Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Kennedy Swaratsingh, is refuting claims that Trinidad and Tobago was heading toward an International Monetary Fund (IMF) intervention, insisting the recent engagement was nothing more than the Fund’s “standard annual review.”
Speaking on Talk City 91.1FM on Wednesday morning, he emphasised that the IMF was not in the country as a lender of last resort, but rather as part of a long-standing Article IV surveillance process applied to all member states.
“The IMF visits a number of countries to do what is called an Article IV for consultation, which we just concluded in Trinidad and Tobago. And that is a standard thing that they do across the globe annually, to get a sense as to what the Government is doing, what direction that we are going in, ask some questions, get some data, and then they’ll publish the report. That is what has been concluded.”
He argued that while the IMF’s recommendations would be taken seriously, policy choices would remain grounded in the Government’s social obligations rather than in narrow accounting formulas.
“The IMF will put out its report eventually, and its report may have a number of recommendations. Some we may choose to follow, some we may choose to ignore. But obviously, there’s a difference between, and that’s, you know, if you think in terms of how businesses operate and how Governments operate, it’s two entirely different things, different ways of operating. We have to think about, we have a social responsibility. So, some things that may not make business sense but is required for a social framework and support. Businesses, for example, don’t provide the type of social umbrella that we, as a Government, have to provide.”
On Monday, the IMF staff team held its concluding meeting with Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo following their two-week official visit under the 2026 Article IV Consultation.