The Trinidad and Tobago government has denied suggestions that the economy of the oil-rich twin-island republic has gone into recession, although admitting "there has been a slowing down".

"What we are saying, and there is no question about it, that there is a slowdown, (but) does that make a recession? we are simply saying that has not happened," said Finance Minister Karen Nunez Tesheira.

Latest figures released by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) show that the local economy had contracted by 3.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, compared with growth of 2.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

It said that activity in the energy sector fell by two per cent in the first quarter of 2009 and that the non-energy sector declined by 5.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis to March 2009.

Within the non-energy sector, the manufacturing, distribution and construction sectors declined by 11.7 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.

Inflation declined

But the CBTT said that on a year-on-year basis to May 2009, headline inflation declined to 10.3 per cent, down from a high of 15.4 per cent in October 2008 and 11.9 per cent in April 2009.

It said core inflation, which excludes food prices, measured 5.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis to May 2009. The CBTT said that unemployment rate rose to five per cent for the quarter ending March 2009 from 3.9 per cent in quarter ending December 2008.

It said that the labour force participation rate increased in the first quarter of 2009 to 63.6 per cent compared with 63.1 per cent for the same period in 2008.