The response of Trade Minister Vasant Bharath and Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie to the call by the International Monetary Fund to diversify the economy was too facile, too defensive on the fundamental problem faced by T&T and Caribbean economies over the last 60 years. Once again the IMF made the obvious point that the foreign exchange-earning economy remains too dependent on revenue from the energy sector and so on unpredictable price declines.
In their different ways both ministers responded immediately that the diversification need as pointed out by the IMF team, was already under way. They sought refuge in long-talked-about and planned sector-diversification plans which have been on paper going back several governments.
In the first budget presented by the People’s Partnership government back in 2010, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran talked about growth poles—the same ones now being listed by Messrs Bharath and Tewarie—and other areas such as finance, tourism, agriculture, technology, industrial parks and more which have been identified for a couple decades, going back to the George Chambers PNM government.