Trinidad's Forex Squeeze Deepens as the Official TT-Dollar Rate Drifts From the Street

Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign-exchange shortage has moved from cyclical complaint to structural strain: businesses report delays securing US dollars for essential imports, informal-market premiums are rising, and the gap between the official and parallel TT-dollar rates keeps widening. Underlying it are an overvalued fixed rate and a structural decline in energy output, sharpened by Washington’s 2025 revocation of the licences behind the cross-border Dragon gas project. The IMF projects growth near 0.8% for 2026.

For the diaspora the consequence is concrete. Money sent home converts at the official rate, but rising local prices and import scarcity erode what it buys on the ground — so the real value of a remittance is falling even when the nominal figure holds. Families weighing larger transfers, property, or business support should factor the parallel-market reality, not just the headline rate.

Source: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday; IMF Article IV (via Caribbean Today); Coface.