##ng provisions in future bid rounds or other long - term contracts with foreign companies which promote the issuance of ttdrs. even if we put aside the larger multi - nationals, the active involvement of private domestic capital will greatly help the development of the energy services sector. these small local companies ( drillers and other service operators ) take on active role in reviving old wells as they assume control of small acreages on which they do their own exploration and production. output from these sources has declined in recent years. the government has proposed changes for small land and marine operators to stimulate activity. the incentives are designed to increase the tax deductible costs to reduce the liability for the spt. i am suggesting that a junior stock exchange could be an effective mechanism for raising capital for this sector, while broadening public participation. a junior stock market is a mechanism whereby enterprises that find difficulty raising capital through commercial loans can source the required funding. successful junior markets have been established in the united kingdom ( london stock exchange junior market ) and canada ( toronto stock exchange junior market ). in 2009, a junior market was launched in jamaica. from all reports, it has been very successful. the main feature of a junior market is that it allows investors to place capital into listed smes. market development is supported by appropriate tax incentives by the government as such exemption from taxes on dividends and share transfers. some of the criteria for the establishment of a junior market are as follows ( the process puts some obligations on the smes ) : – companies desirous of listing must do so via an ipo. – the preferred method of issue is via a prospectus issue where an offer is made to the public by or on behalf of a company, at a fixed offer price. – for the purpose of transparency, annual statutory audits, quarterly and annual reports are required in keeping with the submission requirements of the main exchange. – a company which is wholly or partly a subsidiary of a registered entity on a recognized stock exchange shall not be eligible to be listed. ( this disqualifies local operations of international oil companies ) i am told that there are some obstacles to be cleared before a junior market for energy service firms could be established. one is the assignment of acreages by petrotrin and the second is the need to address trade union opposition. it is said that our stock market has not flourished because shareholders are reluctant to dilute ownership and firms are reluctant to open themselves up to public scrutiny.

ewart s williams : impact of financial crises on the caribbean opening remarks by mr ewart s williams, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the caribbean centre for money & finance ( ccmf ) / caribbean community ( caricom ) secretariat and caribbean regional technical assistance centre ( cartac ) workshop on regional financial stability, port - of - spain, 3 march 2010. * * * salutations / welcome congratulate cartac / caricom secretariat / ccmf for organizing the workshop … it is timely and perhaps long overdue. our region has had its fair share of financial turmoil over the years. here in trinidad and tobago during the 1980 ’ s for example, we experienced the collapse of several finance houses ; this was followed by problems with three indigenous banks which led eventually to a merger in 1993 of the three domestic banks. the 1980 ’ s and 1990 ’ s also saw the demise of several indigenous banks and other non - bank financial institutions in the wider caribbean region. all of them paled in comparison to the financial crisis that hit jamaica in the later 1990 ’ s. if my memory serves me right the resolution of this crisis is estimated to have cost around 30 % of gdp. there are two things that make the current financial crisis involving cl financial and its subsidiaries different : ( i ) its enormous size ; and ( ii ) its regional character. in effect, the crisis has involved not only trinidad and tobago ( with clico, british american, clico investment bank and cmmb ), but it has also touched barbados, guyana and suriname ( that have clico subsidiaries ) as well as the oecs and the bahamas which house baico insurance companies, all clf subsidiaries. of course in addition to its scope, the regional crisis has also attracted intense attention because it comes on the heels of the collapse of the stanford empire which had regional repercussions and in the midst of an international financial crisis which has been characterized as the worst for almost a century. while the region, perhaps initially, ignored the incidence of financial stress suffered by individual territories and while we faced only limited contagion from the international financial crisis, it is clear that the current regional financial crisis is an important wake - up call ; one that we cannot ignore : one that carries powerful lessons that we need to address immediately. experience tells us several things about financial crises viz : ( i ) that the world being what it is, they are going to occur from time to