Diversification of T&T's economy is critically important for the country to get out of the economic recession, according to Tomas Bermudez, country manager, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Commenting on Moody’s Investors Services recent downgrade of T&T for a second straight year he said: “Moody's is saying that T&T has been hit hard by the drop in oil prices. That is why diversification is important so a country does not have to rely exclusively on one source of income. Moody's also spoke specifically about the availability of credible data in the country.”
Bermudez, who was interviewed by the T&T Guardian at his St Clair office yesterday, agreed with Moody's comments on weak data collection. He said the data T&T has at the moment is not credible and more has to be done to strengthen the Central Statistical office (CSO).
“That is an issue highlighted by us, by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that rating agency for some time—that the CSO has to find its place and give credible meaningful data. Government needs to tackle the CSO soon,” he said.
Bermudez said despite the difficult economic situation in the country all is not lost. He believes the Government has started to address the problems.
“The Government is taking the right measures to deal with the current fiscal situation. Look at the speech by the Minister of Finance in the mid-year review. The Government is taking the right steps in terms of revenue and expenditure,” he said.