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  • 9 months ago
The last of Kamla Persad Bissessar cabinet members were sworn in on Wednesday. Among them the Minister of Trade, Investment and Tourism Satyakama Maharaj. Mr. Maharaj is no stranger to business but how does the business community feel about this choice.

Alicia Boucher spoke with CEO of one such business entity Nirad Tewarie to bring you his thoughts and AMCHAM's wish list.
Transcript
00:00Your initial reaction to this particular selection as Minister of Trade?
00:06We look forward to working with Minister Kamal Maraj, as most of us know him.
00:11He's well known to the business community.
00:14He's built a successful business, as we all know, in the cosmetics industry.
00:20Sasha is a worldwide brand.
00:22He's been exporting for a long time.
00:25And my understanding is that he had started franchising the business as well.
00:32What is exciting for me, too, is that I think from our perspective at Amcham, as you know, we're very much into digital transformation and building the tech sector.
00:42And it's my understanding that he has been doing some of that in his business and in his business interest.
00:48So we look forward to the marrying of the two as we seek to create more efficiency and an easier climate in which to do business in Trinidad and Tobago.
00:56But he's a good choice and we look forward to working with him.
00:59And in what ways do you think, I mean, you did mention that digital aspect, but outside of that, having that hands-on experience in terms of, you know, the business that he has managed to build,
01:11how do you think that that would work for reforming the trade sector or advancing it?
01:17Yeah, so, I mean, there's a lot of work that's in Trin.
01:22I mean, so we have the SEZ in operation now.
01:27We have global Trinidad and Tobago, the amalgamation of Export-TT and Invest-TT.
01:34I'm sure the new minister and the new government will have some ideas on those.
01:38But ultimately, it's about creating the climate in which we'll attract more investment, to create more jobs, to businesses that pay taxes and contribute to the economy.
01:51Not just jobs, but jobs that make people feel fulfilled, hopefully reverse the brain drain.
01:57We see brain circulation, we see more young people seeing opportunities in Trinidad and Tobago, and more businesses thriving.
02:04I think Mr. Maraj understands what it takes to do business, what are the impediments to doing business, and hopefully we'll be able to work collaboratively to tackle those.
02:14And, of course, key on our list also is, as the dust settles on what will be the alternative to the revenue authority, if that's the way the government is going, trade and finance working together to reform customs so that it becomes even more efficient, a better place to work, of course, for the employees, but more efficient and facilitated for the rest of us.
02:38Now, you mentioned finance, so let me bring in that question, because, you know, one of the issues that has been plaguing the business community in Trinidad and Tobago would be the access to foreign exchange.
02:51That has been a long-standing issue for quite some time.
02:56Of course, we have the new finance minister, Devindranath Tanku.
03:01You know, does the chamber plan to meet with the finance minister, along perhaps with the trade minister?
03:07And do you think that there should be some kind of cohesive meeting there to see how best, you know, the country can move forward in terms of settling that issue?
03:19Yeah, so I don't think the issue is a short-term issue.
03:23It won't be solved overnight.
03:25I think there are many, many things that have to happen concurrently.
03:28Of course, we have to look at what's happening in the petroleum sector in terms of gas production, how that fuels petrochemical production.
03:39That's one component of it.
03:41That is the largest component of our foreign exchange earnings.
03:45And while we're doing that, we have to look at what we can do in other sectors to promote more foreign exchange earnings and the climate in which those earnings would be repatriated.
03:58So, of course, a lot will be done in the manufacturing sector.
04:02We believe a lot more could be done in the tech sector.
04:06And if we create the right climate for confidence to grow and improve, then hopefully as more and more businesses, more and more investment takes place, more and more businesses open and expand and earn foreign exchange,
04:21then they feel comfortable bringing that foreign exchange back to Trinidad and Tobago and exchanging it if they feel a little more confident about the TT dollar and the local business climate as well.
04:36So none of that will happen overnight.
04:38And, yes, we do have plans, subject to his availability, to meet with the Honourable Minister of Finance as well.
04:46Of course, we will always try to meet with our Minister of Trade as a matter of course.
04:52The last Minister of Trade, I must say, was very open and engaged.
04:55And we expect very similar from Minister Maharaj.
05:00And we look forward to deepening and continuing the relationship as we have and possibly, hopefully, working on a nearshoring strategy,
05:08maybe between the Ministries of Trade and the Ministry of Public Admin and AI, I suppose,
05:14as we seek to take advantage of some of the, where we, where some people only see problems with the geopolitical climate.
05:22It's high time that we look for the opportunities in there.
05:26And we think developing a nearshoring strategy, both for manufacturing and technology, is a prudent way to go.
05:34Now, you would have mentioned Amcham Titi's relationship with the former Trade Minister, Paula Gopi-Skoun.
05:44There's a perception sometimes that when a new administration takes over,
05:49some of the work done by the previous administration may be shelved.
05:54What do you think, or what are some of the things that you think that were done by the former Trade Minister
06:00that would be crucial in developing and continuing onward, as opposed to possibly shelving those things?
06:09Well, I think across administrations, we have the single electronic window, the SCW,
06:16and work continues to be done to expand and make that more efficient, more useful.
06:23And as I said, that has been, Minister Barrett, when he was Minister of Trade, was a big champion of that,
06:32of course, Minister Gopi-Skoun.
06:34And we expect that work to continue under Minister Maharaj.
06:41Making the global Trinidad and Tobago entity functional,
06:46because they're at the point where they're, you know, filling positions and making sure that it's ready to run.
06:55We expect that to continue, or if not, that's some clarity around the plan.
07:04And as I said, the SCZ is an important component to attracting investment.
07:12We've already seen companies establishing under the SCZ.
07:17There's some slight reforms that might be required, tweaks to the legislation to make it even more effective.
07:24But we look forward to those, among other things, as we go forward.
07:30Delve a little bit into that for me, in terms of the legislation,
07:33and some of the tweaks that you think should be done to make it more impactful.
07:37Well, we have to have deeper discussions with members, but I think there's some little,
07:44it has to do with thresholds and the like.
07:47So it's technical things that would make it more suitable to attracting investment,
07:53and more efficient, faster decision-making, etc.
07:56And so if you could sum up in short for me,
07:59GEM's, TT's, wish list, what would that be at this point?
08:03The wish list would be that within, you know, six to 12 months,
08:10we see a series of deliberate policy measures that start to reinstill confidence in the economy,
08:17that we have a very clear and supported, nearshoring strategy,
08:24that we are working meaningfully on defined projects with timelines,
08:32and start seeing some delivery around digital transformation of government services,
08:37that we are seeing customs reform in a big way,
08:43that we start feeling an ease with the foreign exchange shortages,
08:50that we see a path to some shortish, medium-term new gas production,
08:59and we saw EOG make an announcement yesterday, which is very welcome,
09:05and that we see the crime situation in the country starting to stabilize,
09:13and that violent crime is reduced,
09:15and that we see some prosecutions for white-collar crime,
09:18and that I think that those things all together will impact the first,
09:23which is an increase in confidence as we go forward.
09:26And of course, we look forward to an environment in which collaboration is welcome,
09:32ideas can be shared,
09:34and we get to the best possible solution and understand that we are all working together.
09:39VAT returns for businesses.
09:41Where is that situation right now?
09:43And, you know, how do you think that the issue that we've had in the past,
09:48in terms of businesses not getting their VAT returns on time,
09:52and that long period in which it takes to get it,
09:56how do you think that that can be sorted out?
10:00So, look, the reality is that the government has been using money owed to businesses
10:08in the form of VAT returns to manage their cash flow.
10:12And if we go to the legislation,
10:15in truth and in fact,
10:18the government should be paying businesses penalties when they cross a certain period without pay.
10:26The country is in a difficult financial position,
10:30and there is not a whole lot of money to go around.
10:38But small and medium-sized businesses in particular
10:42are extremely distressed when their cash flow is impacted.
10:48And so it is a critical issue for the survival of small and medium-sized businesses,
10:53which create a lot of the economic activity and employment in the country.
11:00So, I don't know that we have an easy solution as a country,
11:05but one consideration, at least going forward,
11:10could be to net off VAT payments versus VAT refunds.
11:14So it will affect money coming in, yes,
11:18but it will not require the government to have to pay money out for that purpose.
11:23It will, of course, put a strain,
11:26depending on what collections are otherwise,
11:29on their overall pot of money to do the other things that they want to do.
11:34But that would be, to us,
11:36a reasonable and sensible solution going forward
11:39and would generate some goodwill, I think.
11:45If VAT, the entire VAT refund owing cannot be settled.
11:55Given that, by and large, the Treasury belongs to the taxpayer,
12:00if you want to put it that way,
12:01do you think that governments should actually report to the public
12:05what is the status of the Treasury
12:07so that the country has an appreciation,
12:09not just the business sector,
12:11but the country as a whole has an appreciation
12:13for where we are at as a country?
12:17Well, they would say that they do in the budget
12:21and in data available on the central bank
12:25and, to some extent, Ministry of Finance websites.
12:30I think that there was a project in place
12:35to improve the accounting within the Ministry of Finance.
12:40I'm not sure if it has been, how far along it has been,
12:44but more open data is something that we've advocated for years
12:49and is in every one of our national budget submissions
12:52as a recommendation.
12:54So the establishment and operationalization
13:00of the National Statistical Institute
13:03would be really, really important, we think,
13:08to helping with transparency
13:11and giving citizens more access to more data sets
13:16on which they could make decisions
13:19and assess the government's performance.
13:22But yes, I mean, in short,
13:24governments should report in a timely basis
13:27and with some level of clarity,
13:30meaning that you can access the information easily,
13:34what the expenditure, what the debt,
13:38what the, even to some extent,
13:40what the available cash is to the government
13:42at any given time.
13:45Thank you so much, Mr. Tiwari.
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