There has been an ongoing issue in our country that appears to have eluded national attention, one that I am hoping that you, through your various media formats, can bring to the fore and shed some light on.For some time now, members of the public and business community alike have been experiencing grave difficulties in accessing US$ currency from the banking sector. The problem began surfacing at least six months ago, if not more. Over the past month or so however, the problem has deteriorated significantly and is a cause of grave concern.To exemplify, on a personal level, if you have a US$ balance owing on your credit card and you go to the bank to make a payment on that balance, the bank is saying that they cannot accept your payment as there is a shortage of US$ currency.On a business level, if you request a wire transfer to pay overseas suppliers, the wait can be anywhere from three to six weeks to receive the required US$ funds from the banks.
It is from a business perspective that I am raising concern.T&T has a robust import industry that employs tens of thousands of people directly, many of whom enjoy well paying permanent jobs in the fields of sales, marketing, merchandising and accounting. Many companies have worked hard over the years to earn strong credit ratings abroad to facilitate ease of doing business with their foreign counterparts.If as a business you cannot have access to the most basic trading commodity, ie currency, how can you maintain, far less grow your existing business? How can you create or sustain employment?The obvious result will be continued upward inflationary pressure as importers seek to increase profit margins to compensate for the lack of availability of product and subsequent cost cutting through layoffs and downsizing.While we have a relatively large manufacturing base in Trinidad, there are still thousands of products that are simply not manufactured locally for which we rely on imports to meet those demands.Many of the raw materials required in our local manufacturing industry are also imported so the further possibility of shortages in locally manufactured products is inevitable.The biggest problem in all this is the deafening silence from the Central Bank, and or Ministry of Finance or Trade. The banks only tell us that Central Bank is not releasing US$ currency.... that's it.
The question that I am urging you to ask is why? Why in a country whose major contributor to GDP is the export of oil and gas do we have such a shortage of US$ currency?Why for a country with such a strong export market for its products, regionally and internationally do we have such a shortage of US$ currency? (Surely they aren't paying us in TT$!) Why the silence from Central Bank, Government, Manufacturer's Association, T&T Chamber of Commerce?Then, more importantly, what is the government through its macro economic policy and the Central Bank through its monitory policy doing to address the systemic problem that created this shortage and how are we correcting it going forward?As business people we need to know! People's jobs are at stake.Banks loans are at stake. Economic development is at stake. Our reputations are at stake.Judy Kanhai, please investigate on our behalf!
Scott Forbes,
San Juan