Oct 2005 Financial News

T&T's economic review 2004/5

Oct 13, 2005

EVEN though Trinidad and Tobago's economic performance for fiscal 2004/5 has clocked in a stable rating, inflationary pressures remain a thorn in the side of the economy's health.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in its Review of the Economy 2005 report: "During the first ten months of fiscal 2004/5, however, the general price level jumped to 6.4 per cent from 3.4 per cent a year ago.

"Food prices, which account for 18 per cent of the weights in the Retail Prices Index, rose significantly by 20.7 per cent, more than double the increase, 9.1 per cent in the same period of 2003/4."

Attributed to the jump in food prices were supply shortages of vegetables, spices, fruits and other market items as a result of excessive rainfall in late 2004 and early 2005, while transport and housing prices decelerated over the period by 2.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

In terms of productivity figures, though productivity in the first quarter of fiscal 2004/5 increased by 6.5 per cent there were significant declines in textiles, garments and footwear registering a drop of 14.7 per cent and printing, publishing and paper converters down 12.5 per cent, the report said.

The industries that registered the highest productivity growth were drink and tobacco up 15.7 per cent and oil and natural gas exploration and production up 14.1 per cent.

Roxanne Stapleton
The Trinidad Express
Business Magazine
Wednesday, 12th October, 2005
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business_mag?id=107739114