US currency needed to pay bills

Speaking at a press conference after his re-election at TTMA’s headquarters in Barataria, Quesnel — sitting with his board of directors — said business was going the route of putting money into US accounts, because they had to have ready cash available to service their debts and meet financial obligations.

He was responding to comments by Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams who last week expressed concern that there was evidence some local business people were hoarding foreign exchange.

Pointing to the decline in conversions of foreign exchange by the non-energy sector and a tendency for some clients to make multiple and repeated requests for foreign exchange from several banks, Williams said it was clear some clients are prepaying bills. Such practices worsen market imbalances, he stressed.

But Quesnel, a director at the Kiss Baking Company, defended the actions of his business colleagues, noting when bills became due, “you need a place to pay it. It must be there when you need it.”

He said he would not agree with the term “hoarding” as used by the Central Bank governor, saying he preferred to use “line up” instead. He also pointed out that it was legal for businesses to have US accounts.

“We need a place to go at a moment’s notice,” Quesnel said of their foreign exchange accounts, noting that business people were very “uncomfortable” with the foreign exchange shortage. He said business people were thinking ahead and had to do what was necessary to safeguard their businesses.

“We are very uncomfortable with the way things are going right now,” he said.