T&T’s Economic Reconstruction Requires System Complexity

• Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T’s) economy relies heavily on petroleum exports, which provide about 80.0% of foreign exchange and support the import-driven onshore sector; however, resource depletion is reducing forex earnings and threatening living standards.
• The private sector has limited export capacity, making diversification a slow process; recent forex stability has been sustained by government reserves, savings, and debt, but this is unsustainable without new energy projects.
• The government is banking on Venezuelan gas exploitation and deep-water oil negotiations with Exxon-Mobil, which could bring major forex gains but carry economic risks and depend on external approvals.
• Long-term sustainability requires diversifying into higher-value, knowledge-intensive industries, which demand investment in human capital, Science, Technology & Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills, innovation, infrastructure, and institutional quality, alongside small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and Research and Development (R&D) support.
• Building strong international trade networks, attracting foreign direct investment, and creating a national innovation system are key to overcoming private-sector rigidity and boosting economic complexity for export competitiveness.

(Source: Trinidad Express)