UWI economist Dr Roger Hosein is urging Government to begin its capital expenditure programme to generate economic activity in T&T.
“With the recent uptick in the price of oil to around US$51 per barrel, this additional revenue could be used in part to help get capital expenditure going to open up economic space and create jobs for the country,” he said in his conribution to a panel discussion on Key Areas For Diversification for Trinidad and Tobago at UEWI St Augustine on Thursday evening.
Hosein said enough time had passed since the new administration took office to begin capital spending programme. He added that in generating economic activity Government must reduce expenditures on transfers and subsidies.
“What the state has to do is forego this appetite we have as a country for hand-outs and to adjust the gimme-gimme culture that exists right now,” he said.
Hosein saud the state was confronted with the dual challenge of preventing the economy from falling further into stagnation while at the same time creating avenues for economic growth and it must “use whatever resources it has at its disposal right now to maintain economic activity while at the same time focusing its attention on capital expenditure projects that create long term economic growth.”
Another member of the panel, T&T Manufacturers Association (TTMA) director Anthony Farah, focused on the need for cultural change, while Energy Chamber representative Blair Ferguson spoke about opportunities for T&T to benefit from assisting countries in the embryonic stages of oil and gas development.
Also contributing to the discussion was Chief Editor-Business at the T&T Guardian Anthony Wilson who focused on exchange rate liberalisation, labour market reforms and privatisation.