Diversification! Oil prices falling!

[Dizzy28]

If oil gas revenue is cut by more than half.
And other revenue from normal day to day activity...is hit by the shut down....I say effectively we will lose 3 months worth by time this is over.

What suggestions do you guys have.....ie if you were Min of Finance today what would you do?

Given the constraints of where we are yesterday's financial measures were not 1/2 bad.
Even Rowley by his own Rottweiler standards was quite good in trying to allay fears etc.

For the private sector I don't think there has been enough clarity on how leaves are to be treated as has been put out thus far. Its one thing to speak of Pandemic Leave however some businesses are not cash rich and cannot pay a full complement of staff for a month if no income is forthcoming.

One major local conglomerate in their financial/insurance arm has taken any time taken thus far out of employees vacation. Employees have been advised vacation and sick leave need to be expended first.

[hydroep]

I'll repeat a suggestion that I made when this Government assumed office and made general changes to the import tariff schedule. What they should have done was gone through with a fine tooth comb, created additional classifications for and proportionally increased rates on/banned the importation of luxury/discretionary goods e.g. Luxury vehicles, foods, household furnishings etc. That way those who could afford to pay would do so otherwise demand would drop off.

Basic items would be unaffected and our foreign exchange position would probably be stronger.

But nah, dat woulda take too much time and effort, plus how would certain fellas with big business get prefer...ahem.. access to foreign exchange?

Then some people jump out and say "nah, taxation and tariffs is not the way to do it because that interferes with free trade". Yet those same people went silent when Colon-in-butt introduced the OPT which effectively discriminates against a certain segment of the population.

Plus dem fellas talk about diversification again but for the better part of the last 4 years spent our limited resources on big stadium, flyovers, building restorations and then sit dong and scratch their arseholes for the rest of the time. Now when energy prices crash they want to talk about "well, that is the past and this is the situation we find ourselves in now...so what we supposed to do?" as if a major reason we are in this situation is not because of their mismanagement over the last 4 years.

Buh say what, that doh change the fact that we in this mess. Devalue the dollar, use out the rest of the HSF and then go cap in hand to the IMF. What else allyuh want them to do?

And doh forget: is Kamla fault...

[De Dragon]

If oil gas revenue is cut by more than half.
And other revenue from normal day to day activity...is hit by the shut down....I say effectively we will lose 3 months worth by time this is over.

What suggestions do you guys have.....ie if you were Min of Finance today what would you do?

Given the constraints of where we are yesterday's financial measures were not 1/2 bad.
Even Rowley by his own Rottweiler standards was quite good in trying to allay fears etc.

For the private sector I don't think there has been enough clarity on how leaves are to be treated as has been put out thus far. Its one thing to speak of Pandemic Leave however some businesses are not cash rich and cannot pay a full complement of staff for a month if no income is forthcoming.

One major local conglomerate in their financial/insurance arm has taken any time taken thus far out of employees vacation. Employees have been advised vacation and sick leave need to be expended first.

Agreed, but the update was mostly derailed with his wild and useless Kamla rant. The best thing he did was to leave the health questions to War on Salt, and economics to Impsy, and not try to look like a know it all. When he did not engage in sanctimonious bullying, he was quite good.

[The_Honourable]

Oil prices have collapsed to $20 a barrel.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/18/busi ... index.html

[bluefete]

Pay cuts and the IMF coming.

[zoom rader]

Pay cuts and the IMF coming.

You forgot increase taxes, fines and policing did profit.

[bluefete]

That April mid-year review will be most interesting, in an election year.

[Dohplaydat]

World will be in recession at least till end of the year, but lots of businesses will have to resort to layoffs to survive for some time, possibly 18 months.

IMF will be needed to jus to fund existing jobs I suspect, regardless if you though retrenchment from state companies was over think again.

[Miktay]

Everyone who iz not part of the G7 will be going to the IMF. Like the healthcare system in the worst affected countries...the financial system will be selective in deciding who gets and who doesn’t...

IOW Triage

[Numb3r4]

You all are speaking as if the economy will be in existence.

Then again we do have an engineer as a minister of finance he should know about imaginary numbers.

[The_Honourable]

The global pandemic and historic drop in oil prices have created a perfect storm for Trinidad & Tobago's already struggling economy. After a decade with no growth, economists Roger Hosein, Mariano Browne, Marla Dukharan and Energy sector expert Kevin Ramnarine take a look at what this double crisis means for the country.

[De Dragon]

The global pandemic and historic drop in oil prices have created a perfect storm for Trinidad & Tobago's already struggling economy. After a decade with no growth, economists Roger Hosein, Mariano Browne, Marla Dukharan and Energy sector expert Kevin Ramnarine take a look at what this double crisis means for the country.

Impsy and JUHN Scarfy will dismiss all of them as having an "agenda" Isn't the HSF going to be the panacea to the economic doldrums that we're in? Isn't borrowing up the wazoo? Isn't an unsustainable debt to GDP ratio? Isn't the Toco Highway/Ferry Port?

[rspann]

What yuh worrying about. Growlers and impbert have it under control. Look how they did turn round the economy when we was in the recession.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Someone asked the question about being in the shoes of the minister of finance and what would they do in our present predicament...I would STOP

the tobago airport project
Highway to manzan and toco
That billion $ hospital in town
Let members of parliament take ah pay cut

For starters

[De Dragon]

Someone asked the question about being in the shoes of the minister of finance and what would they do in our present predicament...I would STOP

the tobago airport project
Highway to manzan and toco
That billion $ hospital in town
Let members of parliament take ah pay cut

For starters

Notice how Roundabout Rohan Curepe Interchange project from which he recused himself (as if that was possible ) was specifically mentioned as necessary construction work in the listing of essential services?

[Skanky]

WTI at $10.55 as I type this.
Let's see Prime Minister Imbert run the country on $10 WTI.

[De Dragon]

WTI at $10.55 as I type this.
Let's see Prime Minister Imbert run the country on $10 WTI.

PNM economic knowledge can be summed up as Trap and Pass 101

[elec2020]

Recession incoming in... 5.. 4.. 3 ......

[shake d livin wake d dead]

2...........

[Dizzy28]

Bloomberg has WTI at $3.36

I don't think we have seen prices this low in our lifetime

[hydroep]

Wat de fork!...

[zoom rader]

It's now $1.40.

But Brent is $26, so this is odd

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

U.S. Oil Drops Below $2 Per Barrel As Demand Disappears

Updated at 1:44 p.m. ET

How low will oil prices go?

A key American oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell by more than 80% on Monday as global oil markets continue to grapple with a pandemic-driven collapse in demand.

At the start of 2020, a barrel of WTI cost around $60.

Shortly after 1:40 p.m. ET on Monday, a barrel was trading for less than $2 — the lowest price the WTI futures market has ever seen.

The plummeting price of WTI is driven by a trading contract deadline; oil traders have until Tuesday to sell off the current futures contract. Other types of crude, without a deadline coming up that quickly, have not dropped nearly so sharply.

But in general, crude oil prices are very low and continue to fall. Brent, an international benchmark, is in the mid-$20s and fell more than 6% on Monday.

Oil-producing countries and companies are trying to reduce their output, but they can't keep pace with the extremely rapid drop in global demand, as the world economy hits the brakes.

That's creating a massive oversupply of oil and raising concerns about where buyers will be able to physically store it all.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... disappears

[zoom rader]

Awaits tommorow for Share prices. Will be buying up if company prices drops

[bgh]

WTI 0.15 cents now

It's now $1.40.

But Brent is $26, so this is odd

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

[zoom rader]

Buy , buy, buy.

[sMASH]

raise USd price, like 8 or 9 tt. and open up some grounds in communities, for farmers' markets. get the produce straight from
the feilds to the people and encourage social distancing.

if u so want USd u would pay for it so demand will be reduced, and if u pay that price, at least the govt will earn sumting more for it

[eliteauto]

WTi currently trading at $0.06, hadda walk with your own barrel

[sMASH]

Buy , buy, buy.

how? how ? how?