NO DEVALUATIUON OF TT DOLLAR SAYS PM

CCNTV6

The Prime Minster has acknowledged that there is clearly an increased demand for foreign exchange, this year, due to factors such as the growth in the economy and a taste for foreign goods.  However, the Prime Minister told Parliament today that his administration will not bow to any special interest pressure to devalue the TT dollar.  Juhel Browne has the details.

Transcript

00:00We have noticed a deliberate attempt in recent times to put pressure on the

00:06government to devalue the currency. Let me save them from wasting their time

00:11today. There will be no devaluation of the currency." The declaration by Prime

00:18Minister Dr. Keith Rowley in the House of Representatives on Monday regarding

00:22what many in the local business community have declared to be a foreign

00:26exchange crisis in Trinidad and Tobago.

00:30The pressure on the government to devalue the currency

00:33is coming from people who have foreign exchange largely

00:37ignoring the fact that any devaluation could

00:40only result in increased costs across the board.

00:47Of course it will make those with foreign exchange wealthier because they

00:50will get more Trinidad and Tobago dollars.

00:52This is special interest pressure and the government will not bow to it.

00:58Prime Minister Rowley was responding to questions from Kuva North MP

01:02Ravi Rathiram on behalf of the opposition. Could the Prime Minister

01:06provide some sort of timelines that the government can give the members

01:11of the business community so that they can expect some kind of

01:14improved access to foreign currency? Prime Minister.

01:20Madam Speaker, I said that the Minister of Finance

01:24has met with, is meeting with the relevant people in the country

01:28whose job it is to manage and to advise on this matter that is

01:31ongoing and the member's business is not a foreign exchange owner and therefore

01:35he's not to come to this house and try to pressure us on that.

01:38The Prime Minister emphasized that there has been no reduction in the

01:41marketplace of the government's support for foreign

01:44exchange of US seven billion dollars per year from

01:482014 to this year 2024. Of this total the government directly

01:54injects 2.5 billion per year. That's the system that we operate

02:00with the remaining 4.5 billion acquired by the banks directly

02:05from the United States dollar owning clients.

02:09However in 2024 there is clearly an increased demand for

02:15foreign exchange due to the growth in the economy and an

02:20increase over the years in the taste for foreign

02:22goods and for the use of online purchasing.

02:26The Finance Minister recently said he would be having consultations

02:30to determine whether the honor system for foreign exchange that has been in

02:34place for the past 25 years should be

02:37replaced with a more regulated one. The Minister of Finance has already met

02:41with the four largest commercial banks to discuss this matter

02:45and will be meeting with business organizations over the next month.

02:50And in response to a question from Oropuch West MP

02:53another declaration from Dr. Rowley.

02:58If we are being invited to give a date and a time when everybody could get all

03:02the foreign exchange that they want to use I'm afraid I can't do that.

03:05It is one of the shortcomings of being a small economy

03:08where you have to own foreign exchange service your debt your debts

03:13buy your basics and of course not run down your reserves

03:16to end up in a worse situation. So it's a management situation Madam Speaker.

03:20The Prime Minister told the lower house that the government is managing

03:23the forex situation in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago.

03:28Jewel Brown TV6 News.

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