Econ­o­mist Dr Mar­lene Attzs has warned that en­er­gy volatil­i­ty, tight­en­ing for­eign ex­change avail­abil­i­ty, fis­cal con­straints and es­ca­lat­ing ex­ter­nal shocks are con­verg­ing in­to what she de­scribed as a “per­fect storm” for busi­ness­es and house­holds, un­der­scor­ing the need for da­ta-dri­ven de­ci­sion-mak­ing and long-term struc­tur­al re­form.

Attzs was speak­ing on Tues­day at TTEITI In­sights for De­ci­sion Mak­ing, a break­fast fo­rum host­ed by the T&T Ex­trac­tive In­dus­tries Trans­paren­cy Ini­tia­tive in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Trinidad and To­ba­go Cham­ber of In­dus­try and Com­merce. The fo­rum brought to­geth­er busi­ness lead­ers, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and aca­d­e­mics to ex­am­ine how fis­cal pol­i­cy, glob­al trade shifts and cli­mate-linked mea­sures are re­shap­ing the op­er­at­ing en­vi­ron­ment for firms.

Attzs out­lined a chain re­ac­tion that be­gins with volatil­i­ty in the en­er­gy sec­tor, still the coun­try’s pri­ma­ry source of for­eign ex­change and gov­ern­ment rev­enue.