The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TTIC) has criticized the Governor of the Central Bank, Jwala Rambarran, after he named a number of companies which he said were “top users” of foreign exchange in the country.
Rambarran, addressing the Fifth Monetary Policy Forum organized by the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) last weekend, said the “current shortage of US dollars will not be solved until we become serious and stop paying lip service to diversification”.
The Central Bank governor said in 2013, the demand for foreign exchange stood at US$7 billion, about the same as in 2014. But during the first eleven months of 2015, demand for foreign exchange amounted to US$6.8 billion.
Rambarran spoke of the business community utilising foreign exchange for sales of vehicles, payment of credit cards, medicine and manufacturing, accounting for more than 70 per cent of all foreign exchange sold in the past three years.
But in a statement the TTIC said it was “wholly condemns the clear breach of confidentiality on the part of “ Rambarran when he “deliberately opted to identify by name, companies and businesses deemed to be “top users” of foreign exchange in the country”.
