THE EDITOR: Now that Mr Imbert's latest budget is done and dusted, and debate on it has started in the Parliament, permit me to proffer my two cents.
I would like to focus on two areas of the budget, unemployment and foreign exchange.
Unemployment
The figure of 3.7 per cent presented cannot be taken seriously. How much of this is being propped up by the State in make-work programmes? Cepep is not true employment no matter how you spin it.
Sure it soaks up some labour, but certainly not efficiently. If 15 people are needed to clean one urban street in Woodbrook for three hours in the morning, even if on the payroll of a contractor, then the taxpayer is not getting value for money.
No wonder Venezuelans have filled the labour gap – Trinis working three hours for the same eight-hour day as these migrants.
Foreign exchange
Once the official differential between the buying and selling rates remains so vast, effectively guaranteeing a tidy profit for commercial banks, then the black market will always exist.
All forms of exchange control should be abolished at this stage.
If I have US dollars to sell, then let me sell them for market rate, not forced to sell to the commercial banks at a loss. Start here before other changes are made and maybe you'll see more US dollars (forex) coming into the system.
Otherwise, let's US-dollarise the economy and be done with this foolish dance! We don't need to see the twin towers or a local signature on our currency in order to be patriotic! Prosperity at home makes us all patriotic.
CHRIS ALEXANDER
Port of Spain
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