Former head of the public service Reginald Dumas says Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran should have attempted to balance the right to know with the need to prevent potential damage to the economy before make certain announcements about the use of foreign exchange in the country recently.
Dumas said that in a statement issued to the T&T Guardian yesterday on the controversy.
“The question is you have to balance the public right to know with against any potential damage that will be done to the country by such revelations,” he said.
The former diplomat said when requesting foreign investments “and the people outside get the impression that you are revealing information that they would not have revealed in their country, and that this had led to friction between the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, then these people outside may think twice about wishing to invest in T&T or to look at their dealing with T&T with a different eye.”
Rambarran had revealed the names of companies which use the most foreign exchange in T&T. He also said the country was in “official recession” following four quarters of negative growth.
The T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce has commented adversely about Rambarran’s statements. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said at the weekend the Government has to act to protect citizens.
Rowley denied a claim by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that the Government was attempting to hound Rambarran out of office. Rowley said the governor’s position was “untenable.”
“One does not wish a situation in which the Governor considers himself an entity that is not responsible to the welfare of the country, and should work in isolation from the govt. The Government and the bank must work together and this public spat between the government and bank is not helping the country,” Dumas added.
Dumas insisted: “One cannot operate independently of the other with a barrier between the two. That is an absurdity and would lead to difficulty for the country.”
He said: “So that even if the Governor doesn't have to get the permission of the minister to make that statement one would have expected that he would have at least sent a copy of the statement in advance to the Minister of Finance.”
Imbert said in Parliament that he asked for statement the day before it was to be made and his request was rejected by Rambarran. “I find this a little strange,” Dumas said.
Commenting on the recession issue, Dumas said the last quarter of the year had not ended as yet “so the question must arise, which quarter was the governor referring to. The point is that the current quarter is not yet ended.”
Dumas said “one would have expected that he would have waited until the current quarter was ended and then make a statement,” adding the Rambarran “would have to indicate to us what he was referring to, because what he said was not to my mind clear enough.”
Dumas said it was the population that was largely responsible for the foreign exchange situation.
While it is all very well to point fingers at this firm and that firm , we also have to bear in mind that these firms are doing this because of our desires. It is our desires that are bringing foreign goods.”
He said firms were also exporting products and consequently bringing in foreign exchange.
“To a large extend the outflow of foreign exchange is the fault of the population, which has acquired an appetite for foreign goods that are not necessary for our existence. There is also a responsibility on the part of the population to cut back on a number of the purchases it makes that involve foreign exchange.”