Commentary

By: Vangie Bhagoo-Ramrattan Head, First Citizens Economic Research Unit

Manager, Research & Analytics – Investment Analyst, Research & Analytics

By Shaquille Noel – Investment Analyst, Research & Analytics

The 2023 New Year address by the Prime Minister alluded to the possibility of more prosperous times for Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in the upcoming year. Having suffered through the…

The upward momentum that characterized the financial market in 2021 was not evident in 2022 as markets were very volatile and turbulent, as the world economy faced unprecedented challenges including…

‘Big Tech’ refers to the most dominant companies in the Information Technology industry and include the likes of Facebook (aka Meta), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google (aka Alphabet). They are…

The Caribbean has a very diverse culture as a result of the region’s rich history. Countries are home to many historical man-made attractions such as forts and colonial era structures,…

Let us examine one useful indicator of investor sentiment and the economic climate – Credit Spreads. A credit spread, not to get confused with an options strategy, is the difference…

A Year Mired by Uncertainty At the start of 2022, the raging spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 began to dampen economic sentiment as many countries were forced to…

Russian forces began their full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, almost ten months ago. In response to the unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, several countries including the…

The Economics of the World Cup The FIFA World Cup is one of the most prestigious sporting mega-events in the world and is not only considered an honor to host…

Economies around the world have faced rising inflationary pressures for most of 2022, propelled by global supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and higher energy prices largely due to…

The gradual heating of the earth’s surface and oceans since the dawn of industrialisation has led to a significant reduction in the volume of ice in the earth’s coldest regions…

Cryptocurrency enjoyed a prosperous year in 2021 as the asset class enjoyed record returns. In 2021, the crypto industry total market capitalization grew by 187.5%, peaking at around US$3 trillion,…

Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program is defined by the World Citizenship Report as, “the process that legally grants individuals and in some cases, their families, a second citizenship through investments…

Rising inflationary pressures have been a challenge for many governments and central banks around the world.  Since 2021, global prices have risen faster and more persistently than expected, driven by…

In its latest World Economic Outlook for October 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its world growth forecast for 2023. It left the 2022 growth forecast unchanged at 3.2%,…

For most investors, the primary objective of investing in a stock is to make a profit and this is accomplished by taking a “long” position, which means buying and owning…

Barbados has expressed interest in another economic program supported by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) aimed at maintaining and strengthening macroeconomic stability and to continue…

Global Macro-Economic Review The downward momentum that characterized the first half of 2022 was maintained in the third quarter as uncertainty and volatility remained elevated throughout the period.  Global stock…