Mary King queen of the new economic model
Mary has been preaching the gospel of an economy driven by local entrepreneurs and skills. Trouble is, local businessmen do not share her vision.
To all appearances, the country will be returning to orthodox economic planning rather than Patrick Manning’s dicey policy of industrialisation based on direct foreign investment in the energy sector.
Irishwoman Mary King, siren of economic diversification propelled by what she calls the “inshore economy” of local investment as well as the so-called modern knowledge industry, has been handed the Ministry of Planning and Development portfolio by new Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Mary, who like the late Lloyd Best and others, eschewed Manning’s economic strategy of an “offshore economy” of direc t foreign investment and dependence on rents or revenue from the energy sector, will now have the opportunity to test her theory in a dispensation where the local conglomerates and other heavy hitters have shied away from taking risks in her recommended inshore economy. It is truly safer to buy and sell, particularly imported cars and other foreign goods.
No entrepreneur wants to open a roti chain here and the rest of the Caribbean: it is easier to get involved in a foreign chicken and chips franchise or some ridiculous foreign sandwich chain.
Mary has been mandated to develop a medium term framework. But how do you persuade local investors to put money in the energy sector other than to provide supplies and services? Just how do you do that Mary? By offering generous tax concessions and guarantees?
It is all well and good to talk about a mono-crop plantation economy: it is an entirely different proposition to change this.
Local businessmen have been recommending the Singapore model which really is based on industrialisation by invitation and, of course, hard work.
However, Kamla must be given full marks to return the country to formal economic planning rather than the previous model which worked while oil, gas and other commodity prices were buoyant.
The Manning Administration has been proposing to build aluminium smelters, the first being at Vessigny, a project which has been subject to court action: whether this multi-billion facility which will have its own electricity plant and port will be put on hold for environmental reasons.
Campaign rhetoric and Opposition sentiment is one thing, the reality of economic development is an entirely different matter.
Kamla has fashioned a 26-member cabinet aimed more at keeping her coalition Government together- Congress of the People and Tobago Organisation of the People parliamentarians were all given ministerial appointments- rather than it having a decidedly Indo United National Congress look.
She has started off on a good foot and one must wish her the best of luck in an international economic environment that still looks dodgy.
It will be interesting to see how her experiment with Ms King, who served with distinction as an independent senator, works out. Mary was said to be part of a team of economists that wrote the party’s manifesto but implementing these ideas may be a different story.