Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 15/Jan 06:54

Your business, our data using TTEITI insights for decision-making

Vashti Guyadeen In today’s economic environment, marked by uncertainty, fiscal constraints, foreign exchange pressures, and heightened ESG expectations, access to credible, timely data is no longer optional. It is a strategic necessity. This is particularly true for an economy such as ours, where the extractive sector continues to play a defining role in shaping fiscal outcomes, foreign exchange flows, and investor confidence. Transparency and open data are not abstract ideals for me. They are principles I have worked to advance in practice. Between 2012 and 2015, I had the responsibility of serving as the country lead for TT’s first Open Government Partnership Action Plan. That experience reinforced a simple but powerful truth. When data is open, reliable, and accessible, it strengthens governance, builds trust, and improves decision making across the public and private sectors alike. Those same principles are just as relevant for business today. Transparency is not anti-business. On the contrary, it creates predictability, reduces risk, and allows firms to plan with greater confidence. This brings me to the important role of TT Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI). As our national implementation of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, TTEITI operationalises international best practice in transparency and accountability in the oil, gas, and mining sectors. Through independently verified reporting, it discloses critical information on revenues, contracts, environmental considerations, beneficial ownership, and the governance of state-owned enterprises. Over more than 15 years of reporting, TTEITI has reconciled approximately $200 billion in extractive sector payments, with an unexplained difference of just $4,500. That level of verification matters. It gives businesses, investors, and policymakers confidence that the data underpinning our energy sector is robust, credible, and independently assured. [caption id="attachment_1202339" align="alignnone" width="613"] Vashti Guyadeen, CEO of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce. -[/caption] TTEITI’s work also provides valuable insight into foreign exchange inflows. Between 2015 and 2022 alone, major oil and gas companies paid an estimated US$7.4 billion to the government. These flows are critical to sustaining imports, servicing debt, and supporting overall macroeconomic stability. Understanding these dynamics is essential for any serious discussion on economic resilience and diversification. Importantly, TTEITI does not stop at disclosure. Its analyses and recommendations have helped to strengthen revenue collection systems, improve data management, and assess whether production sharing contracts are delivering optimal value to the country. This is the kind of evidence-based insight that both policymakers and the private sector need. So what does this mean for you, as business leaders? It means that transparency data is not just about compliance or reporting. It is a strategic business input. TTEITI’s open data can help firms anticipate fiscal and regulatory trends, assess policy risk, strengthen ESG strategies, and ground investment decisions in evidence rather than speculation. That is precisely why the chamber partnered with TTEITI for today’s session. Our objective is to move from data to dialogue, and from dialogue to better decisions. This engagement also reflects the priorities consistently raised by our members, greater tax transparency, stronger governance of state enterprises, clearer environmental disclosures, and improved ESG readiness in TT. The discussion is therefore not academic. It goes to the heart of how businesses plan, invest, and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving economic landscape. [caption id="attachment_1202336" align="alignnone" width="1024"] -[/caption] Let me emphasise this. Open data creates value. When businesses have access to credible information, they are better equipped to manage risk, anticipate change, and pursue sustainable growth. Transparency, when used well, becomes a source of competitive advantage. The TT Chamber is proud to have been a long-standing advocate for transparency, from our early work under the open government partnership to our continued collaboration with TTEITI. This is part of our broader commitment to strengthening the institutional foundations that support a resilient, competitive private sector. Vashti Guyadeen, CEO of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, gave the above edited speech at the TT Chamber Breakfast Meeting 2026 on January 13.   The post Your business, our data using TTEITI insights for decision-making appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.