(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2018)
Operating on 5.90% of the nation’s total expenditure, as
reported by the office of the Auditor General 2016 and 4.39% in the 2017 revised estimates, while estimating 3.84% for 2018 down by 13.44%, as published by
the Ministry of Finance. Economic Drivers are administered by
the Ministries of Energy and Energy
Industries, Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Planning and Development, Foreign
and CARICOM Affairs, Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Trade and
Industries, and Tourism. The nation's revenue, to offset its total annual
expenditure, comes from the collections of taxes, duties and royalties; taxes
on (personal income) salaries and wages, on (consumption) sales and value
added, on (operations) business levy and green fund, on (corporation) profits,
etc. Such revenue generating activities are encouraged and facilitated via
Economic Drivers, which designs, implements and reviews the conditions for
investment, employment and, the resulting, taxation.
Operating on 5.90% of the nation’s total expenditure, as
reported by the office of the Auditor General 2016 and 4.39% in the 2017 revised estimates, while estimating 3.84% for 2018 down by 13.44%, as published by
the Ministry of Finance. Economic Drivers are administered by
the Ministries of Energy and Energy
Industries, Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Planning and Development, Foreign
and CARICOM Affairs, Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Trade and
Industries, and Tourism. The nation's revenue, to offset its total annual
expenditure, comes from the collections of taxes, duties and royalties; taxes
on (personal income) salaries and wages, on (consumption) sales and value
added, on (operations) business levy and green fund, on (corporation) profits,
etc. Such revenue generating activities are encouraged and facilitated via
Economic Drivers, which designs, implements and reviews the conditions for
investment, employment and, the resulting, taxation.
News from the previous period
The Ministry of Energy and Energy
Industries (MEEI) has been monitoring the response of Petrotrin to the oil
spill which occurred on April 23, 2017 from Tank 70 in the Point-a-Pierre
Refinery. In addition to containment, recovery and clean-up activities, the
management of the spill included tracking its trajectory via computer based
models complemented by daily aerial and marine surveys. MEEI, along with its
responsibility for the strategic development of the energy
and mineral sectors, monitors and reports on; crude oil
& condensate production, drilling, completions and workovers, natural gas
production and utilization, crude oil - imports, exports and refining, natural
gas processing and petrochemicals. The Ministry is seeking Expressions of
Interest from qualified developers, with in-depth experience in Waste-to-Energy
via Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT), interested in such an investment on a
designated site in the Beetham land-fill, with approximately 750 tonnes of community
waste collected per day.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and
Fisheries began its investment in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in late
2011 with the conversion of the organization’s paper based filing system to a
multi-layered GIS dataset. Although this process is still on-going, the
unit has developed a robust GIS that is available and used by many Divisions of
the Ministry. The Ministry was reunited to create the appropriate structure in
which policies and services could be delivered, focusing on good governance and
in particular the work of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), the National
Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO), the Praedial
Larceny Squad (PLS) and all the ministry’s other agencies have a clear mandate
and are held accountable. The Ministry is very happy to see cocoa farmers and value-added
producers and processors among the best in the world; and publicly commended
Mr. Duane Dove of Tobago Cocoa Estates Limited for his recent awards received -
‘Laura’ milk bar, made from the finest trinitario beans, which won gold in the
semifinal round of the International Chocolate Awards. Also, the Rio
Claro Demonstration Station and the San Juan Estate in Gran Couva were adjudged
to be among the 50 best bean samples in the world at the 2017 Salon du
Chocolat.
The Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise
Development (MOLSED), pledges to
developing the Friendly Societies movement, hosted numerous meetings
with unions and the business associations to forge relations, met with
stakeholders of the Credit Union and Co-operative Societies to advance policies
and facilitated discussions on the recent lay-off of hundreds of contract
employees. The Ministry’s programme Enterprise Investment Fund (EIF)
provides funding to well structured, innovative business support programmes
targeting the Micro and Small Enterprise and Co-operatives (MSEC) Sectors. The Ministry primary objective
is to continuously encourage a sustainable,
productive, and stable industrial relations climate, in the nation, for
employees, employers and entrepreneurs.
The Ministry of Planning and Development, Town
and Country Planning Division, is working with the Ministry of Trade and
Investment to automate the construction-permit process with the main objective
being the improvement of the efficiency in the building approval system. As a
result, the application process for citizens building private homes and
investors in major developments will be made a lot easier, causing Trinidad and
Tobago’s ease of doing business as well as our competitiveness and trade
environment to be enhanced. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced, “The
total population of Trinidad and Tobago reached 1,353,895 persons in 2016
according to the CSO’s Population, Social and Vital Statistics Division. The
Environmental Management Authority EMA, which was established in 1995, has been
operating under its primary legislation the Environmental Management Act (EM
Act), Chapter 35:05. Its core operations function out of its subsidiary
legislation namely: The Certificate of Environmental Clearance Rules, 2001, the
Noise Pollution Control Rules, 2001, the Water Pollution Rules, 2001, the
Environmentally Sensitive Species Rules, 2001 and Environmentally Sensitive
Areas Rules, 2001 and more recently the Air Pollution Rules 2014.
The Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs
continues to liaise with its network of Missions, Embassies and Consulates
around the world, to register Nationals of Trinidad & Tobago visiting or
living abroad, in order to protect and assist in times of natural or man-made
disasters. The Ministry represents the nation’s eco-socioeconomic relations with foreign governments, regional and
international entities, involving negotiations and the monitoring of the
relevant agreements and treaties, via its missions and consuls abroad and
locally based foreign representatives. The Ministry thanked the
Government of the People’s Republic of China for continuing to work with the
Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago towards the realisation of its
development goals, in particular for its offer of concessional resources to
acquire the Multi-Purpose Patrol Vessel for the Ministry
of National Security; Defence Force (Coast Guard). The Ministry was advised by relatives of Milan Salvary, (a T&T
national) that they have received information confirming her death during the
passage of Hurricane Irma in St. Maarten.
The Ministry of Trade and Industries facilitates
“Doing Business in Trinidad & Tobago” judged by the World Bank’s Annual Doing Business Report surveys, which ranks 190
economies across the globe based on changes in regulations that affect ten
areas in the life cycle of a business. The ministry continued to revise Policies and Procedures to regulate investment
(Invest TT) and published trade policy documents to guide Information
Communication Technology (Intech) Park, Food Processing, Local Music and
Yachting Industries. The Ministry’s
Consumer Affairs Division monitors food prices throughout the nation and
launched its awareness campaign. The Ministry outlined its investment
and diversification agenda, in association with the Ministry of Foreign and
CARICOM Affairs targeting new export markets, alongside the Ministry of Tourism.
The Ministry of Tourism launched a key
component of the LIME 365 campaign; the GoTrinBago mobile travel app, which
forms part of destination Trinidad and Tobago’s digital marketing strategy. Whilst,
the hit E-Entertainment reality series “Wives and Girlfriends of Sports Stars”
(WAGS) filmed an entire episode of its upcoming Season 3 in Trinidad and Tobago
during Carnival 2017. The Ministry also launched a “Stay to Get Away” promotion
- Citizens now have over thirty-five (35) tour packages and accommodation
properties on offer in Trinidad and Tobago that will whet the appetite of even
the most seasoned traveler. The Ministry partnered with the ministry of Rural Development
and Local Government and with the works division of the Tobago House of Assembly
to actively maintain heritage sights. The National Airline named, a Caribbean
Airlines (CAL) Boeing 737, after “Calypso Rose”; Dr. Mc Cartha Linda Sandy
Lewis, Calypso Queen of the World.
Within this current period
The Ministry of Energy and Energy
Industries (MEEI), utilizing 5.70%
of the Economic Drivers funding, will strengthen commitment to progressing and deepening technical
collaboration between the two countries, Venezuela
and Trinidad and Tobago, in a number of areas including Reservoir
Unitization; Joint Field Exploration and Development; the sharing of
Infrastructure for Hydrocarbon production and monetization; and coordinated
environmental protection and emergency response.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and
Fisheries, utilizing 36.53%
of the Economic Drivers budget and with access to numerous tax-free concessions, Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Angela Siew joined
the Minister in an exciting display of cooking skills with live ‘all local’
cooking demonstrations of whole wheat sada; bhagi, pumpkin, plantain wontons
served with ice cream made with goat’s milk, taro au gratin, and cassava crouquets.
The Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise
Development, utilizing 17.63%
of the Economic Drivers funding, will undertake the proposed
amendments to the Friendly Societies Act. The Co-operative
Development Division of the Ministry of launched its Co-operative Agribusiness
Networking Exercise (C.A.N.E.) to develop co-operatives in the agricultural
sectors to address the issues of poverty alleviation, employment creation and
the empowerment of vulnerable groups.
The Ministry of Planning and Development,
utilizing 15.98% of
the Economic Drivers funding, is mandated to structure national development, concentrated on four main pillars which are
economic development, social development, spatial development and environmental
development. Utilizing,
for example, such entities as; the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) to
coordinate activities with other arms of Government, such as; the Ministry of
Energy & Energy Industries, supported by the Ministry of National Security
on the investigation and clean-up of oil spills.
The Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM
Affairs, utilizing 12.69%
of the Economic Drivers budget, continues as a member of the United Nations
(UN), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) on behalf of the People of Trinidad & Tobago. The Registration System for Nationals Abroad
(RSNA) is a free service provided by the Ministry for nationals travelling
overseas or living abroad.
The Ministry of Trade and Industries,
utilizing 7.75% of
the Economic Drivers budget, is engaged in the Strengthening of the Single
Electronic Window (SEW) for Trade and Business via an Inter-American
Development Loan. The Ministry welcomed international calypso icon, Dr. Mc
Cartha Linda Lewis, also known as Calypso Rose, after her recent achievements
under the auspices of “Because Music”, one of Europe’s top music labels.
The Ministry of Tourism, utilizing 3.72% of the Economic
Drivers funding, will continue its data collection initiative with the recent
launch of the business data component of the Tourism Baseline Survey project. The
Ministry announced a eight (8) member Board of Directors for the Tourism
Trinidad Destination Management Company Limited (simply referred to as Tourism
Trinidad Limited). While, Tourism Tobago anxiously awaits Sandals Resorts International
proposed establishment of a 750-room hotel at No Man’s Land, Tobago.
Rationale
T.A.J & Associates Company Limited uses this occasion to comment on topics that have been covered, both academically and by the mainstream media, to add its opinion and point out investment opportunity, not to invoke any social action.
