Trinidad and Tobago is among oil-producing countries in Latin America and the Caribbean severely affected by the sharp drop in petroleum prices, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has announced.
It says exports from Latin America and the Caribbean will drop by an estimated 14 per cent in 2015 due to a steep decline in prices and weak demand for the region’s main exports from key trading partners.
The IDB’s “Latin American and Caribbean Trade Trend Estimates 2016” annual report notes that exports dropped for the third year in a row, with the decline intensifying and spreading to virtually all nations in the region.
It said only El Salvador and Guatemala, posted positive, albeit moderate growth due to a strong increase in their sugar shipments to China.
“This trade contraction, which is the worst since the 2009 collapse, is a wake-up call on the need to implement export diversification policies,” said Paolo Giordano, Principal Economist of the Bank’s Integration and Trade Sector and coordinator of the report.
