Continued delays in settling the arrears to contractors, could however dampen these expectations. In our discussions with the private sector, we did not get the impression that any major new investments were on the cards for 2012.
Many business people were hopeful, however, that increasing demand, both from the domestic market and from CARICOM, would facilitate a rise in capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector current levels – now about 66–68 per cent. In principle, the tepid recovery, after three years of economic stagnation, should not have a major impact on employment.