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  • 3 months ago
Chief Executive Officer of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago, Nirad Tewari, is warning that the country must confront the hard decisions now, if it is to restore economic stability. With the national budget not far away, Tewari says structural and procedural reforms are needed.

He tells us, he hopes to see measures in place to raise revenue, manage expenditure, and chart a credible path for growth. He says the government must also outline decisive measures to tackle crime, improve the ease of doing business, particularly by addressing customs inefficiencies, while accelerating the digitization of public services.

Nicole M Romany has more.
Transcript
00:00With government assuring that the country's fiscal package will be delivered in early October,
00:06AmCham CEO Nirad Tiwari tells the TV6 Morning Edition that while successive administrations
00:13have expanded the number of services available through the single electronic window, far more can be done.
00:20He is urging that the customs process be fully automated to improve efficiency and strengthen trade facilitation
00:28while enhancing the ease of doing business here.
00:31In terms of going online, we're hopeful that the immigration process will be fully digitized within the coming months
00:38and we move away from these paper forms and long lines and so on.
00:42The entire Caribbean has moved away from it.
00:45We are probably the last of the countries that require paper forms and that should be a national shame
00:51and we need to move away from those kinds of things.
00:54He also notes the adjustments he wants to see at customs.
00:58It's my hope that we're going to hear something in the budget about making all customs payments due
01:05that these would be able to be done electronically or online,
01:11whether it be through transfer of funds or through debit and credit cards.
01:17I'm optimistic that we hear something about that.
01:20I hope we do.
01:21And that will help with that end of the process.
01:24We're recommending a Professional Standards Bureau and Customs to weed out the few bad actors
01:29and allow the good customs officers to continue doing their jobs.
01:34The AmCham CEO says government must step back from trying to micromanage the economy
01:40and instead focus on regulation and protecting the public interest.
01:45He warns that foreign exchange shortages are the result of artificial market conditions
01:52and urges that if the U.S. dollar were priced by true market forces, demand and supply would naturally balance.
02:01The problem is that at some point could be $1 away from where we are, or it could be $10 away from where we are.
02:10And if it is the latter, it creates a lot of other economic pressures.
02:15And so that's why I'm saying you need a mix of policies to move us from this state of virtual inertia
02:22to a state of greater balance and you need collaboration and constant dialogue.
02:28According to Tuari, addressing only the symptoms of the country's economic challenges will ultimately make them worse,
02:37warning that the medicine may in the end harm the patient more than the disease itself.
02:43He adds that government must also tighten its grip on businesses with outstanding taxes.
02:49Use GIS data, identify all the businesses in a geographic location, all the professional services.
02:56Compare that with those who are paying taxes and those who are not.
03:00And when you overlay that, then go to those who are non-compliant and bring them into the tax net.
03:08If we have a $9 billion tax leakage and you bring in $3 billion of that, it's a significant bump to the economy.
03:15Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:19Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:20Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:21Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:22Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:23Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:24Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:25Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:26Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:27Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:28Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:29Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:30Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:31Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:32Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:33Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:34Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:35Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
03:36Nicole M. Romney, TV6 News.
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