Above: Port of Spain

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The economy of Trinidad and Tobago contracted by 3.6 percent on a year-to-year basis to June 2012, according do the Central Bank’s Summary of Economic Indicators.

Output in the country’s energy sector fell by 7.3 percent in the same period, due largely to prolonged maintenance work and security upgrades at several major energy plants, the bank said.

Crude oil production amounted to 20,219 thousand barrels for the first eight months of 2012, 11.3 percent below the same period in 2011.

Natural gas production fell 0.1 percent from January to August of 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.

Headline inflation , measured on a year-to-year basis, slowed to 7.7 percent in September, down from 7.9 percent in August.

Food inflation fell 14.7 percent in September, from a high of 28.3 percent in May.

Real GDP fell by 1.3 percent in Trinidad in 201, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The fund had predicted growth to resume this year.