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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