Above: Port of Spain

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran is “cautiously optimistic” about a 2.5 percent growth rate for the country’s economy in 2013, he said Tuesday.

At the same time, Rambarran said Trinidad’s economy was fragile, with weak growth prospects.

“Weak growth domestic-wise and in the Caribbean and internationally has psychologically fed into the minds, I believe, of individuals and the private sector where the low confidence continues to resonate,” he said. “There are a number of actions that have taken place over the last year and that will give the economy a boost, for example, the launch of the CLICO Investment Fund, which I think has put a lot of anxiety behind us.”

A report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean last month also projected the country’s growth rate at 2.5 percent.

Trinidad’s economy grew at 1 percent in 2012, according a United Nations estimate.