Local businesses continue to be hard hit by the limited availability of foreign currency and some are claiming the ongoing restrictions are now threatening their operations.
Importers are among the hardest hit, Balliram Maharaj, CEO of ADM Distributors and a former President of the Supermarkets Association of T&T (SATT) said yesterday.
“A lot of my colleagues are now deciding on if they should get out of this business. People are losing confidence because of the inability to pay for goods. A lot of people are being cut out from credit arrangements,” he told the T&T Guardian yesterday.
Maharaj said his business is struggling but is still doing better than many others because of the length of time it has been in existence.
“Our suppliers are being patient with us,” he said.
He said situation is so bad banks are now simply saying they have no foreign currency: “One bill could cost up to US$200,000 but when we go to the bank we get US$200 or US$1,000. We cannot survive with that.”
Maharaj said producing more food locally is a solutions but the preference for imported foods forces the Government and businesses to import foreign items.
“The things we eat three times a day in T&T we do not produce, whether it be sugar, meat or other products. Ninety per cent of our rice we import,” Maharaj said, adding that the sitaution has reached a crisis stage and solutions must be found before it is too late.
“Our credit rating could be affected,” he said.
Imtiaz Ali, director of Little Angel Garments and a former president of the San Juan Business Association, said he expects the forex situation to get worse before it gets better.
“At the end of the year it is always tighter. Individuals can still access US$200 or US$400 at the bank but the problems lies with the bigger companies who want much larger sums to pay their bills,” he said.
Ali said the economy is slowing down and returns from the oil and gas sector have always provided for most of T&T's hard currency. Now that oil prices have all but collapsed the country is in serious problems, he said.
He said Government has to be honest with the population and tell people that the only way to deal with the foreign currency shortfall is for people to curb their consumption habits.
“If there is less foreign currency in reserves, it is not feasible for the country to maintain its current spending habits, he said.
