The 2027 Caribbean Nation of Trinidad and Tobago had its recent budget. Here are some findings from one of our 5 articles:

-Energy revenue is a 2028 event. Manatee first gas is targeted for late 2027, and national output reaches 3.0 to 3.5 bcf/d only by 2028 to 2029.The exposure starts now.

- Purchasing power could weaken for about fifteen months before that revenue arrives.Use the gap to cut costs and differentiate. 

-Set a cash runway through December 2027 with three demand cases, and give customers one reason other than price.

Trinidad and Tobago’s FY2027 national budget leans heavily on anticipated energy sector recovery. However, a timeline analysis indicates a crucial lag between fiscal expectations and revenue realization. Key industry timelines highlight the gap: Manatee First Gas Target: Late 2027 National Output Target (3.0 – 3.5 bcf/d): 2028–2029 (per Moody’s projections) While fiscal revenue strictly follows physical production, corporate and household financial obligations carry no such grace period. This timeline leaves an estimated 15-month transition window where household purchasing power and consumer demand could experience continued downward pressure. For business leaders, assuming domestic demand remains stable over the next 15 months represents a passive forecast rather than a resilient strategy. In Part 5 (the final issue) of the Data Minders Budget 2027 Series, Data Minders Business Research outlines actionable risk-mitigation strategies for organizations navigating this transition period.

For full html article: https://claude.ai/artifact/TSXFSbd9dTqyFdFxX8gMP7

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The 2027 budget has five stories behind the headlines.We read the numbers behind them. Five issues, one series: 

Jobs, not skills: what the budget funds, and what the labour data shows. 

Micro business costs: two measures that land on small businesses. 

The services gap: the sector that employs three in four workers. 

Consumer demand: a 10.1% revenue rise, and who carries it. 

The 15-month energy wait: what happens before the oil and gas money arrives. 

 Each issue ends with what to do before your next decision.Subscribe to Numbers & Narratives and read all five: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/numbers-narratives-7292382816749727744

 The projects Trinidad and Tobago abandons all passed their permits — what kills them is the check no one runs.This issue expands on Tishana Simon's appearance on CCN TV6 Morning Edition (3rd September 2026), where she unpacked what due diligence should actually mean for Trinidad and Tobago's largest projects.Watch the segment here (scroll to roughly the 1-hour mark): https://www.tv6tnt.com/news/morning_edition/morning-edition-03rd-september-2026/article_4d54f5c9-b548-4550-a76c-1954baa1779f.html 

The Data PointThis July, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago signed three Memoranda of Understanding — two of them for large, resource-intensive projects: a steel plant and an AI data facility.

 All three remain at the pre-due-diligence stage.Which means the decision that matters most — whether these are the right projects, not merely buildable ones — has not yet been made....

For the rest of the aarticle visit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/buildable-feasible-gap-sinks-big-projects-tishana-simon-64wwe

 Trinidad and Tobago is celebrating gas the export arbitrage may divert before it ever reaches Point Lisas.THE DATA POINTIn 2026, natural gas trades near US$2.80 per MMBtu at the US Gulf benchmark, against roughly US$21 in Europe and US$21.50 in Asia (figures per energy analyst Dr Einstein Millán Arcia, Sunday Business Guardian, 23 August 2026). That is a delivered-market spread of more than seven to one.For Shell and BP, who each hold 45 per cent of Atlantic LNG, that gap is not a background fact. It is the number that decides where the Venezuelan gas goes, and it does not point to Point Lisas.

For the complete article visit:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gas-wont-save-us-arbitrage-bypassing-point-lisas-tishana-simon-yz51e

 The Data Point 

 On 24 July 2026, the United States imposed Section 301 tariffs of 10% or 12.5% on 60 trading partners that together account for 99.4% of US imports. Trinidad and Tobago was placed at 10%. The Bahamas, Guyana, and the Dominican Republic were placed at 12.5%. And according to the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, more than 85% of T&T’s exports to the US, its energy and petrochemical lines, were exempted at zero.The headline number is not the story. The gap between 10% and 12.5%, and the exemptions sitting beneath both, is where your actual cost lives. 

 The Diagnosis...To read the rest visit: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2026-us-tariff-split-caribbean-boards-misreading-special-simon-ehk7e

 Trinidad and Tobago is importing the tradable industries it could be building, exporting, and owning.Between 2011 and 2023, its services imports surged to USD 3,300 million while exports never crossed USD 1,300 million. The gap has not closed since.Part 1 established that the displacement is real and measurable. Part 2 shows where it is happening, and what is at stake for the firms, investors, and institutions positioned to reverse it.

Tradable Services Versus Non-Tradable Services..Want to read more?

Visit this link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/crowding-out-services-trinidad-imports-instead-builds-tishana-simon-d28wc