Government must accept responsibility for foreign currency shortage - Ramjattan

Government must accept responsibility for foreign currency shortage -says Ramjattan

One day after Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo claimed that Trinidad and Tobago businessmen have been soaking up the foreign currency in Guyana by conducting lots of their international transactions from Guyana, Opposition Member of Parliament and Leader of the Alliance for Change, Khemraj Ramjattan, believes the Guyana Government must take the blame for the situation.

On Thursday, Vice President Jagdeo highlighted the issue at a press conference.

“We noticed a trend here, where some Trinidadian companies are procuring large quantities of goods for their businesses in Guyana, and in Trinidad, and making payments from here to their suppliers. So, they are utilizing our foreign currency to make those payments,” Jagdeo said.

In response today, Opposition Member of Parliament Khemraj Ramjattan told reporters that not only is the Government facilitating many of the Trinidadian companies here, but it is also directly responsible for the shortage of US currency, owing to the “poor management” of the non-oil sector.

According to Ramjattan, several Trinidadian companies have been awarded billions of dollars in contracts particularly in the construction industry and are taking all of their money out of Guyana in US currency.

“After the oil [industry], construction is the biggest money maker in Guyana now, and, a number of these Trinidadian companies are being given contracts…we understand now that they were the ones who went and bought up the foreign currency,” the Opposition Member of Parliament said.

The Opposition MP said to compound the situation, the poor performance of the non-oil sector has been impacting the availability of foreign currency at the Bank of Guyana.