The T&T Chamber said while its members have reported a general improvement in availability of foreign exchange, they are still not getting enough to meet their overall needs.Chamber CEO Catherine Kumar said the organisation has been regularly canvassing members on the matter and has found that some have been experiencing a continuous shortage for over a year.
"So what we have found is that even though companies are obtaining forex, it is not without considerable hurdles at times–including opening secondary accounts, employing currency swaps which results in paying considerably higher rates for US dollars. Notably, the category of companies that continues to be most affected by the forex issue is medium-sized companies; we have seen that the foreign exchange needs of very small companies are relatively minimal."
Kumar said the Central Bank needs to do a thorough analysis to determine what the exact reasons are to account for the shortage to the general business community. Without this information to properly inform the Central Bank and allow for evidence-based corrective action, it may be that pumping more US dollars into the system will not resolve the issue of unmet demand," she said.