Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is expected to address the issue as it pertains to payment to traffickers in agricultural produce in Trinidad and Tobago when he makes his contribution to the 2024 Budget debate later this week.
This after Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves announced in his Budget 2024 presentation indicated that the arrangement drafted between the Central Banks of Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean, and the Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines (BOSVG) had been terminated by the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank.
“Many traffickers in agricultural produce are currently experiencing difficulties in obtaining their foreign exchange allocation from Trinidad and Tobago for their sales,” Gonsalves said.
And according to him, the prime minister had written to Dr Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago on the matter and had engaged officials at the ECCB and the BOSVG on a solution to the ongoing challenge.
Back in 2018, an agreement was reached between the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, the ECCB and BOSVG making it easier for certified traders to exchange TT currency for East Caribbean.
The agreement was reached after trading in agricultural produce between St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago almost came to a halt due to foreign exchange restrictions making it difficult for Vincentian traffickers to repatriate their funds.
Back in October 2018, Governor of the ECCB Timothy Antoine wrote to the Vincentian Finance Minister about the solution arrived at between both central banks.
Antoine explained that the solution was a two-pronged approach and involved the settlement of TT currency notes, drafts and manager’s cheques denominated in TTD.
And that under the agreement, the ECCB will purchase from the BOSVG the TT currency accepted by certified traffickers on a weekly basis with the amount accepted from certified traders limited to TT$20,000 of which the traders will be paid immediately by the BOSVG.
Then, in turn the ECCB will purchase TT currency up to a limit of TT$2 million monthly.
Before the arrangement, traffickers were forced to buy goods after selling their agricultural produce in the Twin Island Republic and then importing those goods back to SVG to be re-sold in order to recoup EC dollars.
However, after January 2016, the local Customs and Excise Department implemented Article 164 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas placing a 70 percent tariff on items including wheat, aerated beverages, beers, stouts and bottled water that originated from More Developed Countries within CARICOM driving the cost of the imported goods up and making it harder to sell on locally.