As small businesses struggle to clear their overseas debts, president of the Penal/Debe Chamber of Commerce, Shiva Roopnarine, is calling for more equity in the distribution of foreign exchange.
At the chamber's annual Christmas dinner at Achievor's Banquet Hall, San Fernando, on Friday night, Roopnarine called on Central Bank Governor Dr Alvin Hilaire to keep a close eye on how foreign exchange dollars are allocated.
He made the call as he revealed many of the chamber's members still have problems accessing foreign exchange.
"The country is well aware of foreign reserve shortages and the controlled release of US dollars to the banks, even after the US$1 billion dollar oversubscribed loan secured by the Minister of Finance," Roopnarine said.
"Members have issues accessing foreign exchange and if they do, the waiting time could be weeks. We need foreign exchange in an equitable manner, just like any other business community in Trinidad and Tobago, from the local commercial banks."
He added: "The governor of the Central Bank needs to respond to the call from the business community and monitor the allocation of US dollars to these institutions. Will the country and the Central Bank be able to hold the TT dollar at its present value to the US dollar considering the high demand? Will we now be able to know who is using the majority of the US dollars, or will this lead to the loss of another Central Bank governor?
"Where did the US money go? It is not accessible to the small and medium businesses."
Roopnarine said the inaccessibility of foreign exchange has caused businesses to incur additional expenditure, as they are forced to use their credit cards to purchase goods and services which attract credit card fees.
He said suppliers were unwilling to absorb the three to five per cent charged to them by Mastercard and Visa. As a result, members feel exploited by the commercial banks since they cannot get US for cash or wire transfers , but have little problems paying their US credit card bills.
"We call on the banking sector to immediately correct this dilemma, assist us in conducting our business and end this banking monopoly. You need our business as much as we require your services," Roopnarine said.