Trinidad and Tobago: Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, Trinidad and Tobago's customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) rose 0.16 percentage points on 2018 (from 8.5% to 8.66%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2018), the average change was +0.11 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.02 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.22 percentage points in 2017 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.64 percentage points in 2018. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.52 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 82% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

Closest to Trinidad and Tobago in the 2019 ranking

• Myanmar — 2nd of 3: 6.84%
• Cyprus — 3rd of 3: 0.28%

What this measures

Taxes and duties on imports are taxes on goods and services that become payable at the moment when goods enter the economic territory or when services are delivered by non-resident producers to residents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of tax revenue which includes compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind, made by institutional units to government units.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

All 19 values

Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) in nearby economies

• Argentina — 5.98% (2024)
• Bahamas, The — 9.45% (2024)
• Barbados — 9.23% (2016)
• Brazil — 4.27% (2024)
• Chile — 1.18% (2024)
• Colombia — 2.32% (2024)
• Costa Rica — 2.8% (2024)
• Dominican Republic — 5.52% (2024)
• Ecuador — 8.33% (2022)
• El Salvador

More public sector data for Trinidad and Tobago

• Military expenditure (current USD) — 229.9 million (2025)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 1.56 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 0.94% (2025)
• Armed forces personnel, total — 5,000 (2020)
• Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) — 0.77% (2020)
• Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure) — 2.54% (2025)
• Grants and other revenue (current LCU) — 7.21 billion (2019)
• Grants and other revenue (% of revenue) — 18.74% (2019)
• Revenue, excluding grants (current LCU) — 38.48 billion (2019)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Trinidad and Tobago's customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue)?

8.66% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2001?

It is up 1.98 percentage points from 6.68% in 2001. The highest value was 10.14% in 2017 and the lowest 4.19% in 2008.

Is the latest change in customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) unusual for Trinidad and Tobago?

In 2019, Trinidad and Tobago's customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) rose 0.16 percentage points on 2018 (from 8.5% to 8.66%). Across the 17 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2018), the average change was +0.11 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.02 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.TAX.IMPT.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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