Skip to playerSkip to main content
CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
While remaining mum on the commentary surrounding the Finance Ministry's loss at the Privy Council relative to the launching of an investigation into the Auditor General's office, the public and media discussions on the Foreign Exchange shortage forcing banks to limit the allowance to its private clients has piqued the interest of finance Minister Colm Imbert, so much so he today issued a three page statement titled "Forex Matters".
Transcript
00:00Finance Minister Kom Imbert's statement starts off saying he has taken note of
00:05commentary in the mainstream media over the last two weeks on the availability
00:10of foreign exchange, the policy for its distribution and the exchange rate of
00:16the TT dollar to the US dollar. On the question of allowing the dollar to float
00:21as per the IMF's recommendation, Imbert echoed government's position against
00:27this. He said that recommendation is nothing new and can be traced as far
00:32back as 2012 and 2013 when quote the then UNC government told the IMF that
00:39they would not contemplating changes to the exchange rate system at this time
00:44end quote. The same position he says was adopted by the present PNM government
00:49which since 2015 maintains a fixed exchange rate to control inflation as
00:56not to quote impose hardships on the poor and vulnerable by giving in to the
01:02irrational demands of the Guardian newspaper and other provocateurs that we
01:07devalue the dollar end quote. He says all a devaluation will do is cause a massive
01:13spike in the cost of living and make everything more expensive and it will
01:18not fabricate more US dollars. The minister notes regional partner Barbados
01:23which has been in an IMF program for many years and almost ran out of foreign
01:29reserves has resolutely refused for the last 49 years to float or devalue its
01:35dollar. Commentators Imbert says should stop wasting time demanding that the TNT
01:40government devalued the dollar and instead try to figure out how Barbados
01:45has managed to keep its dollar fixed for so long and how it has managed to
01:49restrict capital flows despite being in an IMF program. Imbert says he will be
01:55holding consultations over the next month with various interest groups to
02:00determine the best way forward. He says the Ex-Im Bank is working well and it
02:05was not due to pressure by media nor businessmen to resume the forex window
02:11for essential imports at the Ex-Im Bank. The minister says months ago government
02:16to clients of the Ex-Im Bank that it was reviewing the list of essential imports
02:21and the quantum of foreign exchange made available through that particular forex
02:25window. The essential imports facility has worked well he says but needs
02:31restructuring as there's no longer any need for preferential access to forex
02:36for the importation of items such as face masks, respirators and hand
02:42sanitizers. It is disingenuous he says to imply that this measure was resumed
02:48merely because of quote media pressure and the noise made by certain
02:52businessmen who by their own admission do not participate in the Ex-Im Bank
02:57facility end quote
Be the first to comment
Add your comment