The Honourable Colm Imbert, Minister of Finance, welcomes the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Annual Report on Trinidad and Tobago, published on June 05 2024, which provides an independent assessment of our economy. The IMF underlines that “Trinidad and Tobago is undergoing a gradual and sustained economic recovery.”

The unemployment rate decreased to 3.2 percent in 2023 after peaking at 7.2 percent in 2020. Economic growth is broad based, led by the non-energy and energy sectors, while inflation is low.

The IMF hails the sharp decline in inflation, from 8.7 percent in December 2022 to 0.3 percent in January 2024, which is among the lowest in the world and contributes to shielding the purchasing power of the population.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, is encouraged and heartened by the Staff Concluding Statement of the recent IMF 2024 Article IV Mission to Trinidad and Tobago, which predicts a positive medium-term outlook for Trinidad and Tobago.

The IMF’s 2024 Article IV visit to Trinidad and Tobago occurred between February 28, 2024, to March 8, 2024, during which time the IMF Mission met with a number of stakeholders, government departments, private sector organisations and state institutions and comprehensively analysed detailed economic data on Trinidad and Tobago.

Please see the related link as per article – https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/03/11/mcs031124-trinidad-and-tobago-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2024-article-iv-mission

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The Honourable Colm Imbert, MP. Minister of Finance, has noted that “This decision by Moody’s collides with the policy advice we have received from all international organisations to protect our country and support the recovery in the current circumstances”.

A Concluding Statement describes the preliminary findings of IMF staff at the end of an official staff visit
(or ‘mission’), in most cases to a member country. Missions are undertaken as part of regular (usually
annual) consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, in the context of a request to
use IMF resources (borrow from the IMF), as part of discussions of staff monitored programs, or as part
of other staff monitoring of economic developments.

The authorities have consented to the publication of this statement. The views expressed in this
statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive
Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to
management approval, will be presented to the IMF Executive Board for discussion and decision.