Low Business Costs

Low Business Costs

Trinidad and Tobago's success in energy has fueled its rapid development into one of the most industrialized and cost-effective nations in the Caribbean and Central America.

Download the Cost of Doing Business in T&T brochure - Size: 1.6M bytes

Some Quick Facts

  • US$3.05

    Minimum Wage 2023

  • US$0.05/ kWh

    Electricity Rate

A Leader in Cost Effectiveness

Trinidad and Tobago is #1 when it comes to the lowest cost of electricity in the Caribbean and Central America (CCA) according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com. What does this mean? The country has energy resources that can substantially reduce your operational costs.

If you are looking for that next location to set up your business and to benefit from major cost savings, Trinidad and Tobago is the place to be. This twin island republic ranks 1st in the Latin America and Caribbean region for the Cost of Starting a Business by the World Economic Forum 2019.

A Cut Above the Rest

The Global Competitiveness Report 2019, published by the World Economic Forum ranked Trinidad and Tobago favourably within the Latin America and Caribbean region on some key sub-indices.

  • #1

    Cost of Starting a Business % GNI per capita

  • #4

    Ease of Finding Skilled Employees

  • #5

    Prevalence of non-tariff barriers

  • #8

    Skillset of Graduates

  • #10

    Mobile Cellular Subscriptions per 100PP

Minimum wage comparison

Country$
Barbados8.50
Belize2.47
Colombia1.01
Costa Rica2.49
Dominican Republic1.31
Grenada2.31
Guatemala1.70
Guyana1.64
Honduras2.15
Jamaica1.57
Mexico0.95
Nicaragua0.95
Panama3.12
St Kitts & Nevis2.96
Trinidad & Tobago3.05

Energy Cost Comparison

The cost of electricity for commercial/industrial use per kWh based in the largest business city within each country. State electricity prices are the average price of electricity (per kWh) to industrial customers, inclusive of all fees and charges.


 

CountryCost (US Dollars)
Mexico0.187
Trinidad and Tobago0.053
Guatemala0.168
Colombia0.134
Costa Rica0.211
Brazil0.141
El Salvador0.209
Honduras0.234
Panama0.187
Dominican Republic0.18
Jamaica0.286
Barbados0.377
GuyanaNot Available
Nicaragua0.182
Source: www.globalpetrolprices.com 2023

Utilities

A majority of the utility providers are either jointly or fully owned by the state.

  • The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA)

  • Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (TSTT)

  • Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC)

Comparative Costs of Water (cubic meter) US$

Country Cost/ m3 (US Dollars)
Trinidad and Tobago0.56
Barbados3.89
Jamaica1.4154
El Salvador4.578
Honduras4.86
Costa Rica2.7476
Mexico1.4748
Panama0.3432
Guatemala0.7499
Colombia1.1283
Brazil2.4997
Dominican Republic0.9826
Guyana0.0262
Nicaragua0.4
Source: fDi Benchmark, a service from the Financial Times Limited 2018, www.fdibenchmark.com

COMPARATIVE COST OF PREPAID MOBILE MONTHLY

Trinidad and Tobago ranks 5th in the Caribbean and Latin American region for the cost of monthly prepaid mobile.

Mobile - Cellular prices refer to the monthly usage price for 30 outgoing calls per month in pre-determined ratios (on-net/ off-net to a fixed-line and for peak and off-peak times) plus 100 SMS messages.  It is calculated as a percentage of a country’s average monthly GNI per capita.

The mobile-cellular prices are based on the prepaid price operator with the largest market share (as measured by the total number of mobile- cellular subscriptions).  Postpaid prices are used for countries where prepaid subscriptions make up less than 2% of all mobile subscriptions.

Prices refer to regular (non-promotional) plans and exclude promotional offers and limited discounts or user groups or any other discounts for services specifically based on the type of phone or time of day usage.

CountryCost (US Dollars)
Trinidad and Tobago16.34
Barbados47.5
Jamaica4.82
El Salvador10.22
Honduras13.75
Costa Rica4.69
Mexico3.83
Panama8.2
Guatemala12.82
Colombia4.87
Brazil5.61
Nicaragua30.05
Source: https://a4ai.org/itu-2021-mobile-cellular-low-usage-basket/

COMPARATIVE COST OF FIXED BROADBAND MONTHLY

Trinidad and Tobago ranks #2 in the Caribbean & LATAM region.  (Source International Telecommunication Union – Fixed Broadband Basket 5GB, 2021 basket)

Fixed-broadband prices refer to the price of a monthly subscription to an entry-level fixed broadband plan. This indicator is calculated as a percentage of a country’s average monthly GNI per capita.

For comparability reasons, the fixed broadband prices are based on a monthly data usage of (a minimum of) 1GB.  For plans that limit the monthly amount of data transferred by including data volume caps below 1GB, the cost of the additional bytes is added to the sub-basket.  The minimum speed of a broadband connection is 256kbit/s. Tariffs are collected from the ISP with the largest market share (as measured by the number of subscriptions.

Prices refer to regular (non-promotional) plans and exclude promotional offers and limited discounts or user groups or any other discounts for services specifically based on the type of phone or time of day usage.

CountryCost (US Dollars)
Trinidad and Tobago40.70
Barbados49.50
Jamaica27.92
El Salvador30.00
Honduras28.00
Costa Rica16.09
Mexico17.43
Panama54.57
Guatemala27.06
Colombia19.18
Brazil18.89
Guyana27.76
Nicaragua31.99
Source: https://a4ai.org/itu-2021-fixed-broadband-basket/