Port-of-Spain - Fear of an impending depreciation of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar, after the Fifth Summit of the Americas, is forcing citizens to buy and hoard US currency. And this situation has created a shortfall at commercial banks in Trinidad and Tobago during the last few weeks. While the shortage already has been causing many who depend heavily on the US dollar to reel under pressure, economist Indera Sagewan-Alli is predicting that the hoarding will intensify and the situation will only get worst.
Sagewan-Alli said sourcing US currency at local banks during the last few weeks had proven nothing short of a headache.
“Three weeks ago, my husband put in a request for US currency at a bank. Just this week the bank informed him that he would get the US, but only in the form of cheques and in small increments.”
The shortage, Sagewan-Alli says, stems from people buying and hoarding US dollars, based on reports that government plans to depreciate the Trinidad and Tobago dollar after the summit.
“People fearing the devaluation are choosing to convert their Trinidad and Tobago dollars into US dollars. They are waiting for that time when they anticipate there would be a devaluation, and would be able to make a capital gain.”
The buying price for US$1 at commercial banks is (TT) $6.30. But some people were paying black market prices—as much as $7 - for US$1, because of the short supply. “Those who are hoarding the US are waiting for the best price to sell. As we speak, the hoarding is intensifying. The fear of devaluation is there, and it’s worsening,” Sagewan-Alli explained.
Sagewan-Alli said if the Central Bank failed to inject more US currency into the economy during the coming weeks, black market prices would soar.
“There are no indicators that black market prices would fall.”
In light of the fears, Sagewan-Alli is calling on the Central Bank to come clean and tell the public whether the dollar will be devalued.
“The Central Bank ought to put the country’s mind at rest.”
Sagewan-Alli said the Central Bank’s supply was constrained by its ability to pump US dollars into the system.
“Our non-energy capacity to generate foreign exchange through exports is very limited,” she noted.
She also commented on RBTT Bank’s, Republic Bank’s, First Citizens’ and the Bank of Baroda’s move to reduce their prime lending rate from 13 to 12.75 percent in April. While RBTT stated in a published notice its changed rate was concurrent with the decrease in the Central Bank’s repo rate from 8.75 to 8.50 percent, and in keeping with changing market conditions, Sagewan-Alli said the .25 percent reduction was not good enough.
“We need to see lending rates much like what we are seeing around the world, which is one or two per cent and in some cases even less.”

Port-of-Spain - Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday is calling on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to follow the example of Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding and take a 15 percent salary cut. “And the pay cut should be taken by both the Prime Minister and his wife, and it should be a 50 percent cut between them,” Panday said, adding that he, too, was willing to take a pay cut.
Prime Minister Manning and his wife currently take home more than (TT) $75,000 in salaries alone, under terms set by the Salaries Review Commission in February, 2006.
Caribbean Media Company regional news service reported last week that Jamaican Prime Minister Golding was taking a 15 percent pay cut and freezing public sector salaries, as the Jamaican 2010 Budget was being prepared. The report stated that Golding had also suggested a ten percent pay cut for fellow MPs, and said people should lead by example.
Golding’s call came five months after UNC deputy, Jack Warner, had called for Manning to lead by example in government’s belt-tightening exercise and take a ten percent salary cut.
Warner, who takes home $1 monthly as MP, had also said that if he could do so, Manning could take home $2.
Panday said: “I think we in Trinidad and Tobago should make the same suggestion as Mr Golding to Mr Manning. But I believe Mr Manning and his wife should take salary pay cuts amounting to 50 percent. Manning should also consider renting out part of his huge house.”
Asked if he would take a salary cut himself in his Opposition Leader’s $23,800, monthly salary, Panday replied: “I would certainly be prepared to take a salary cut.”
Asked if his UNC MPs would accept pay cuts also, Panday said: “We haven’t discussed it, but I have no doubt they’ll agree.”
Several government ministers said the SRC increases were given in 2006, and another increase proposal was due. They made it clear that the government would not take salary increases when the recommendation came up.
“You will see government replying a firm ‘No’ when the question of another salary hike comes up soon,” one minister said.
Another minister said Golding’s call for ministerial salary cuts were made in the context of a public sector wage freeze in Jamaica.
He added: “But no such public sector wage freeze will be implemented in Trinidad and Tobago. The government has stated, since last year in the belt-tightening warning, that there will be no salary cuts.”
The spokesman also pointed out that Jamaican government ministers’ salaries were supplemented by the grant of free, fully-furnished houses with maids and cars. He added that while Jamaican ministers did not have to pay for their cars, Trinidad and Tobago ministers did.

Port-of-Spain – There is one major activity on Trinidad and Tobago’s national calendar until April 17, the start day of the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Each cent being spent is being done so solely in parts of the country that Summit officials will be visiting at some point during the three day event, which being held between April 17-19 at the Hyatt Trinidad Regency, Port-of-Spain.
With April 17 days away, parts of major roads leading to the Hyatt that delegates will ride on are frantically being repaved; traffic sign posts are being painted silver; close circuit cameras are being installed on electricity poles; street lights are being installed or upgraded; kerbs are being painted white; rivers and drains are being cleaned and dredged; the verges of highways are being cleared of tall grass.
No expense is being spared to make this country look good for the foreign dignitaries’ visit, among them US President Barack Obama.
This is taking place at a time when the global economy is in crisis and oil and gas prices are down.
The effort to make Trinidad look good, especially those parts of the country that lead to the capital of Port-of-Spain, does not end with the frenetic paving of roads - usually reserved for pre-general election periods. No bumpy repaving - but smooth, even laying of asphalt.
It’s okay for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to endure bumpy roads most other times. For three days, though, thousands of visitors to Trinidad for the Summit will enjoy smoother roads, cleaner drains, whiter lines on the roads and highways, and more brightly-lit streets.
Overpasses have been power-washed and painted white. The on-ramp for the magnificent overpass at the meeting of the Churchill Roosevelt and Uriah Butler Highways was completed in amazingly quick time.
Police conducted several exercises to remove the very dark tints on vehicles, which can be used to conceal criminals and their activities, on more than 8,000 vehicles, including that of former government minister Ken Valley.
Even the murders have declined. In one week, there were only two. The murder rate for 2008 was 546. Within two months of 2009, the murder rate stood at 100.
The government has found the political will and the money to do all that its people wanted it to do everyday.
On April 6 the streets were officially cleared of smelly vagrants, many of whom made their beds at night outside the Treasury building on St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain.
Previous pleas by the public to the government to deal with vagrants, some of whom suffer from mental illness, are drug addicts and occupy pavements and parks, were ignored.
On April 4, a vagrant struck 17-year-old Sherifa Walker with a piece of iron as she was on her way to sit a mock exam at Ford’s College, Queen Street, Port-of-Spain. She sustained a broken nose and a deep gash above her left eye following the midday attack and was admitted to Ward 54 at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. The vagrant was held by two men and taken to the Central Police Station.
A typical drive on the Beetham Highway leading into the capital city sees a few maggot-covered dead dogs – there are none to be seen on this highway now.
The government has embarked on building a berm the northern side of the Beetham Highway and alongside the Priority Bus Route. The unstated purpose of this is to block the view of the Beetham Gardens, historically an area of indigence and underpriviledge.
Local Government Minister Hazel Manning in March said the (Can) $3 million wall was proposed since 2004. No one had heard of the walling off of that area before 2009.
The residents of Beetham Gardens call the project the Wall of Shame.
It is widely believed that the wall is being built to block off Beetham residents from the Summit VIPS as they are being whisked past at high speed in their luxury vehicles.
A steel scrap yard operation along the Beetham Highway was stopped in preparation for the Summit. The scrap yard posed a hazard to motorists as containers parked on the shoulder for labourers to load with metal.
An old warehouse belonging to the T&T Electricity Commission, which was abandoned, has been torn down. Citizens are also being blocked off from important areas of the capital unless they have a permit to enter, and will be impeded by a re-routing of traffic in the east-west corridor for the three days of the Summit.
The area has been divided into what is described as a security exclusion zone, with red zones being the main secure venue, blue being the immediate vicinity of the Hyatt, and the yellow zone being controlled areas.
Galvanise sheets have come down to show off the working fountain, long under construction, outside the Financial Centre building, located next door to the Hyatt. Rubble at the side of Wrightson Road, which leads to the Hyatt, has been cleared and a paved sidewalk now exists. Flowers and shrubs are being planted with speed.
Rubble has even been cleared out on St Vincent Street, where the Ministry of Education building is under construction. Last week Chinese workmen hurriedly built a pavement and are working on covering with it concrete slabs.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning had said the government’s budget for hosting the Fifth Summit of the Americas was (Can) $100 million.

Port-of-Spain - Leader of the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj says Prime Minister Patrick Manning should be ashamed for not facilitating requests to stage peaceful protests during the Fifth Summit of the Americas being held in Port-of-Spain from Friday. So he is inviting those who were blanked to join him and his Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association in their own protest outside the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba on Saturday.
Maharaj was responding to Thursday's announcement by Acting Commissioner of Police, James Philbert, that no permission has been given to any of the three parties which applied for permission to protest during the April 17-19 summit.
"I would like to publicly condemn the Prime Minister for this," Maharaj said.
"The Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of association, and although the Commissioner of Police can regulate a route, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Nongovernmental Organisations and others should not be denied permission to express themselves."
Maharaj described as "hypocritical" government's spending of some (TT) $1billion to promote democratic principles when people of this country are being denied the right to express their grievances.
"I would like the Prime Minister to understand that although you are spending one billion dollars on the summit, in nearby towns and villages of Port-of-Spain, people are denied a supply of drinking water, monthly pensions have been cut and children are dying at our hospitals as a result of poor healthcare. That is undemocratic. The Prime Minister should allow the people of Trinidad and Tobago to at least enjoy their rights."
Saturday's demonstration is expected to begin at 6 a.m. and end at 6 p.m.
Maharaj said he has also prepared a booklet which he will distribute to members of the local, regional and international media as well as visiting Heads of State and other delegates.
"This booklet will outline the callousness of the Trinidad and Tobago government and its undemocratic actions," Maharaj said.

Port-of-Spain - Carl Walker wants the vagrant who struck his daughter with a piece of iron across her face to be charged. “I want justice,” said an emotional Walker last week.
“If this had happened to Prime Minister Patrick Manning or Basdeo Panday’s daughter, I am sure the vagrant would have been in jail. Once you poor, you always stand to lose out in this country.”
Walker said while he was unable to determine whether the vagrant was mentally unstable or not, “he should be charged by the police.”
Walker’s 17-year-old daughter, Sharifa Walker, was hospitalised on April 4, after she was struck on the face with a piece of iron by a homeless man on Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain. The teenager suffered a broken nose and received a deep gash above her left eye. The vagrant was sent to St Ann’s Hospital for treatment.
Sharifa, who was visited by Social Development Minister Dr Amery Browne, is scheduled to undergo surgery to straighten her nose this week. Walker said the incident had thrown Sharifa’s life into a tailspin, as she would not be able to sit her CXC examinations next month.
“I am sure this incident would affect her health later on,” said Walker.