Port of Spain a shopping and business centre for much of the country. Most government offices are also located in the city and many important government services can only be accessed in the Ministry offices located downtown. Within recent years, local banks headquartered here have helped it become a financial centre for the Caribbean and Central America region. Two of the largest banks in the Caribbean, Republic Bank, Trinidad and Tobago Limited and Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT, reacquired by the Royal Bank in 2008) are headquartered here or base their Caribbean operations in the city. Trinidad's economy is based on
Culture of the Caribbean Celeste Woss y Gil of the Dominican Republic, and an oil painting entitled "Marpacífico" (Hibiscus-Marpacífico is the name used in Cuba for the hibiscus flower), 1943, by Cuban modernist Amelia Peláez. There have even been a rare selection of prints by Haitian artists such as Castera Bazile, Wilson Bigaud, Dieudonné Cedor, Jacques-Enguerrand Gourgue and Gabriel Lévêque, that have not been exhibited since they were part of a traveling exhibition in 1948. Caribbean literature is often divided into Spanish, French and English-language literature, which are rooted in the literary traditions of Spain, France and Britain, respectively. However, collectively this literature has