NO-INVESTMENT ZONE!

INTERNATIONAL financial organisations are calling Trinidad and Tobago a No-Investment Zone. 

And officials of local state agencies InvesTT and ExporTT are just twiddling their thumbs, with nothing to do. 

T&T, which attracted investments to the value of US $1.5 billion a year up to 2015, registered a flight of investments to the value of US $439 million in 2020, according to a reputable international organisation. 

That means that Trinidad and Tobago is at an annual deficit of almost US $2 billion a year in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). 

Investment outflows are exceeding inflows for the first time in a generation. 

Investors like ArcelorMittal, Unilever, Denny’s, Pollo Tropical, and others have fled; Sandals Resorts opted not to invest in Tobago as a result of the government’s inability to close the deal. 

ArcelorMittal, a fully integrated multinational iron and steel manufacturer, was one of the largest non-oil earners of foreign exchange for T&T and employed 550 local workers. 

The corporation mothballed its Point Lisas plant after officials of the Rowley Government were too busy to discuss urgent trade issues being faced by the manufacturer. 

The plant has been put up for sale.  

ExporTT and InvesTT have not had anything to do over the past two years, as investments have dried up and multinationals have moved to greener pastures. 

Standard & Poors, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have all succinctly conceded that T&T is no longer an investment capital. 

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its most recent investment report that Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere, is attracting more FDIs than T&T. 

In 2020, FDIs in T&T were a negative US $439 million, which is about half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

Apart from T&T and Suriname, every other regional country attracted FDIs in 2020. 

Total investments to the region last year amounted to US $70 billion. 

T&T was once the most desirable investment destinations in the hemisphere, per capita, based on the oil and gas raw products, the geographic location, and modern telecommunications. 

As a result of natural gas supply issues, several Point Lisas plants have now shut down. 

Other investors have fled because of official red tape, crime, shipping problems and other major disincentives. 

The relative lack of digitisation of the public service has also been a deterrent. 

The slow pace of the digital process recently led to the appointment of a stand-along government minister. 

T&T has slipped to 105^th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index, with various official activities – such as obtaining electricity – taking several months to conclude. 

The country was at 65^th position six years ago, and this was attributed to the introduction to a single window facility.