FOR THE past five years, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert has been hosted by the TT Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) in a post-budget forum the day after the budget is read in Parliament.

"The reason why I come to the TTMA post-budget forum is because I find this group – and you might find this strange – I find them non-political.

"I find that the discussion is always serious, factual and to the point and people don’t get into political things," he said.

This year was no different as a candid Imbert spoke with businesses during a panel discussion at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain on Tuesday, giving honest and open responses to questions posed by the TTMA’s membership.

After his $59.741 billion budget reading the day before, which lasted more than five hours, Imbert was not only able to speak to businesses on their issues, but he took the time to highlight some of the successes of the manufacturing sector and the non-energy sector on the whole.

Imbert talks business

Anil Matroo, who described himself as a retailer, said despite increasing the amount of local products that he sells he said he felt as though he would always be a net user of foreign exchange.

He asked if there was a way to focus on certain items that could be produced locally or regionally to keep funds within the region instead of spending foreign exchange on imports.

"I deeply appreciate the work of the TTMA and the Ministry of Trade for growing exports. But does the government have a plan for import substitution?"

Matroo said part of the solution should definitely come from looking at the country’s food import bill, which he was startled to discover was about $7.2 billion.

He also suggested having more interactions between the TTMA, regional business chambers, the Ministry of Trade and businesses to focus on import substitution.

He also asked about Tamana Intech Park and whether it will eventually become part of the new special economic zone regime.

"Because besides technology, I think the Tamana Intech park could be the next agro-processing hub."

Imbert encouraged Matroo to interact more with the TTMA.

"Certainly, that is what the TTMA is for, to discuss new ways and means of boosting local production among manufacturers."

Imbert said competing with places like China on finished materials, such as kitchen cabinets and doors, would be difficult. However, he said TT’s Eximbank can provide businesses with the necessary foreign exchange to buy inputs for production.

[caption id="attachment_1112309" align="alignnone" width="991"] TTMA president Roger Roach. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]

"We get foreign exchange from the oil and gas companies in terms of taxation and then the government will inject that into the commercial banking sector.

"The banks are told that their number-one priority is trade but there is no real definition of what trade is all about. So what we’ve done with Eximbank is we went into some great detail into their processes and procedures. Our manufacturers, of course, in order to build