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CCNTV6
  • 1 year ago
President of the Automotive Dealers Association Visham Babwah is adding his voice to the Foreign Exchange frustration. He says what is being said by the authorities is not translated when you enter the banks. He is calling for urgent action.
Transcript
00:00According to the business community, the unavailability of adequate amounts of foreign exchange in
00:06the country requires an immediate solution.
00:09Some have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister's response in the
00:13House of Representatives last Friday.
00:15Dr. Rowley stated emphatically that the government will not be pressured into a devaluation of
00:22the TT dollar by special interest groups.
00:26And while he acknowledged the discontent, the Prime Minister reiterated that there has
00:30been no reduction in the marketplace for the government's support for forex.
00:35President of the Automotive Dealers Association, Vishal Bapwe, says the support the Prime Minister
00:40speaks of is not extended to everyone.
00:44Right now we have a big forex shortage in the country for businessmen, certain businessmen.
00:51The same list that the central bank has put out there, saying that people could go and
00:55purchase forex.
00:56When you go to these institutions, you are not getting, they say they don't have.
01:00So this is why people have turned to the black market.
01:03He says the country cannot survive on the same forex injection as 2014, and is pleading
01:08with the authorities to intervene.
01:11A lot has changed from 2014 till now.
01:14We had a pandemic, we have wars being fought, and policy decisions that they have made has
01:21caused the price of goods and services to increase locally, and then we have increased
01:26internationally to deal with.
01:28For example, the cost of shipping has tripled and quadrupled.
01:33While the government has not shown any indication that it would consider devaluing the TT dollar,
01:39Mr Bapwe cautioned those who may have foreign exchange stored up in abundance.
01:44In my opinion, if people have forex sitting in a bank account, now would be the opportune
01:49time to sell it, because now is when it will fetch the best price in the black market,
01:54because if the devaluation comes, then the demand might not be there.
02:00Aksha Gholstan, TV6 News.
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