Dear Sir:
The government of Trinidad and Tobago must be honest and inform our citizens if our economy is facing a foreign exchange crisis as recent events clearly indicate such dire circumstances.
There is no doubt that thousands of citizens, businesses and entrepreneurs would have been severely set back by the grave announcement by Republic Bank that they were lowering the maximum US dollar spending limit on credit cards from US$15,000 to US$12000 “as a result of the ongoing challenges with foreign exchange availability”.
As a country, we must ask why?
Has the government been misleading the country on the economic health of this nation?
The government must explain to the country why are these “ongoing challenges” being encountered as it relates to foreign exchange availability especially when they boasted about an economic turnaround when the ministry of trade is boasting about increased non-energy exports while a report produced by research and marketing also stated that our economy was out of a recession.
Was the economic turnaround a political gimmick or public relation stunt by a regime slowly sinking our economy due to its inaction, lack of innovation and inability to generate significant foreign direct investment?
It is truly disheartening that in a once robust economy, citizens are now struggling to obtain FOREX which can only lead to negative repercussions such as further business closures, loss of jobs and act as a deterrent to foreign investors.
David Lee
Member of Parliament, Point-a-Pierre
Deputy Political Leader, United National Congress (UNC) and Opposition Chief Whip
