The bubble has burst.
That’s what the lowest oil price in six years and the laying off of several hundred ArcellorMittal workers means, according to Independent senator Stephen Creese yesterday.
He made the point in the Senate debate on motions, via which Government is seeking to increase borrowing ceilings by $35 billion. He spoke as the oil price fell to US$37 and local layoffs occurred.
He said the ArcellorMittal layoffs particularly meant the bubble was bursting regarding the perception of Pt Lisas’ steel, iron and methanol production as T&T’s saviour. Noting former prime minister Patrick Manning’s statement on a “death certificate” for the sugar industry, Creese said similar certificates were needed for oil and gas and the state should not wait for the latter sectors to be “certified” as dead.
Rather than using the short-term solution of borrowing, Creese urged alternatives, including renegotiating loans or reconsidering projects and reviewing and reassessing what was being done today “least we resort to the same old sterile remedies.”
He said the time for a “national panchayat” was now. Creese said there was opportunity in adversity to set new policy perspectives and reset sustainable goals. He said oil was a finite resource but T&T’s human resources kept multiplying and that was the basis for new approaches, including via culture and tourism.
He added T&T’s future depended on new social contracts and that juncture would be a good place to start.
Hadeed replaces Vasant
Former PP tourism minister Gerry Hadeed has been appointed to replace Vasant Bharath as an Opposition UNC senator.
Hadeed was sworn in at yesterday’s Senate session to fill the Senate seat which had been vacant for the past few weeks following Bharath’s resignation.
Bharath had resigned to contest the UNC leadership election. He lost to incumbent Kamla Persad-Bissessar who had appointed him as a UNC senator following the party’s defeat in the September general election.
Also sworn to act as a temporary UNC senator yesterday was UNC deputy political leader Wayne Munro (defeated Tunapuna candidate) who is acting for UNC senator Danny Solomon, currently overseas.