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  • 19 hours ago

One Carnival mas band leader says among the challenges that mas bands and other businesses in Carnival are facing is access to foreign exchange.

And other Carnival stakeholders say their sector needs the support of the Government and the private sector.

Juhel Browne reports.





Transcript
00:00government is key they definitely play a major role in terms of you know having infrastructure
00:06and stuff in place for us to be able to exhibit our arts and culture um some of the challenges
00:13that we face definitely like a lot of other businesses when you have import and export is
00:17forex co-owner and director of humor vibe limited tanya gomes is speaking about what mass bands
00:23such as humor face in getting their product on the road for carnival this year was discussed
00:28during day two of the 2025 annual international finance and accounting conference hosted by the
00:34institute of chartered accountants of trinidad and tobago at the hyatt regency in port of spain as
00:39there's concern among some carnival stakeholders about the ban of the use of the brown hour stadium
00:44and restrictions of the use of the hazy crawford stadium as part of the government's policy to
00:50reduce noise pollution c15 studios limited general manager lorraine o'connor a producer and promoter of
00:57trinidad and tobago culture expressed optimism i mean carnival lake is expanding so much and um
01:03you know it's a great export product i don't think we capitalize on it enough in trinidad if i had to
01:08throw something in yeah really so what do you think would make it export already well first of all you
01:15know like if we could manufacture our costumes locally that would be a big thing i think you know
01:20like nobody has really looked at a proper local factory facility to you know instead of us having
01:27to import the costumes from china and then it have to be at the whim of these and you know tariffs and
01:34stuff that shouldn't even concern us if we made our costumes here you know you must co-owner took note
01:40of that suggestion you mentioned about local manufacturing and doing production and stuff from
01:45a local level especially accountable it's concerned there are challenges challenges with that because
01:50when you watch the labor force in terms of producing raw materials producing um finished products
01:56it don't have enough trained persons to deliver on it hence the reason why we have to
02:02outsource from china and if it is that you have to outsource from china whether it be again it could
02:07be china it could be india it could be um belgium these are just some of the places that we go to
02:12forex is a big issue and that issue was not the only one concerning the business of carnival so forex
02:19rising costing certain items because again where the creative industries consume we are taxed in the
02:28same bracket like a business that's generating revenue 12 months of the year we receive revenue when
02:36we launch our product and on the back end when persons come to collect so imagine if it is that you
02:41have to basically you know maintain your business again for this 10 to 11 month period how do we
02:47manage that so why are we taxed in the same way so if it is that government can look at something like
02:53that it also helps the creative sector you must co-owner said mass bands and other businesses in carnival
03:00need the help of the government and the private sector to invest in a product that supports tourism
03:05a point made by monk music ceo shay kathari i think people don't understand the opportunity that exists
03:12in what we're calling the orange economy arts and culture it it's still very elusive to a lot of people
03:19and we're ready to pull off the mask and show everyone the books we have it all documented it's all
03:25there it's already and it is very investable it's actually more of a strategic investment than many other
03:31investments the ceo of monk music works with soca icon marshall montano jule brown tv6 news
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