Kudos to Imbert for forex plan

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said his ministry had requested the Central Bank to give priority to manufacturing and trade whenever it “intervenes” in the market.

If the truth be told, the bank has always had this prerogative to redirect the disbursements to the area where they are needed.

In 2015, we recall the outcry when parents were unable to access foreign exchange to pay tuition for their children at foreign universities.

The then PP government was advised that this mechanism could be utilised to alleviate the concern and anxiety and was an ideal opportunity, pre-election, to show the population it really was interested in the betterment of all citizens.

Sadly, it chose to do nothing but instead allowed the perception that payment for goods and services to North and Central America was of greater importance.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons it lost the election and why it is now confined to languish in a forlorn state in opposition.

The Minister of Finance can never be accused in the last 20 months of having any idea of how to move the economy forward, instead choosing to blame the past administration for its misdeeds.

This proposal at least warrants deliberation as, for the first time, support is being directed to the productive sector to encourage growth. In the worse case, if it does not have any positive benefits it can always be withdrawn.

In fairness, praise should be given to the minister for at least keeping his promise to assist the manufacturing sector to access foreign exchange. Trying something is better than the nothing done over the past months.

I have always had the highest regard for the opinions of Farrell but his displeasure about the proposed system may expose the fact that he has missed the point of how to kickstart the economy and this can only happen when incentives are given to the productive sector.

Unless he can offer a good reason why foreign exchange should, for example, be given preferentially to import a new car rather than for raw material to produce locally manufactured goods, then he should be quiet and support the proposal.

R BALLARD Diego Martin