As a Business leader you have been asked to develop a short brief on the develop

Question

As a Business leader you have been asked to develop a short brief on the development experience of your own country (Trinidad): 1) Where in the development theoretical spectrum would you place your own nation ? 2) What are some of your own experiences that support your position. 3) How would you evaluate your nation's development experience in light of the above theoretical constructs. ? In 700-800 words APA style answer the above questions. Note: 1. the name of the book is: (Economics of Development), 7th Ed. for Perkins 2. This assignment has to be written about Trinidad not another country

Explanation / Answer

1) Where in the development theoretical spectrum would you place your own nation ?

Trinidad is one of the Caribbean’s wealthiest nations. According to IMF World Economic Submit 2016, Trinidad’s GDP is estimated to be USD 23.6 billion in 2017 which makes it the third richest country by GDP (PPP) per capita in the Americas after the United States and Canada. World Bank has recognized Trinidad as a high income economy. Hydrocarbons account for more than 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of exports. Recent growth has been increased by investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals, and steel. Additional petrochemical, aluminum, and plastics projects are in various stages of planning. There has been considerable oil and gas production on land and in shallow water, with cumulative production totaling over three billion barrels of oil.

Trinidad major export commodities include petroleum and petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol, ammonia, urea, steel products, beverages, cereal and cereal products, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus fruits, vegetables and flowers. Trinidad have a sort of umbilical cord with Venezuela. The two countries share a long political and trading history and signed cooperation agreements in 2009 and 2014.

Unlike many of its neighbors in the Caribbean, it has an industrial economy, based mainly on petroleum, petrochemicals and natural gas.

2) What are some of your own experiences that support your position. ?

In my view, the economic slowdown that followed the global financial crisis worsened when oil and gas prices plunged over the past couple of years. Jwala Rambarran, then governor of the central bank, announced in early December 2016 that the country had officially entered a recession. Still, no one disputes that Trinidad has hit a rough patch. In a year-end address, prime minister Keith Rowley said the government would cut spending by 7% for fiscal 2016, reimpose land and building taxes—which have not been collected since 2009—and focus domestic investment on housing, road construction, agriculture, tourism and forestry. The main area of concern of Trinidad that the revenue depends substantially on energy prices and energy prices have been hit by international changes.

Cheap oil increases the importance of FDI and diversification has put real push to get FDI into non-energy investments. He adds that Trinidad has advantages, including large numbers of engineers, accountants and lawyers; subsidized electricity and transportation, although government workers have lately been protesting pay delays.

On the downside, Trinidad suffers from an entrenched crime problem. The US State Department says various governments have unveiled anti-crime strategies but done little to implement them.

Non-energy FDI opportunities currently include tourism infrastructure, solar energy and residential construction. Whether such projects will provide enough growth to replace the drop in energy revenues during the coming years remains to be seen.

3) How would you evaluate your nation's development experience in light of the above theoretical constructs ?

ADVANTAGES FOR TRINIDAD

1. Sovereign wealth fund provides buffer against budget shortfalls

2. Increasing number of public-private partnerships

3. Long-standing tradition of FDI

4. Simple registration system for business start-ups

5. Currency’s managed float expected to continue

DISADVANTAGES FOR TRINDAD

1. Limited foreign exchange

2. High land costs and accessibility problems outside large urban areas

3. Job losses in energy sector

4. Unclear net effect of government cutbacks

5. Currency’s managed float expected to continue

DISADVANTAGES FOR TRINDAD

1. Limited foreign exchange

2. High land costs and accessibility problems outside large urban areas

3. Job losses in energy sector

4. Unclear net effect of government cutbacks

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