The kinds of companies that accessed foreign exchange from the EximBank over the past five years have come as no surprise to one economist.

Dr Indera Sagewan told the Express in a phone interview yesterday that it was obvious pharmaceutical companies would receive a large allocation of foreign exchange. This is because Trinidad and Tobago is not a producer of pharmaceuticals and, therefore, such items have to be imported.

According to the EximBank list, which was published exclusively in the Sunday Express, Smith Robertson and Company Ltd, now Aventa Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, received the highest allocation of US$100,184,273 between 2020 and June 30 of this year.