bbb - bbb + a - a - a - international ratings standard & poor's central bank of trinidad and tobago 2. macroeconomic fundamentals non - energy gdp / per cent / 2007p 6. 7 6. 7 5. 0 6. 6 6. 7 agriculture - 15. 3 - 34. 2 - 9. 2 - 0. 9 - 5. 9 manufacturing 12. 0 5. 2 12. 6 9. 4 8. 0 construction 23. 4 8. 1 13. 4 4. 3 5. 2 finance, insurance & real estate 7. 3 21. 7 0. 4 1. 2 10. 5 8. 4 8. 3 7. 8 8. 2 8. 3 non - energy gdp of which : memo : contribution of financial sector to total employment central bank of trinidad and tobago 3. financial system soundness indicators total assets ( tt $ bn ) 62. 8 71. 2 82. 9 92. 9 103. 9 annual growth in total assets ( % ) 11. 2 12. 9 16. 5 11. 9 11. 8 asset quality : nonperforming loans to gross loans ( % ) 2. 6 3. 7 2. 7 2. 7 1. 4 4. 0 29. 9 5. 2 36. 1 3. 6 25. 0 4. 6 31. 8 4. 8 33. 9 19. 1 18. 3 18. 8 18. 6 17. 9 earnings and profitability return on assets ( % ) return on equity ( % ) capital adequacy : core capital to risk adjusted assets ( % ) central bank of trinidad and tobago 4. banking system credit : domestic and offshore trinidad & tobago / per cent / dec - 05 dec - 06 domestic 76. 0 75. 3 79. 3 caricom 20. 0 16. 3 14. 6 of which : barbados dec - 07 2. 8 2. 3 2. 5 dominican republic 0. 6 0. 4 0. 3 grenada 0. 6 0. 5 0. 4 jamaica 4. 6 2. 9 2. 0 st. lucia 5. 0 4. 7 4. 5 suriname 0. 5 0. 5 0. 4 belize 0. 6 0. 5 0. 1 guyana 0. 5 0. 4 0. 4 rest of the world 4. 0 8. 4 6. 1 3. 0 6. 0 4. 4 100. 0 100. 0 100. 0 of which : united states of

the inflation report and the financial stability report along with the monetary policy committee meeting dates are presented in the appendix. meeting dates have been determined by taking into account such factors as official holidays, national and religious festivals, and the data flow calendar. exchange rate policy and foreign exchange buying auctions along with inflation targeting, the central bank will continue to implement a floating exchange rate regime in the upcoming period. in the floating exchange rate regime the fx rate is neither a target, nor a policy tool. the only variable that the central bank sets as target is inflation and the main policy tool to achieve this target is short - term interest rates. therefore, the central bank targeting a variable such as fx rate, growth or current account deficit is out of the question. the central bank shares with the public the general framework of the current exchange rate policy and fx buying auctions in the press releases it has issued each year since the start of 2002. as also stated in these press releases ; ( i ) in the current floating exchange rate regime, exchange rates are determined by supply and demand conditions in the market and the central bank does not have any exchange rate target. ( ii ) since there is no exchange rate level to maintain in countries with floating exchange rate regimes, the level of foreign currency reserves is much less significant compared to countries with fixed or flexible exchange rate regimes. however, especially in emerging economies such as turkey, a strong fx reserves position is significant in removing the unfavorable effects of potential internal and external shocks and boosting confidence in the country ’ s economy. in addition, taking into account the foreign debt payments of the treasury and the need to gradually reduce the number of high - cost remittance accounts in the long - term, which are peculiar to turkey and make up a significant part of the liabilities side of the central bank ’ s balance sheet, the central bank holds foreign exchange buying auctions to build up reserves at times where foreign exchange supply constantly increases compared to foreign exchange demand. ( iii ) the economic transformation process experienced after the 2001 crisis has enabled significant achievements in macroeconomic stabilization and helped reduce the “ dollarization ” effect created by unstable macroeconomic policies and high inflation in the past. despite some deviations from this main tendency due to exogenous shocks and changes in risk perceptions, decisive implementation of economic program has always enabled a return to the main tendency. this process, combined with favorable developments in the balance of payments, has supported the increase in foreign exchange supply in the economy