PM
Patrick Manning: Devaluation talk irresponsible
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 20 08
Prime
Minister Patrick Manning says any talk of a further devaluation of the Trinidad
and Tobago
dollar (TTD) at this time by any Member of Parliament
was
irresponsible, as an Opposition MP alleged the Government was secretly considering
the move.
"To start that kind of talk about the Trinidad
and Tobago currency is to go down a road, if you
sow the wind you are going to reap the whirlwind," Manning
said.
Opposition Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh said
Friday night in the Parliament that the proposal
was being offered by one of the newest members
of the Manning administration as the sole solution
to the ongoing downturn in the United States economy.
"My information is that the only mention
of this frightening economic prospect in the Ministry
of Finance was made by the Minister in the Ministry
of Finance Mariano Browne," Gopeesingh said.
"We understand that he has been saying that
the only way to deal with the continuing down spiral
of the US dollar is to devalue our own dollar," Gopeesingh
also said.
Gopeesingh raised the issue in his maiden contribution
as an MP on Friday night during a marathon sitting
of the House of Representatives at the Red House,
Port of Spain.
On Friday, the exchange rate for the (TTD) against
the US Dollar (USD) was TTD6.25 to USD1.
The last devaluation of the TTD took place when
it was floated in 1993.
On Friday, United States President George W Bush
had announced a plan involving US$145 billion in
tax rebates and business incentives to help prevent
the world's largest economy from slipping further,
as fears of a recession loom in that country.
Gopeesingh gave way to Manning to state the Government's
position, as Browne and Finance Minister Karen
Nunez-Tesheira, two other Parliament newcomers,
sat in the Parliament chamber.
"For any member of this Parliament to come
here and talk about the devaluation of the currency
is irresponsible because the only objective that
could have is try to have a run on the Trinidad
and Tobago currency," Manning said.
A run on any currency is defined as the short-term
outflow of capital (money) out of a country, which
is recorded as a debit on balance on its capital
account.
This occurs when a pegged exchange rate regime
is thought to be running out of reserves and is,
therefore, forced to devalue.
Manning said the currency is floating and the
Government is no longer involved in any issues
concerning the TTD against the currencies of other
countries.
Story
by Juhel
Browne from
Trinidad Express
Trinidad
Express
Sunday,
January 20th 2008
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