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Teno to look into economic reports
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Posted on Nov 01 1999
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio vowed to consider various proposals made by two recent economic reports on the Northern Marianas as part of his administration’s efforts to spur business activities on the island.
But he refused to comment on the recommendation by an economist of Bank of Hawaii that CNMI must prepare now for an orderly transition when federal labor and immigration laws are extended the island.
“We have so many economists and we agree with some of them,” he said in an interview. “They do provide inputs.”
The Bank of Hawaii last week released its latest economic forecasts on the CNMI, citing slight growth in the local economy for the next two years. The bank comes out with the report every two years.
Dr. Wali Osman, the bank’s regional economist, has said that a federal takeover of CNMI’s labor and immigration functions is inevitable and thus, the government and the business sector should plan ahead to lessen economic disruption.
Likewise, the economic study conducted by the Northern Marianas College and funded by the Office of Insular Affairs has proposed creation of an Economic Development Council to guide and coordinate business plans on the island.
Tenorio considered these reports “helpful” to efforts by his administration to diversify the economic base beyond tourism and garment manufacturing, while providing information that it can utilize for its own agenda.
“We have to look at (those reports). There are so many good recommendations from that,” said the governor.
