The Prime Minister has issued a New Year’s greeting in which he referred to the State of Emergency and said he hopes everyone is “more open to new perspectives on the challenges that face our nation.”

PRIME MINISTER’S FULL GREETING:

Greetings on behalf of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, my own family, and myself, as Prime Minister.

It is my hope that we all begin the New Year, 2025, energized, with clearer insights and that we are more open to new perspectives on the challenges that face our nation.

It is in this context that I ask the nation to consider the existence, at this time, of a State of Emergency which is aimed at criminal elements in our society who have engaged in open warfare against each other and who were executing plans to make this unacceptable state of affairs the norm in Trinidad and Tobago.
Much as we treasure our fundamental rights and freedoms, when murder, home invasion, kidnappings and extortion become the choice of commercial activity and sustenance of persons who threaten the peace and security of the national population, the State must then act decisively to restore a balance between the fundamental rights of all citizens and the protection from the dangerous excesses carried out by a lawless few.

As a Government, we understand that some citizens may, at some point, hold fears about the direction of the country, rather than hope, but I urge that they try to imagine how intolerable and shattering our lives would be without that virtue of hope.

Understandably, both fear and hope reside within the human spirit and they can be misplaced, equally, with false expectations, but fear always has to be conquered, while hope, as a moral virtue, has to be sustained. We need that virtue of hope in order to successfully undertake our nation’s business.

I raise this point to explain that, as citizens, the start of 2025 could be an appropriate time to ask ourselves, individually, some basic questions: “How should I live my life”, meaning, “What values shall I live by? “What sort of person should I be? “What shall I aim for?

These age-old questions should be raised daily by parents in every household, in family gatherings, in schools, churches, mosques and mandirs, in every workplace, in social exchanges and even among members of Parliament.

They become more crucial as the nation enters 2025 with a cautious sense of optimism which requires that each citizen acknowledges his or her individual responsibility to the nation, because the challenges, we face have to be handled collectively – particularly, the rising crime situation.

At this point, many of our immense economic challenges in our economy are being navigated successfully and the country is on a path considered to be sustained growth. In 2024, we recorded our third consecutive year of real GDP growth, with the IMF World Economic Outlook giving Trinidad and Tobago a 2.3 percent estimated growth rate for 2025.

What is significantly encouraging is that economic recovery is being led by our non-energy sector. Our Heritage and Stabilisation Fund stands at over US$6 Billion, according to our last budget, and foreign reserves are at US$5.4 Billion, giving us a comfortable buffer of seven to eight months of import cover, and our unemployment rate remains contained, much lower than our neighbours.

These positive aspects should support our collective hope, given the immense and unprecedented challenges of the past decade, ranging from international oil shocks, gas market fluctuations, restructuring of our key economic components, and the devasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Citizens should see further hope in the vibrancy of our Social Services sector, where citizens in need have access to vital services. Hope can also be found in the records that not a single gazetted public servant has lost his/her job, a boast that many of our Caricom neighbours cannot make. It is found also in our low Inflation rate which, in October 2024, measured at 0.2 percent.

As we enter the New Year 2025, it is my hope that where we have found success, we will continue to enjoy those benefits and resolve to stay the course to do even better. Where our efforts have not borne fruit in a manner commensurate with our output and expectations, we must not lose hope or give up in any way but we should commit to even greater efforts and make necessary adjustments where they are required.

Let us continue to be buoyed up by the inspirational words of our national anthem, where we are required to have “boundless faith in our destiny.” As we acknowledge our challenges and accept our responsibilities, we do so knowing that there are no situations which are insurmountable once we act together as one nation in pursuit of a common cause which embodies peace, love and prosperity for all.

I wish you a safe, happy and prosperous New Year and may God continue to bless our nation.”