Tomorrow Trinidad and Tobago will mark 50 years as an Independent Nation. How do you feel? The question comes from a calypso of 25 years ago; it is just as relevant today. Independence Day will come with much celebration, but let me pose another question to the nation. Are we celebrating the fact that we are 50 years old or are we celebrating what we have accomplished in 50 years? Two very different questions and the answer in and of itself is significant. Being 50 years old is a function of time, our accomplishments over 50 years is a function of what we have done with that time. We debate which of our leaders should be credited for selective successes but do we also lament their individual and collective failures with the same alacrity?
We have made choices during these 50 years and these are responsible for where we are today. In the midst of the celebration it is important to place our status in context in order to form a platform for the next 50 years and beyond. Trinidad and Tobago has much to be proud about so how do we add to this base. How do we foster the sense of national pride that we often see from Jamaica, despite their economic difficulties, but which is sometimes lacking here? How can we replicate the social framework of, for example resource-scarce Barbados without living off our abundant energy resources? We share our independence day with another country-Singapore. They gained independence from the UK on August 31 one year after us. In terms of land mass, T&T is about seven times the size of Singapore and possesses infinitely more natural resources. How does the development of these two countries compare? Many a government minister have returned from a visit to Singapore anxious to replicate the success of that country yet the one thing that Singapore does not suffer from is a lack of governance.
OIL WEALTH
Here is an interesting statistic. According to Bloomberg it costs US$3.51 to fill up a 39 gallon tank of gas in Venezuela while in another oil rich country Norway it costs US$394.68. This is an example of the choices that people and governments in a country can make. Clearly we are closer to the side of Venezuela than to Norway. We subsidise our fuel and also try to provide social services on top of this hefty subsidy. In Norway the model is very different. Their citizens pay the full cost of fuel and then some. In general, taxes and the cost of living are high. Yet the revenues from Norway's oil and gas goes into a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SFW) that currently stands at $600 billion and towards social services and benefits for its citizens. The Norway fund is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2019. For the record Norway has four million people. So where has our oil and gas windfall gone and what do we have to show for it? Maybe our leaders can tell us because we boast of a US$4 billion Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) for 1.3 million people. Fifty years have gone-how do you feel about our Heritage Fund?
THE CHILDREN
In Norway, unemployment benefits entitles you to a percentage of your previous wage and after a year you are cut off except for reasons like injury. In other words there is an incentive to find a job in the first place and then keep it. Better still that means no URP gangs, no gang leaders and no gang wars for contracts. All babies born in Norway to unemployed mothers receive around Kr 30,000 in the first year. That means no need for a Cepep programme for single mothers. Instead mothers get to spend time with their children and do not have to face exploitation for a "ten days". The money does not go to contractors and "ghosts" but instead goes directly to the children. All babies receive just under Kr 1,000 a month. For stay-at-home parents (paternity leave is also given) another Kr 3,000 is on offer up until the child is three years old. Children and pregnancyrelated medical appointments are free within the health sector. Education in Norway is also free up to tertiary level. Singapore also offers child-care benefits and the risk of systemic abuse is dealt with by reducing the benefits for parents with more than two children. Fifty years have gone where would we be if we properly catered to our children?
RESOURCE UTILISATION
Switching to Singapore, how did a country a fraction of the size of T&T with geographic location as its only "resource" create a SWF of approximately US$400 billion (one hundred times that of T&T)? This should be a question that every local politician should be made to answer in order to enter politics. There have been many attempts to replicate Singapore's development road map but the reality is that most of what is discussed here in T&T is just a superficial attempt to replicate what is expedient and ignores the basic building blocks needed to give substance. The competitive advantage of Singapore is in its world class "logistics management" capabilities. They have the largest and from all accounts the most efficient container port in the world and their best-in-class airport is the hub of South East Asia. Now wander over to our ports in Portof- Spain and Point Lisas and recall our airport scandals that spanned two different administrations and appreciate that this nation mostly pay lip service to national development.
Singapore is so resource scarce that the Asian staple of rice does not grow on the island and it has insufficient water reserves for its population. T&T has natural resources in abundance and shares similar geographical and time zone advantages as Singapore relative to this part of the world. Yet as I have lamented in this space, we have no immigration policy of any note that proactively seeks to attract any resemblance of a wealthy, upwardly mobile, educated demographic to our shores. Instead we grapple with a "brain drain" that sees some of our brightest minds leave for a foreign lands. Most telling has been the systematic demolishing and rebuilding of slum areas in Singapore for the benefit of all citizens. Compare this to, for example, Malaysia's failed "China Town" experiment where redevelopment meant a coat of paint, a new roof and some palm trees. Then I took a drive along the Beetham Highway and I wondered .... 50 years have gone-how do you feel?
Ian Narine is a broker registered with the SEC and can be contacted at ian.narine@gmail.com