Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is hoping that 2022 will be a year when Trinidad and Tobago will get its economy and other social programs back on a stronger footing, even as he acknowledged that the pandemic will play a significant role in the country’s future development.
“This year, 2021 has been another difficult year for us, we were hoping that we would have gotten out of the pandemic conditions, but unfortunately the virus has been with us. The virus has not gone away from the world,” Prime Minister Rowley said in a 90-minute interview with CNC 3 television on Monday night.
“We are in a very unique situation. Two years of managing a pandemic, having to get the human resource, the final resource versus being people infected and the hospital’s staff under strain. But fortunately, it has not been worse, it could have been worse…but it has not been good,” Rowley said during the wide-ranging interview that dealt with a number of issues including the pandemic, the defeat of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) and the possibility of him leading the party into the next general election.
Rowley said that during 2021, the government has been able to “open up the economy considerably and that there are only a few areas and activities that are closed.
We have had restrictions in the business sector especially in the services, but we have opened up the economy. The un-open areas we are still considering whether we should. I could tell you the Health Department has a serious concern about further opening, but we are still in a pandemic,” he said.
“But fortunately, we have the livelihood side. The economy is moving from a period of almost stasis to one where there is some activity. But in the 2019-20 period significant losses have been experienced, some people are trying to make up those losses, restarting the economy and trying to use the opportunities and I think we are going reasonably well,” he told viewers.
Rowley said “what we can look forward to in 2022 I think is some considerable improvement. We expect some considerable improvement as long as we are able to keep the economy operating. What I don’t want us to have to do is to throttle the economy.
Once the economy is not throttled by the state of the virus in the country then 2022 we expect to be significantly improved as (against) 2021 and that’s why we really have to do what we can do to prevent the economy from being throttled.”
Prime Minister Rowley said he is particularly concerned about students who have been severely impacted by the virus, “and carrying a mental burden which may not be seen now, but I fear when we actually gaze upon it. As prime minister and the Cabinet, we are concerned about that inability to have our children develop in a way they normally would”.
He said the use of laptops and other electronic devices are not substituted for the physical teacher-to-student interaction, adding “I am really, really concerned about that. I see and I hear and I observe and worried about the mental state and the strain that this pandemic is bringing about”.
Economically, Rowley said he would like to inform the population that ‘as long as we are not beaten down by the virus in 2022, our economy should improve, we have the foundation laid down for that, we have been making some good strides in the agricultural sector, we are making some good strides in the service sector “.
Rowley said ultimately the onus will also be on people getting vaccinated against the virus.
CMC
