Economists question World Bank’s T&T growth forecast

Econ­o­mists are urg­ing pol­i­cy­mak­ers to treat the World Bank’s lat­est eco­nom­ic fore­cast as a warn­ing ahead of the na­tion­al bud­get, af­ter the in­ter­na­tion­al lender pro­ject­ed that T&T’s econ­o­my will con­tract for a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year be­fore stag­ing a re­cov­ery in 2027.

In an Oc­to­ber eco­nom­ic up­date, the World Bank Group fore­cast that T&T econ­o­my would re­bound by 2.5 per cent in 2027, fol­low­ing de­clines of 0.5 per cent in 2025 and an es­ti­mat­ed 0.2 per cent this year.

While econ­o­mists Dr Vanus James and Dr Ronald Ramkissoon agree that the pro­ject­ed de­clines re­flect the econ­o­my’s cur­rent chal­lenges, both ques­tioned whether suf­fi­cient con­di­tions ex­ist to sup­port the growth fore­cast for 2027.