TT too dependent on foreigners

Trinidad and Tobago is too dependent on foreigners to develop the country. And that certainly is no way for a free, independent, sovereign Republic to really fulfil its potential. The argument was put forward by Dr Kirk Meighoo when he addressed an education conference/seminar at Coco Reef Resort and Spa, Crown Point, Tobago, last Friday. The session, hosted by the Tobago branch of the Co-operative Credit Union League of Trinidad and Tobago (CCULTT), formed part of closing activities of Credit Union Week. Dr Meighoo, political analyst, and lecturer at the University of the West Indies’ Institute of Business (UWI/IOB) at the St Augustine Campus, stressed that TT’s economy was “extremely dependent” on foreign exchange, which was mainly coming from the oil sector.

Citing this year’s national budget, or even the previous year, as an example, Dr Meighoo argued: “The Government is spending money without increasing the country’s capacity to produce. The development strategy in the country seems to be, wanting to get foreigners to come and produce things for us to give us money so we could spend; that is the essence of our strategy.” If we want to make this country fulfill its potential, we have to think of another way to live, rather than by this mode,” he emphasised. Dr Meighoo contended that this mode of development is “very, very significant!”