gdp of about 0. 9 per cent in the first half of 2011. if one tries to reconcile these two sets of the data, one arrives at the conclusion that there was a continued decline in economic activity in the second half of 2011. anecdotal evidence confirms this ; pointing to reduced working hours and other dislocations associated with the state of emergency and the curfew which affected, in the main, the distribution, manufacturing and even the energy sectors. the data for the first half of the year confirm a decline in crude oil and natural gas production of 7. 8 and 1. 4 per cent respectively, compared with the corresponding period of last year. as you know, there has been a secular decline in crude oil production since 2006, reflecting the maturation of our oil fields. at the same time, natural gas production has plateaued over the past few years reflecting ( a lack of new gas - based projects ) as well as capacity constraints. in addition to these structural factors, since the beginning of the year, there have been disruptions to oil and natural gas production because of ongoing safety upgrades and maintenance work at some of our production facilities. moreover, a shortage of gas supplies has also impacted output of the petro - chemical sector. in the non - energy sector, construction activity has remained at very depressed levels, reflecting the delayed start - up of several government projects and the virtual absence of new private sector construction projects. cement sales declined by 10. 5 per cent in the first half of 2011 compared to january to june 2010. latest unemployment statistics also show that the construction sector lost about 15, 500 jobs between the third quarter of 2009 and the corresponding period of 2010. some other notable economic developments are : one, the employment impact of the continued economic downturn. according to the latest official data, unemployment rose to 6. 3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010. while official unemployment figures for 2011 are not yet available, the bank, also keeps track of the retrenchment notices lodged at the ministry of labor and small and micro - enterprises. these data show that in the third quarter of 2011 retrenchment notices were more than double the amount filed in the corresponding period of 2010 due, in large part, to the closure of one food bis central bankers ’ speeches processing company. based on information for october, the spate of retrenchment has continued apace during the last quarter of 2011. bank credit data have also reflected the depressed economic

my understanding is that the local industry has several issues with the draft and that a working committee of attic is in the process of articulating these concerns and making recommendations. i gave this commitment to the executive of attic, when we met at the central bank a couple of months ago and i am repeating the commitment again - that the central bank would work closely with the industry, through attic, to formulate legislation that is appropriate to the local environment, that is feasible to implement, but also and very importantly, that is in line with international best practices. we cannot be marching towards developed country status and acquiesce into outdated financial sector legislation befitting the 1980 ’ s. we are ready to begin to work with attic on this new legislation, as soon as the working group is ready with its comments. i ’ m sure that, as reasonable people, we will arrive at the best insurance legislation for trinidad and tobago. in terms of the need to adopt international best practices, we feel strongly that the new legislation should cover a number of critical areas including : · adequate minimum capital requirements · modern standards of corporate governance · restrictions on related party transactions · new standards of market conduct · corporate transactions ( mergers, transfers of business, etc. ) · financial reporting and records · enhanced powers for the supervisor · clear exit rules let me turn to the kinds of changes that could be expected under the new supervisory regime when the transfer of supervisory authority is effected, supervision will continue to be on the basis of the existing insurance act. however, we envisage several significant changes in our operational approach. firstly, on - site examinations and continuous monitoring would supplement the current of off - site reporting and “ hands - off ” supervision. it is important to note that under the current legislation the osi had the authority to do on - site supervision, but no inspections have ever taken place, partly because of resource constraints. the central bank staff has the experience with on - site supervision of the commercial banks for several years, and training has been provided to the new staff that has been recruited to work in insurance supervision. we intend to make supervisory insurance training an on - going activity. secondly, while supervision will continue to involve the monitoring of legal compliance and critical performance ratios, as we currently do with the commercial banks, we intend to incorporate the riskbased approach into our operational policies and procedures vis - a - vis the insurance industry. i am certain that many insurance companies have already incorporated risk management techniques in their