Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
03 October 2023 ( Page 8 )
AMCHAM welcomes initiatives with some concerns
While AMCHAM T&T says it acknowledges several initiatives— new and
existing—in yesterday’s Budget that are geared toward stimulating the
non-energy sector, it has some concerns.
Specifically, the organisation, in a statement yesterday, said, “We heard
about the implementation of the National Statistical Institute (NSI)
without a firm timeline. We look forward to the establishment of the NSI
this year as it has been featured in previous budgets but is yet to come to
fruition. The establishment and operationalisation of the NSI is necessary
if the Government is serious about using data to effectively design and
implement policy.”
However, AMCHAM T&T noted that the Budget was delivered against the
backdrop of a series of positive announcements in the upstream energy
sector over the past month.
“The attempts to provide more incentives to the upstream energy sector
and incentivise small pool development are welcome. A re-focus on
technical vocational training, digitisation, and enhancing FinTech
adoption are all extremely important,” it noted.
But AMCHAM T&T stated it was happy to see the national e-ID and data
inter-operability framework remaining high on the Government’s agenda.
“We know these are underway and look forward to a full rollout this year,”
it added.
It said it also supported the increase in the minimum wage, adding that it
looks forward to more facilitation of business and reduction of bureaucracy
to enable small and medium businesses in particular to grow and therefore
be able to sustain the increase.