00:00Central Bank Governor Larry Hawaii says the recent removal of tariffs by the United States on imports of natural gas-based fertilizer products from Trinidad and Tobago is a good reason for some optimism.
00:12The Central Bank Governor spoke during Day 2 of the 2025 Annual International Finance and Accounting Conference hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago at the Higher Regency in Port of Spain after the most recent announcement by BPTT.
00:27Domestically, following the first gas from the SIP and Mento fields, energy sector activity is expected to stabilize in the short to medium term, reflecting a base effect.
00:39However, activity in the non-energy sector may be losing momentum, as observed movements in leading indicators continue to grow at a much slower pace.
00:48In addition, the new fields being currently developed will add some stability to oil and gas production and foreign exchange inflows in the years ahead.
00:58Governor Hawaii spoke about the Central Bank's management of the foreign exchange or forex issue in Trinidad and Tobago.
01:04We are advancing initiatives to improve market transparency through enhanced reporting, exploring measures to encourage repatriation of funds, reviewing interest rate structures, and prioritizing the prevention of foreign exchange leakages.
01:19Mr. Hawaii for this stated that while bi-weekly interventions continue to provide assurance to market participants, the focus is on building sustainable solutions to address persistent supply-demand imbalances as the capacity to support is dwindling.
01:35Regular engagement with authorized dealers and stakeholders will remain central to shaping a more resilient and adaptive foreign exchange ecosystem.
01:45You will be pleased to know that so far our foreign exchange reserves, which have been coming down, have remained relatively stable over the past couple of months, closing October at $4.62 billion, just slightly below the August number of $4.65 billion, although we have continued to support the market to the extent of $100 million per month.
02:09Finance Minister Devendra Nath Tanku was at the conference, and TV6 News posed a question to him about the forex issue while he spoke with the media.
02:18Is there anything else you could add in terms of how the government, or if there's anything the government can do outside of what the Central Bank is doing to address the issue of foreign exchange?
02:27So there are several things happening. We have asked international institutions to provide us with some technical assistance to review the existing foreign exchange allocation processes and uses.
02:36That is an ongoing exercise.
02:40The finance minister also made reference to the government's revitalization plan for Trinidad and Tobago, recently launched by Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bassassar and Works and Infrastructure Minister Jolene John.
02:51We are trying to attract international investors to Trinidad and Tobago, specifically in the construction aspect of our economy.
02:59But there are also other initiatives by the government itself where we are also trying to attract other sorts of investment, including the digitalization process, etc.
03:09So what we are doing now is trying to attract as many foreign investors as possible, but also trying to create the environment for local investment.
03:18That is why we are here today.
03:19The finance minister said the government's revitalization plan is only one part of its development agenda.
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