Mahabir says he’s not disappointed

Economist Dr Dhaneshwar Mahabir said he is not disappointed by being bypassed for the position of Central Bank Governor. He said the post is a government-appointed position and not necessarily one that is applied for. Asked if he was offered the post, he said: “I don’t know what went on in the deliberations and why there was a choice of Dr Rambarran over Dr Mahabir over Mr Mansoor. I was not party to the deliberations.

“What I did was that I was asked by the chairman of the UNC, I was asked by Mr Warner together with a few other Cabinet Ministers whether I would consider the position given the crisis that the economy is in and given the fact that they do have a Local Government Elections coming up and a General Election in 2015.

“I said yes, in the interest of the country you can consider me and I will make myself available. Having sent my Curriculum Vitae that was all I did,” he said. The announcement was made at the post-Cabinet news conference yesterday by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in a statement. “They are well in their right to choose the candidate that they are comfortable with,” he said.

Dr Mahabir hopes that the new governor would “really engineer some innovation in the financial sector so that the stagnant economy can improve. It does not depend on who holds the position but really how is the quality of life of the poorest of our citizens going to fare on account of this appointment,” he said.

President of the T&T Manufacturers’ Association, Dominic Hadeed said; “It really comes down to who could work best with the Minister of Finance. We have worked with the gentleman in the past in a consultancy basis at TTMA so we are aware of his capabilities,” he said.