Gerald Ramdeen, Chairman of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company (NGC), has publicly justified sweeping budget cuts implemented by the state-owned energy giant. Framing the measures as essential corrective action, Ramdeen attributed the need for austerity to years of financial mismanagement under the previous People’s National Movement (PNM) administration.
While NGC reported a substantial $1.6 billion profit for 2024, Ramdeen insisted this figure requires critical contextual analysis. He revealed that the company’s average return on assets stood at a mere 1.6% over the past five years, with return on equity averaging 2.7%—figures he characterized as profoundly inadequate for a national asset valued at $43 billion. More strikingly, the chairman disclosed that concealed within the headline profit was a catastrophic $1 billion loss accumulated by three foreign entities established under the preceding government.
“The record of the NGC and its subsidiaries under the PNM reveals facts that are stubborn things,” Ramdeen stated, directly challenging former energy officials to publicly account for the vanished billion dollars.
The chairman accused the previous administration of transforming NGC from a gas company into what he derisively termed the “National Grants Company,” alleging it served as an indiscriminate funding source for activities far beyond its core energy mandate. This fiscal indiscipline, he claimed, persisted over nine years and resulted in NGC declaring unprecedented after-tax losses of $316.2 million in 2020 and $1.3 billion in 2023.
In response, NGC’s current board has implemented drastic reductions across community, educational, and cultural programs for 2025. Internal budget documents reveal the elimination of numerous initiatives, including:
– The complete defunding of the $3.8 million i2A youth development program serving fenceline communities
– Termination of steelband sponsorships affecting Couva Joylanders, La Brea Nightingale, and Tobago’s Steel X Plosion
– Discontinuation of $7.45 million in sports sponsorships, including the popular “Right on Track” athletics program
– Elimination of support for the Bocas Lit Fest, Trinidad’s premier literary festival
– Reduction in human and social development funding by $1.375 million
These cuts have ignited substantial public backlash and political controversy. Opposition MP Stuart Young condemned the reductions as an “unjustifiable and unforgivable assault on our culture,” particularly emphasizing the cultural significance of steelband funding. Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore described the move as “a devastating blow” executed without consultation.
Despite slashing cultural and social programs, the board initially retained certain Christmas commitments including a $1.5 million staff dinner and vouchers for 630 employees, though subsequent decisions significantly reduced holiday event expenditures. The company also maintained a $5,000 gift to 650 employees for NGC’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Ramdeen concluded that while NGC acknowledges its corporate social responsibilities, future initiatives will be executed “in a prudent and frugal manner” aligned with the company’s primary mission: gas aggregation and sales profitability for the benefit of Trinidad and Tobago’s citizens.
