CEPEP and URP were patronage programmes. They were also the only thing standing between communities and flooding, overgrown lots, and uncollected dead animals.
Read the analysisThe mid-year review has not been presented. But the IMF, both rating agencies, and the Central Bank already tell the story.
Read the analysisCypre, Manatee, Ginger, Coconut, ExxonMobil, Brechin Castle - all PNM-initiated. The UNC has not conceived a single new upstream project.
Read the analysisGDP per capita fell 10.8%. Reserves dropped 54%. Moody's downgraded to junk. No HSF deposits in a decade.
Read the analysisHe told Parliament a $1.1 billion asset was worth $2 billion. Both rating agencies shifted to negative under his watch. The oil price peg is $12 above reality.
Read the analysisThe giveaways were delivered. The structural reforms were not. A systematic check of what the UNC promised versus what it did.
Read the analysisMurder rate down 42%. Three SoEs declared. 16,000 workers fired. Every energy project inherited. A one-year report card.
Read the analysisThe Finance Minister used the word 'will' 296 times in the budget. Six months later, we check the receipts.
Read the analysisBrent crude past US$119. LNG benchmarks up 70%. Ammonia, urea, and methanol at multi-year highs. But gas production is falling, a major plant is shut, Atlantic LNG trains are offline, and the windfall is arriving in an economy structurally unable to absorb it.
Read the analysisA dispute over $28 million in port fees and gas pricing has shut down one of Point Lisas's largest plants. The fallout reaches hospitals, food production, and the forex pipeline.
Read the analysisLiquid reserves fell 24% in a year. The IMF says devalue. Banks are cutting US dollar card limits to $500. And the $1 billion bond that 'stabilised' reserves just bought time.
Read the analysisGas production is at 2.5 bcf/d, down from a peak of 4.3. An LNG train is being permanently scrapped. Every major upstream project points to 2027. Trinidad and Tobago is running on fumes in the meantime.
Read the analysisA former T&T Energy Ministry director wrote to Guyana's press warning them to learn from Trinidad and Tobago's mistakes. No T&T outlet covered it.
Read the analysisTrinidad and Tobago was removed from the EU's non-cooperative tax list in February 2026 - after eight years. The delisting was a genuine win. But the damage from years on the list - eroded banking relationships, higher transaction costs, lost investment - does not reverse overnight. And the reforms that got the country off could have happened years earlier.
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