in 2017. However,...