President of the San Fernando Business Association Daphne Bartlett is calling on the Government to reopen the economy quickly to prevent an “economic collapse.”
“What do we do with the economy? It seems as if it is on the verge of collapse. I do not think that the authorities are reading the data properly. We have vaccines and some people are already vaccinated. Half of the population of the United States is already vaccinated. It is business that drives the economy. When you lock it down people are unemployed and then they cannot earn,” she said on Friday night at a virtual seminar on the status of T&T’s economy hosted by the Trade and Economic Unit of the University of the West Indies (UWI).
She explained how the COVID-19 restrictions and the accompanying business slowdown are affecting ordinary consumers.
“Half a pound of flour is being sold. Also, a half-pound of rice. People are cutting a margarine in half and selling it. That tells you that consumers’ purchasing power is really bad. It tells you that people are suffering and you need to provide employment for them. How to prevent this from further going on is to reopen the economy?”
She said outside of COVID-19, T&T’s population was very healthy as people now have better sanitary conditions.
“People are healthy and they are buying their Vitamin C, and they are following all the things that they were taught to do and they are not getting infected with influenza as this year is the lowest rate for that. I have a lot of cough and cold medicine in my pharmacy and we have to send it back as they have expired and that has never occurred. It shows that people are healthy. I am pleading with the Government to stop locking down everything and telling people to stay home.”
She also said one of the adverse effects of locking down the economy was the loss of jobs and from what she has observed, the unemployment rate is rising.
She also urged the Government to reopen the borders quickly to give life to the economy.
Economist Patrick Watson who spoke at the forum said the Government has to be creative in diversifying the economy and creating new sectors to earn forex.
He said marijuana was now a billion-dollar industry and it is one sector T&T can look at developing as a cash earner.
Other sectors he recommended include agro-processing, tourism, the creative and cultural sector, and the manufacturing sectors.
