The Ministry of Finance is a Ministry in the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. The head of the ministry is the Minister of Finance and is appointed by the President of Trinidad and Tobago on the advice of the Prime Minister. The incumbent, Davendranath Tancoo was appointed on May 3, 2025. He replaced Vishnu Dhanpaul, who assumed office on March 17, 2025, succeeding Colm Imbert, who was minister from September 2015 to March 2025, Dhanpaul was appointed as minister following the appointment of Stuart Young as Prime Minister.
The Ministry's Permanent Secretaries are currently Suzette Taylor-Lee Chee (2024),[1] Michelle Durham-Kissoon (2016),[2] and Dexter Jaggernauth (2023, Ag) with Yasmin Harris as Comptroller of Customs and Excise.[1]
History
The first mention of The Ministry of Finance was in 1956 when an elected Minister of Finance would replace the Official Financial Secretary (British civil servant),[3] before Trinidad and Tobago, gained independence from Great Britain in 1962. The first Minister of Finance was Dr. Eric Williams, which followed the Trinidad and Tobago general election, 1956.
Trinidad and Tobago Customs and Excise Division:[9] They are responsible for enforcement of customs and excise laws.
The Financial Intelligence Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (FIUTT)[10] became operational in February 2010. Their responsibilities are to implement the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism policies of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Responsibilities of the Ministry
The Ministry of Finance has responsibility for most fiscal matters relating to the government, several state bodies and personnel departments of various public services.[11] Some of these are:
Actuarial Services
Banking (Central and Commercial)
Borrowing (Local and Foreign)
Budgeting/Budgetary Control
Consolidated Fund
Customs and Excise
Debt Management
Divestments
Double Taxation Treaties
Economic Management
Financial Intelligence
Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy
Fiscal Matters
Heritage and Stabilisation Fund
Infrastructure Development Fund
Inland Revenue
Insolvency
International Financing
Investments
Lotteries and Gaming
National Insurance
Pensions and Gratuities
Personnel Department Matters relating to the role of the Minister of Finance as specified in various Acts governing the Public Service
Public Procurement
Public Sector Finance Management
Special Funds
State Enterprises (Corporation Sole)
Strategic Planning and Execution
Treasury
Treasury Solicitor
Valuation
Statutory Boards and Other Bodies
There are several Statutory Boards whose mandate fall under the Ministry.[11] Some of whom are:
Central Tenders Board
Deposit Insurance Corporation
National Insurance Appeals Tribunal
National Insurance Board
National Insurance Property Development Company Limited
The Ministry has responsibility for companies which are wholly owned, majority owned, minority owned and indirectly owned by the government. Some of these companies are:[11]
First Citizens Financial Services (St. Lucia) Limited
First Citizens Investment Services (Barbados) Limited
First Citizens Investment Services Limited
First Citizens Securities Trading Limited
First Citizens Trustee Services Limited
First Citizens (St. Lucia) Limited
NEL Power Holdings Limited
Budget
The Ministry of Finance financial allocations are distributed through the national budget.
The Ministry’s total allocation of the National Budget for the period 2019 to 2025 [12][13]
Year
Total Allocation
National Budget
Percentage of National Budget
Notes
2019
$6,644,866,532.00
$54,581,467,181.00
12.10%
2020
$6,605,822,807.00
$57,388,076,726.00
11.52%
2021
$5,276,379,653.00
$56,498,472,820.00
9.34%
2022
$6,227,104,681.00
$58,974,346,470.00
10.56%
2023
$7,013,578,526.00
$69,379,928,103.00
10.11%
2024
$6,325,484,110.00
$64,467,985,780.00
9.81%
2
2025
$7,407,554,030.00
$63,530,583,090.00
11.66%
2
Note 1: Information from page 58 of a summary of expenditure for the Ministry of Finance (MOF) for the period 2019-2025 By the FINANCIAL SCRUTINY UNIT of Office of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.
Note 2: Quote on page 58 in MOF summary "For the Fiscal Years 2019-2023, actual figures were used to calculate the total allocation. However, estimates were used to calculate the total allocation for the Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025."
Note 3: Quote on page 58 in MOF summary "Total Allocation for the Ministry of Finance =Recurrent Expenditure + Consolidated Fund Expenditure"
↑ Meighoo, K.; Dumas, R.; Ghany, H.; Kuboni, O; Reddock, R.; Richards, G.M.; Ryan, S.; Samaroo, B. (7 December 2012). "The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago"(PDF). The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Hansib Publications. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
