Sep 2016 Financial News

T&T drops in Competitiveness Index

Sep 29, 2016

Chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Board Dr Terrence Farrell says the business community is doing little to advance the welfare of the country and has even been creating some of the problems that exist today.

“There is inertia on the part of the business leaders. The private sector in T&T has been doing the same thing, buying and selling and putting a mark up for the last 200 years. There is no innovation, they are not conducting R&D. They are looking for the best deals they can get from Japan and China to import to mark up. That is inertia and poor work ethic on their part,” he said yesterday at the launch of the 2016-2017 Global Competitiveness Index Rankings at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope.

Farrell, who took part in a panel discussion at the launch, said while T&T’s macro economic problems are a result of external forces, there are other issues that can be rectified.

“There is the issue of the rule of law. Why do our institutions operate the way they do? What is the way our criminal justice system operates that gives us the kinds of results we have? From the Presidency to the judiciary to the Parliament to the Director of Public Prosecution's Office, all our institutions in this country are in crisis,” he said.

Farrell added that there was no leadership from the last Central Bank Governor on the foreign exchange issue.

He explained: “The Central Bank and Ministry of Finance have failed to lead the country on the question of foreign exchange over the last few years, so that shows up in terms of the restriction of foreign exchange affecting the business community,” he said.

He said there were historical reasons for T&T's poor work ethic and low productivity and not all the blame should be thrown on workers.

“Our executives also have a work ethic problem. The poor work ethic we see in the country is as a result of a certain set of historical circumstances that lead workers to behave in the way they do. It is a result of historical experiences we have had a as a people from slavery to indentureship coming up today. Some people say those things took place 150 years ago but it does matter today,” Farrell said.

T&T fell five places to 94 in the latest Global Competitiveness Index Report.  Balraj Kistow, lecturer at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, said this was due to the decline in the economy and poor macro economic conditions.

“This year we have seen one major difference which is in T&T's macro economic environment. Last year we were above average in terms of our macro economy but this year it was below and it was a major factor why T&T fell five places,” he said.

T&T dropped to 94 out of 138 countries in the report while Switzerland was in first place. Jamaica and Barbados placed higher than T&T at positions 75 and 72.

Source:
Rapheal John-Lall
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday September 29, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-09-29/tt-drops-competitiveness-index