In 2022, we witnessed the rollback of the COVID-19 threat. The reopening of economies around the world brought an upsurge in energy demand and fertiliser prices. The war in Ukraine was an unpleasant and unnecessary challenge to world peace and stability, it caused a surge in energy prices. The improvement in energy prices has held, allowing the finance minister to claim that the economy has turned around.
The minister defined the turnaround as improved government revenues and foreign exchange earnings, a lower debt-to-GDP ratio, and an improved trade balance, all because of improved energy prices. The nation remains vulnerable to the vagaries of international energy market shocks. But the key issues facing the Government and the country are multidimensional.
Even as the nation benefits from high energy prices, transport costs have risen worldwide and added to inflation on all imported items, including food. Further, increased fuel prices also impact domestic inflation as the transport of goods and people are at the centre of every economy. This inflationary trend was already well entrenched at the start of 2022 and will continue to be a challenge during 2023, affecting all wage negotiations.
Mother nature demonstrated the gaps, discontinuities and weaknesses in the nation’s physical development. Flooding wreaked havoc placing many in distressed conditions, and leaving them with the task of repairing or rebuilding. Primary and secondary roads, already weakened by leaking water mains, disintegrated in some areas, isolating rural and not-so-rural communities and causing hardship.
The SEA and CXC results indicated that the pandemic had exposed or exacerbated deficiencies in the education system that must be remediated, in a system that has not facilitated remedial learning in the past. Education remains the single largest contributor to rectifying social and economic inequalities. If not well managed from early childhood to university level, its failings will reinforce the plethora of other social issues that also need to be addressed.
Crime and violence remain societal outliers. The murder toll comfortably surpassed the record of 550 deaths in 2008 placing T&T in the world’s top 10. The improvement in social services’ outreach programmes initiated in the boom years has not mitigated the situation. Neither have the police service reform initiatives which have been in progress since 2006.
The foregoing suggests that the 2023 priority list has already announced itself. The first requirement is to develop a programme for sustainable economic growth. The second is to determine the number of households that exist at the edge of poverty including the working poor and to calibrate the social support policies and systems to address their needs. The third is to remove the number of guns available to the criminal element from all sources and to address the root causes of violent crime. The fourth is to improve the education system at all levels. The fifth is to implement a national physical development plan with the requisite enforcement measures.
A new year is celebrated because it presents the opportunity to discard the mistakes and ills of the past while ushering in the opportunity and hope for a better and brighter year. But people often forget that celebration is not a success, and success comes before work only in the dictionary. To achieve any success in addressing these priorities requires resolute, determined action and a whole of government approach which requires leadership and management.