BUSINESS FLEEING T&T

‘Everything is out of whack’ 

BUSINESSMEN are shutting down and fleeing Trinidad and Tobago more than at any other time in the past four decades. 

Large corporations have a total of more than $6 billion in non-performing wealth with only nominal investments being made in T&T because of reduced consumer demand, economic instability, and the crime epidemic. 

Big businesses are looking for investments in Guyana, the fastest-growing economy in the Western Hemisphere, and the United States, especially in Florida which has friendly policies for real estate and other ventures. 

The cash-rich Massy integrated group recently spent $350 million in acquiring a US grocery chain and is looking for other foreign investment opportunities. 

With T&T’s economy declining by more than 20 per cent over the past eight years, businesses are curbing their domestic investments and searching for viable ventures abroad. 

The impending increase in electricity rates, imposition of the Property Tax and ongoing tight supply of foreign exchange would directly impact the cost of doing business and further curb consumer demand. 

Recent fuel price increases have already affected the bottom line. 

With one-fifth of the labour force either on the breadline or under-employed, purchasing power is at the lowest in a generation. 

Leading entrepreneur Derek Chin recently spoke for his entire sector in stating that crime “is really out of control and is affecting business in a big way.” 

Chin said that “a lot of people are not investing any more money in the country. 

“They have lost confidence and they are looking to take whatever savings they have to another destination. 

“Trinidad is not a paradise where people feel they can invest and feel comfortable anymore.” 

He added: “A lot of money is going to other places and that makes it worse because less business means less employment, more hardship, and so forth. 

“Everything is out of whack.”  

Chin’s views are shared by virtually all business operators, but most are reluctant to speak out, for fear of upsetting the authorities. 

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce has been hearing of the financial pain being suffered by its members but continues to keep mum. 

In a major break from tradition, then-Chamber CEO Gabriel Faria in September 2021 criticised the slow repayment of Value Added Tax refunds and other troubling issues. 

Faria said recommendations have been made to the Government, which “does not listen.” 

He stated: “We have asked the Minister of Finance – and he is not going to listen – to create an incentive to mobilise all the money sitting in the banks…” 

He said the Minister was asked to “create a tax incentive so that people can invest … and get a tax benefit.” 

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley responded that Faria was “trying to influence voters with his dismissive shallowness whilst being disrespectful to the country’s leadership.” 

Faria is no longer the Chamber’s CEO.  

The national Chamber has not spoken out since, although certain senior operatives quietly grumble about the absence of productive measures to turn around the unstable economy. 

The Confederation of Regional Business Chambers, which represents small businesses, has been more forthright, criticising the Government on fuel price increases and other issues. 

“There is a lack of political will to deal with (crime),” Chamber coordinator Jai Leladharsingh recently said. 

The all-important Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) sector has not recovered from the effects of the crippling Covid-19 lockdown, which led to mass unemployment. 

The national economic woes have led to the sharpest blow to the middle class since the 1980s, when, n a post-energy boom era, Trinidad and Tobago went with an international begging bowl. 

With wages stagnant or rising only marginally, compared to the cost of living, “all households would have experienced a decline in real income,” senior economist Dr. Roger Hosein has stated.  

 Economists generally agree that there is an increase in the number of working poor, people who struggle to make ends meet and to properly feed their families. 

Finance Minister Colm Imbert recently spoke of economic “good times,” but there is glaring evidence of hardship among the common man and loss of confidence by the investor class. 

Economist Indera Sagewan has spoken of the impact of the Government’s offer of a four per cent salary increase to public officers while the cost of living is galloping at a faster pace.  

While there could be a slow economic turnaround, there is no similar hope with respect to crime. 

Chin bemoaned that “nobody seems to be held accountable, the rate of crime is very low, and we do not have confidence in the Police Service.” 

He added: “It is not a place where we want to be as a country.” 

Against that backdrop of personal fear and economic uncertainty, T&T businessmen are partnering with entrepreneurs for investments in the energy, hospitality, service and other sectors in Guyana. 

“Guyana has shown up as a great opportunity,” businessman John Aboud was recently quoted as saying. 

Aboud’s business group has so far invested around $350 million on a hotel project. 

Another T&T-based organisation is also pursuing hotel projects in Guyana, while investments are soaring in energy and related fields. 

T&T, meanwhile, remains in reverse gear, the victim of an unchecked crime rate and economic woes.