data on remittances by workers to their families abroad. outward remittances surpassed remittances from abroad in 2014 ; by 2015 there was a net outflow of remittances from trinidad and tobago on the order of us $ 43 million. 12. the migration issue generates latent and potentially substantial medium term implications for public policy. in principle, the movement of workers across territories would simply help to bring demand and supply of labor into balance and improve efficiency and production. the ongoing struggle with migration in europe however shows that, on a large scale, the repercussions could be much more complex, spilling into humanitarian, cultural, ethnic, security and other spheres. in the case of trinidad and tobago, the most apparent economic consequences of migration relate to : ( i ) wage rates in the relevant sector ; ( ii ) employment conditions of migrants relative to locals ; ( iii ) the provision of social and other services to migrants ; ( iv ) the portability of national security, pension and other benefits ; and ( v ) taxation of migrants. in essence, therefore, these consequences must be taken into account in the design and implementation of aspects of trinidad and tobago ’ s global economic interactions policies that impinge on the attractiveness of trinidad and tobago for migrants, including public sector employment programs that draw workers out of other low skilled jobs. having brought into the discussion the topic of migration, alongside the earlier subjects of commodity prices, financial interconnections, interest parity and the global outlook, what are the lessons for analysts and decision makers? 13. data and intelligence on trinidad and tobago ’ s economic interaction with the rest of the world must be comprehensive, timely and meaningful. in order for private and public sector decision makers to effectively deal with the issues related to the country ’ s global economic activities, data is crucial. detailed and as far as possible real time statistics on energy markets, financial indicators, market sentiment, developments and prospects in other economies, and on migration must be constantly on hand. there are undoubtedly some existing deficiencies that must be immediately addressed. for example, comprehensive trade data is critical in assessing the external accounts but this is now only available with a lag of about a year. a longer term collaborative endeavor to improve collection, the technical basis of the statistics and dissemination of relevant data and market intelligence must be a priority. 14. moreover, domestic policies must formally integrate feedback effects from external reactions. the analysis above has shown that trinidad and tobago ’ s

in the society learn to make the right financial decisions. and thus i invite those of you here who have not yet got involved, to join the programme. i urge you to get your friends and colleagues, who are not here, to also get involved. it can be done in many ways. • get your employers to sponsor lunch and learn sessions, in the workplace. • volunteer to organize and provide financial literacy classes to your community groups ; your church groups ; and your social clubs. • teach your kids good financial habits and seek to get financial literacy as part of the school curriculum. we will provide or arrange for the training, the materials and other back - stopping support. we continue to look for financing for the programme. the three year budget calls for an expenditure of $ 10 million of which about one - half is earmarked to come from the central government and the central bank. we would like to raise the remainder from stakeholders. as i said, financial literacy is a national imperative and we would hope to convince a broad cross section of the community to get on the national financial literacy bandwagon. at this point, i would now like to share some of the results of the base - line national literacy survey which was initiated to give us a general idea of the current level of financial literacy in the country. the survey results will also help us to make more targeted interventions as we move forward. we plan to conduct follow - up surveys to track the progress being made under the programme. the survey was conducted ….