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  • 1 year ago
The Central Bank Governor has expressed the view that Trinidad and Tobago is still coming out of the Covid 19 pandemic.

And he says one of the issues resulting from this is that this country still has "a foreign exchange market that is not in full equilibrium. "

The Central Bank Governor spoke on the matter at Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange conference earlier this week.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00The issue of what many in the local business community are calling a foreign exchange or
00:04forex crisis in Trinidad and Tobago has occupied the national attention in recent days.
00:11During the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange Limited's 2024 Capital Markets Conference
00:16at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain on Wednesday, the Governor of the Central
00:21Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Alvin Hilaire, did not speak specifically about the recent
00:26concerns about forex, but did speak about the issue in general.
00:31However, before doing so, he placed it and other matters with regard to the Trinidad
00:36and Tobago economy in the context of how the nation's financial and monetary systems
00:41managed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:45In our case, we entered the pandemic in a fairly fortunate position of having buffers.
00:51One we had high international reserves, two a heritage and stabilization fund that was
00:57quite extensive, about six billion, and then we had low debt.
01:03So this was, because of that, we were able to weather the storm fairly without having
01:09to acquire too much debt and to not have to borrow too much from international financial
01:18organizations, etc.
01:19Dr. Hilaire said that on the monetary side, the central bank eased the monetary conditions,
01:25increased liquidity, and allowed the banks and the financial system to get breathing
01:30space while not compromising long-term financial stability.
01:35It was at this point he made his general comment about forex.
01:41Where are we now?
01:42I think we are still coming out of the pandemic, we still have some issues to deal with, we
01:47still have a foreign exchange market that is not in full equilibrium, we have to be
01:51vigilant on our debt, we have to be vigilant on our finances, public finances, we have
01:57to be vigilant on monetary policy, and so we are looking in all those areas, and I think
02:04we are in a decent place, but we can't be complacent.
02:09In a post on the social media platform X earlier this week, Finance Minister Colm Inwood, in
02:14response to articles in the Express newspaper, claimed that the Express is facilitating a
02:18campaign of economic destruction that the IMF should manage and control the distribution
02:24by the central bank of the government's foreign exchange.
02:28The Finance Minister declared, quote, that will not happen under our watch since it will
02:33lead to instant devaluation and massive inflation, end quote.
02:38Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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