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Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has de­liv­ered a scathing cri­tique of the coun­try’s for­eign ex­change sys­tem, say­ing the Gov­ern­ment in­tends to bring leg­is­la­tion that will al­low the Cen­tral Bank of Trinidad and To­ba­go to re­veal all forex al­lo­ca­tions.

She al­so de­clared that Ex­im­Bank (Ex­port-Im­port Bank of Trinidad and To­ba­go) has “failed to func­tion prop­er­ly and fair­ly” and ac­cused com­mer­cial banks of op­er­at­ing as forex car­tels that are stran­gling lo­cal busi­ness­es.

“There are tens of thou­sands of busi­ness­es in our coun­try, but many are dri­ven in­to fail­ure and bank­rupt­cy by the car­tels at bank­ing in­sti­tu­tions,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said. “The sit­u­a­tion at the Ex­im­Bank is bad enough, but what hap­pens in the com­mer­cial banks is even worse.”