00:00It's been one month, almost to the date.
00:03We came into office at the end of April and we've been working steadily to make sure
00:08that Trenton Tobago gets developed as fast as possible, as efficiently as possible.
00:12Finance Minister Devengerath Tankou speaking during an interview with the Atlantic Council
00:17while attending the 2026 IMF World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.
00:23We didn't expect this event in the Middle East.
00:27What we expected was a continuation of the development agenda that we had set as a government.
00:33So we had started negotiating with Exxon, with Shell, with international multinational agencies.
00:38We started doing deep water drilling, things that were not done previously.
00:42We had expanded energy production and gas production as well.
00:47There was a focus on the economic outlook for Trinidad and Tobago
00:50given the recent increases in global crude oil and natural gas product prices.
00:55Well, I think the regional developments, international global developments have, in fact, given Trinidad and Tobago an opportunity.
01:03I don't see it as totally negative, but it's a mixed blessing.
01:08Trinidad and Tobago is an energy exporter.
01:10So we export LNG, we export methanol, we export oil and gas.
01:15But we are also an importer of fuels.
01:18We used to have a refinery.
01:19It has been closed down for the last eight months.
01:21The current government is working diligently towards improving and re-establishing that refinery.
01:29The UNC-led government's budget for fiscal 2026 was partly based on an oil price of U.S. $73.25
01:37per barrel.
01:38Finance Minister Tanku spoke as global oil prices hovered at around U.S. $92 to U.S. $95 per barrel
01:46for WTI crude and Brent crude, respectively, after recently crossing U.S. $100 per barrel.
01:54So that the events in the Middle East will bring some level of improvement in our government revenues.
02:01We've already started seeing positive movements in terms of dividends, in terms of taxes, and more is still to come.
02:08What is happening as a result, though, is that we are seeing a blip, an upward movement in revenues.
02:16Over and above what we expected, we came out of 10 years of depression, 10 years of economic struggle, 10
02:25years of increasing debt.
02:26An apparent reference to the former PNM-led government, which has dismissed criticisms of underperformance in the local energy sector
02:34during its tenure.
02:36The UNC-led government has declared it is making progress.
02:40And the expectation was that by 2027, end 2027, into 2028, the economy of Tray-on-Tobago, at least the
02:47energy sector of the economy of Tray-on-Tobago,
02:49which is the largest foreign exchange generator, would have started to pick up and move upwards.
02:54We would have been working with the United States in terms of accessing the dragging gas in Venezuela as well.
03:00Those initiatives were outside of this Middle East event.
03:04And therefore, all that happened is in Middle East events, which would have given up the increased revenue, as it
03:11were, simply meant that we would get to our goal faster.
03:15There was an acknowledgement of the downside of recent increases in global oil and gas prices, which have impacted several
03:22areas of the global economy.
03:24Because shipping costs have gone up, there is the risk of importing inflation into Tray-on-Tobago.
03:30What we are trying to do, we import a substantial amount of our food stock.
03:34We import a substantial amount of our goods and services as well.
03:37What we are trying to do in Tray-on-Tobago now, and this again was the plan over the last
03:41year, was to increase domestic production.
03:44The finance minister is set to deliver the government's mid-year review of its 2026 budget soon.
03:51Jule Brown, TV6 News.
03:54Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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