few high - tech niche products and industries. in trinidad and tobago, for example, the agricultural sector offers many highpotential, low - tech, foreign exchange generating business opportunities such as cocoa, pineapple, tilapia and coconut, waiting to be fully exploited by private investors. in closing, ladies and gentlemen, i return to where i started – christopher columbus. columbus might not have been the great hero that history books make him out to be. even so, by charting a route to the new world, he showed that confident entrepreneurs with the backing of venture capitalists willing to take great risks can achieve world - changing disruptions. five centuries and nearly twenty five years later, it is time for the caribbean to continue the venture capital voyage started by the master entrepreneur, columbus. i thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

. with this pattern of development there was only limited diversification of the non - energy sector. in principle, this scenario could continue for a while, once the oil and gas industries continue to provide increasing amounts of foreign exchange to finance increasing imports of food, for the construction sector ( which is heavily import - intensive ) and for the retail industries. since mid - 2008 our economy has gone into a downturn similar to that of so many developed and developing economies all over the world. the indicators suggest that there has been a reduction in private consumption as well as in business investment. activity is now being sustained, even more than previously, by government expenditures. clearly, this is not sustainable. while some of the current stagnation may be cyclical, there is no doubt that something fundamental has changed. going forward, it ’ s more than likely that fiscal policy will need to be more constrained to avoid an unacceptable public debt burden ; and that the private sector will need to assume a greater role in driving the economy. it is my view, ladies and gentlemen, that the uncertainties that surround our energy sector ( including the maturing oil fields and the pressures to reduce global energy demand ), combined with the impact of the international economic crisis, which has not yet fully run its course, make it very clear that we will have to find alternative growth sources to complement the energy sector, if we are to attain medium - term economic sustainability. all private sector business activities ( including small and micro business activity ) benefit the economy in some way. they meet specific consumer needs and they provide employment and income. for medium - term sustainability, however, we need a diversification strategy that focuses on sectors that exploit our comparative advantage and which are efficient and globally competitive. for sustainability, we need to develop more of those activities that generate foreign exchange or that save on foreign exchange. against this background, our economy faces both immediate and longer - term challenges. the immediate challenge is to spur a recovery in economic activity after a prolonged downturn. this afternoon the central bank will announce data for 2009, which suggest that real growth declined in the third quarter of 2009, making it the fourth consecutive quarter of gdp decline. the indicators suggest that private sector construction remains depressed ; that private sector investment in the non - energy sector is at a low point and that the manufacturing sector is operating with significant spare capacity. the stagnation in economic activity is reflected, in a tangible way in the absolute decline in bank credit outstanding. after increasing