Trinidad & Tobago MPC keeps repo rate at 3.50%

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago on 27 March 2026 kept the repo rate unchanged at 3.50 percent, judging that significant global uncertainty from the escalating United States-Israel-Iran conflict, subdued non-energy activity, slowing private-sector credit and still-muted inflation outweighed recent surges in international energy prices. The policy rate has been steady at 3.50 percent since at least March 2025. System liquidity remains ample—commercial banks’ excess reserves averaged TTD5.7 billion in mid-March after dipping to TTD3.8 billion in January—and no interbank repo trades have occurred since February, although the negative TT-US three-month treasury yield gap widened to 73 bp by 23 March. Headline consumer inflation eased to 0.6 percent year-on-year in February, with core inflation at 0.8 percent and food prices slightly lower, while private-sector credit growth decelerated to 5.4 percent in January from 6.3 percent in October 2025 amid weaker business and consumer lending. Foreign reserves have held around USD5.4 billion since December 2025, though some adequacy ratios have slipped. The Committee highlighted war-driven spikes in oil and gas prices, heightened financial-market volatility and cautious stances by major central banks as key external risks, and signalled continued close monitoring of global developments and readiness to adjust policy to balance reserve protection with supportive funding conditions.