Trinidad and Tobago wt/tpr/S/260 Page

Direction of trade

1. 
   The United States remains Trinidad and Tobago's largest import supplier followed by the EU and Colombia. During the period under review, the U.S. share increased slightly, as did those of Colombia and Asia as a whole. The shares of the Russian Federation and Gabon showed significant increases, due to crude oil imports for refining in Trinidad and Tobago. On the other hand the shares of CARICOM, EU27, Brazil, and Nigeria declined (Chart I.2 and Table AI.3).
   
2. 
   Trinidad and Tobago's main export destination in 2009 continued to be the United States followed by CARICOM and EU27. During the period under review, the shares of the United States and CARICOM declined. The decline in products exported to CARICOM, was due to a fall in petroleum exports. In contrast, the share of EU27 doubled, and that of Asia as a whole also rose (Table AI.4). The authorities stated that the doubling of the EU27 share was due to the trade expansion that resulted from the signing of the Cariforum-EU Partnership Agreement.
   

Foreign direct investment

1. 
   During the period under review, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have been volatile. They peaked at over US$3 billion in 2008, but have since been declining and were US$550 million in 2010.¹¹ The spike in FDI in 2008 was due to the acquisition of RBTT financial group by the Royal Bank of Canada.
   
2. 
   The stock of FDI as a proportion of GDP has also shown volatility, declining from nearly 80% of GDP in 2005 to 62% in 2008, before increasing again to approximately 80% in 2010. The petroleum sector has been the main recipient of FDI¹². However, under the new investment policy the Government is encouraging investment in information and communication technology, downstream energy sector, services, yachting, fish and fish processing, merchant marine, printing and packaging, music and entertainment, film industry, and the food and beverage industry.¹³ The largest investor in Trinidad and Tobago is the United States followed by the United Kingdom.¹⁴
   

1 Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (2011b).

2 Government of Trinidad and Tobago (2011a).

3 Government of Trinidad and Tobago (2011a).

4 IMF (2011a).

5 IMF (2011a).

6 Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (2011a).

7 Government of Trinidad and Tobago (2011b).

8 Government of Trinidad and Tobago (2011b).

9 Information provided by the authorities.

10 Ministry of Finance online information. Viewed at. www.finance.gov.tt.

11 UNCTAD (various years), World Investment Report. Viewed at: www.unctad.org.

12 The Energy sector is responsible for approximately 90% of inward FDI.

13 Investment opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago. Viewed at: http://www.investtnt.com/ 1content/en/1tsectors.aspx.

14 In 2010, 66% of inward FDI came from the US and 21% from the UK.

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