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ECONOMIST Indera Sagewan wants government to deal with the issue of billions of dollars reportedly owed to contractors, warning that the long-delayed payments have eroded confidence, damaged firms and weakened one of the country’s most important economic multipliers.

Speaking at the Trinidad and Tobago Contractors Association's (TTCA) annual awards dinner at the Radisson, Port of Spain, on November 15, she said the industry carried the burden of the country’s financial and logistical shocks for too long and deserves better as the State seeks to drive an aggressive construction-led recovery.

Sagewan, a Central Bank director, stressed at the outset that she was speaking solely in her personal capacity as an economist.