10 January 2016 - Business View Caribbean
Opening
Lines
Trinidad PM Announced Economic
Belt-Tightening Measures
In his first address to the nation since taking office
in September, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister,
Dr. Keith Rowley, announced a number of economic
belt tightening measures, including a seven percent
across the board cut in government expenditure,
made necessary by the continuing fall in oil and gas
prices.
Oil revenues amount to about TT$20 billion, or one
third of total national revenue, and in June 2014, the
price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Trinidad’s
benchmark crude oil, was US$106 per barrel. In De-
cember 2014, it had declined to US$59 and it is now
in the region of US$36 per barrel, Rowley noted.
