T&T moves to shield economy from Hormuz disruptions

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar told the Low­er House of Par­lia­ment to­day that T&T is close­ly mon­i­tor­ing es­ca­lat­ing ten­sions in the Mid­dle East and their po­ten­tial im­pact on glob­al sup­ply chains and the do­mes­tic econ­o­my.

The Mem­ber for Diego Mar­tin West, Hans Des Vi­gnes, asked what mea­sures Gov­ern­ment is tak­ing to pro­tect busi­ness­es in T&T from clo­sures in light of dis­rup­tions linked to the Strait of Hor­muz, in­clud­ing high­er freight costs and short­ages of crit­i­cal in­puts.

In re­sponse, the Prime Min­is­ter said T&T con­tin­ues to mon­i­tor de­vel­op­ments in the re­gion. She said, “Trinidad and To­ba­go con­tin­ues to mon­i­tor de­vel­op­ments in the Mid­dle East and the cur­rent is­sues as­so­ci­at­ed with the Strait of Hor­muz.”

She added that the Gov­ern­ment is work­ing with in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners to sup­port sta­bil­i­ty in mar­itime trade routes. She said, “Our Gov­ern­ment of T&T is con­tin­u­ing to work with in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners by pro­vid­ing diplo­mat­ic sup­port for the un­fet­tered free­dom of nav­i­ga­tion through the Strait.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar told the House that T&T has al­so tak­en part in re­cent in­ter­na­tion­al dis­cus­sions on the mat­ter. She said, “in the last week, Trinidad and To­ba­go par­tic­i­pat­ed twice in in­ter­na­tion­al fo­rums or­gan­ised by the Unit­ed King­dom and France to dis­cuss is­sues as­so­ci­at­ed with the clo­sure of the Strait and to as­sist in pro­vid­ing so­lu­tions.”

She said these en­gage­ments form part of wider diplo­mat­ic co­or­di­na­tion, in­clud­ing on­go­ing con­tact with the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca.

On the do­mes­tic front, the Prime Min­is­ter said Gov­ern­ment is en­gag­ing the pri­vate sec­tor to as­sess and re­duce pos­si­ble eco­nom­ic fall­out from the ten­sions. She said, “Do­mes­ti­cal­ly, the Gov­ern­ment of T&T has been in dis­cus­sions with the pri­vate sec­tor to mon­i­tor and mit­i­gate any eco­nom­ic im­pacts from these ten­sions in the Mid­dle East.”

She added that the aim is to safe­guard eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty as glob­al con­di­tions re­main un­cer­tain.