Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: The best insight, instant feedback, accountability the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5 welcome to our program here this morning to speak to us about some of the things taking place. President of the Cova Pointless Chamber of Commerce, that's Deoraj Mahes. Good morning to you and welcome to our show.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Yes, good morning, Satish. Thank you very much.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: It's nice to have you with us here this morning. And the topic dominating a number of national discussions has to do with the announcement about our Prime Minister stepping down and him selecting Stuart Young to be the replacement and all that's going on. Let's begin our discussion by getting your views on this development and some of what you think are the implications.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Well, you know what I've said before, and I say it again, that the Prime Minister have indicated that, you know, he has been preparing to step down for a while. So the choice really from what it seems in terms of the reports that are out there is that there's a level of succession planning, a plan really to move forward with the party and so on.
And we have seen in that retreat, coming out of reports with the media and so on that they, they would have indicated that Minister Young would be the person that they, they would be supporting to move forward as a, as a party.
You know, Minister Young have been involving various ministries, you know, he has been on the international front and so forth.
He's one of the key ministries, energy and you know that that is one of the drivers of the economy. While we have trade and business and manufacturing and so forth, we are still very much in that sector.
So I think his input or his experience rather in those areas would lend some level of growth and so on forward.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: There's a lot of controversy surrounding the entire development and the man in which it's being done has raised questions about process, about democracy, about good leadership and all these kinds of things. Are those matters of concern to you and to your organization?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: Well, sitting from the outside, I mean, I am not an expert in terms of how these parties function and there has been reports about general counsel, convention and so forth.
However, in terms of the real way that they would make these changes, I am not fully aware of the internal workings of the party.
However, there are always issues or views and opinions that will come up.
But from, from the perspective on this side, I, I don't want to, I would not venture into really be having an opinion on, on that because as I say, parties, organization, groups have, you know, various ways in which they conduct their business and whilst on the outside One may look at it and say this is wrong or that is wrong and so on.
There may be clauses in there that allow such things to take place.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: I know that one of the discussions surrounding this entire development is the ability of Stuart Chung to. To lead the country. Now, we don't know the time frame as to how long he's going to be there, if it's going to actually happen. Now, this morning, the newspapers are suggesting that there are some issues with getting the requisite number of signatures for this to come to pass and a number of things. So there's.
It's still up in the air as to exactly what's going to happen. We had discussions some time ago and with other stakeholders, economists and so on, and they're suggesting that this kind of. Of development and the uncertainty that surrounds the Prime Ministership and whatever else does not augur well in terms of business and investment and persons wanting to invest and so on. What's your take on it?
[00:05:11] Speaker B: It will raise concerns because we, you know, it's. What is taking place here is something that we would not have seen before. So unprecedented. But again, these are unprecedented times. We are seeing it in various, not just Trinidad, but various parts of the world, as we see. We would have seen certain developments in Canada and so forth other places.
But yes, there will be some concerns because it is different. The approach is different.
Businesses would be really looking forward to a level of stability because there has been a lot of issues happening, affecting businesses.
We have on top of the agenda things like the crime activities and forex and so forth. So, yes, a level of stability, a transfer, if we want to call it, of power and so forth smoothly would be the most welcome thing to see happening right now.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yeah, the number of issues that have cropped up as a result of this really highlights, you know, how complex the matter is. And it's not necessarily as easy a transition as Dr. Rowley had initially suggested that it would have been.
And that in itself is something new that the nation has to treat with in a year when we have a general election.
What is your membership saying about some of the challenges that this may present to us as a nation in an election year?
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Well, there can be, I mean, a lot of challenges with this.
If it's not, if it's not handled in the right way, we would have seen, again, based on the media reports that they're trying to make this come across as best as possible. But certainly some of the reports that are coming out seems to suggest that you may have some different opinions within. Again, we are not inside, we are not sure what is really unfolding in terms of that. We can go by what is being reported and told to us based on what is coming back. And you know, there have been reports, you see people speaking about certain votes taking place and things like that.
However, the comments coming out is that that is not so and so on. So, you know, there's a level of uncertainty in terms of what the perception is.
However, I think that we, as we wait and see how it unfolds, we would be guided into what is taking place. We have seen some opinions from various political scientists, as they were. I would have looked at some of those on the media and whatnot. But it's a concern.
However, we are seeing this move happening and I think it's a wait and see approach, notwithstanding the concerns that are taking place.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Now we have Minister Stewardson who spent a considerable amount of time in the Ministry of Energy and Energy affairs.
And now should he assume that role of leading the country, what's the impact you expect it to have on the energy sector?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Lend some positive support to the sector? You know, again, there are various views on this, but we would have seen the negotiations and the movement, those offshore fields and so on. And again as well, there's a lot of complications or assumed complications in those, getting those, those gas to shore and things like that. But we have seen where these negotiations have moved from various stages into where they are now.
His involvement have been over a couple of years and I think being on the.
At the top as it is, or once it is sanctioned will have some positive effect on that, on that area.
The energy sector.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I know that there's a lot of concern.
Concern may not be the right word. Maybe it is. There's a lot of focus on where the energy sector is and where it's heading, where it needs to go, simply because we still rely so much on our energy sector for the quality of life, the standard of living that we continue to enjoy.
And the average individual does not necessarily understand how directly related those things are. When we look at the issue of foreign exchange, the lack of foreign exchange is tied directly in some instances to what's going on in the energy sector.
And the lack of availability of that US dollar affects everyone in one way or the other because the prices of goods and everything else is going up because of the scarcity. People paying all kind of ridiculous amounts of money in the black market for foreign exchange businesses, we see now that they have huge businesses closing their doors simply because they are unable to finance their operations one way or the other. Tell us about some of the challenges that your membership, they've been confronted with when it comes to foreign exchange.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: I think you're seeing it right there, the availability for persons to get the amount because you have businesses who, looking to move forward to grow and so on.
And if you are unable to get what you require in order to develop your business, the effects as it go down the chain will certainly affect various sectors as well. Because if you, if you're into a particular industry that lends support to three other industries, for example, immediately you see that chain reaction happening. And we have been having that challenge, membership have been having that challenge, you know, at various levels.
And yes, you, you hear rumors about this, people buying on the black market and so forth and how much they are paying and what and things like that.
It is having a negative effect. And you know, business models would have changed coming out of COVID to really try to survive and move on. People have scaled down. Some people have gone doing online activities.
But even so, if you don't have what it requires to provide supplies to your customers, then you yourself would have, you would have a lot of problems. You know, even, even these businesses who have, as I said before, who would have remodeled how they operate, some of them may not be using a physical office anymore and they have a lot of growth. Businesses would have moved into that, that area, smaller scaled businesses and so on. But then we have the issue of the, the cards, credit cards and the banks and so forth that have really caught ability because of their, what they have said is the ability to, to provide.
And those things are having quite, quite an effect on businesses and the ability to really function effectively. And you know, a lot of businesses would like to grow, would like to move forward, but it is, it is having a challenge. Yes.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I think one of the reasons why the wider population, yeah, we know about it, we hear about it, but we ain't too concerned about it is because we are still able to get things that we want. We're still able to go into shops, so we're still able to buy things. And sometimes it might be a little more expensive, it might be a little hard to find, but we still get in them so we don't see the situation as bad. I was speaking to somebody recently, they wanted to start this year. They said to themselves, listen, I need to get myself involved in some kind of additional activity to earn more money. Yes, they're employed and all, but I want to start a little business. And one of the business, one of the ideas which has taken root and has grown in popularity is online shopping, where, you know, they buy things online and they sell it back and they have an online store and that kind of thing. But the first challenge they're confronted with is how they gonna pay for this thing, how do they pay for them? So they start getting creative as a husband and wife. They're talking about opening accounts with the various banks and applying for credit cards and all of them. And hopefully they get more than one cred card so that they'll have cumulatively this amount of money for the month and everything else. But it shows how prohibitive it is to try to engage in business. And that could never be good for an economy. Now there are people who dismiss it, they business it. Because there's a narrative in this country that all business people evil, wicked, greedy and look for what they get.
And there's the opposite to that, where there are people who deserve in and whatever else. So a divide has been created. Unfortunately that's the reality in many instances where business people, once you're successful in this country because you're doing something wrong and how you have something, you're supposed to get it.
But people trying to get into business are realizing how difficult it really is, much less for the people who are already there, have their businesses set up and are seeing their businesses crumble before their eyes through no fault of their own. This foreign exchange thing has such far reaching consequences and implications that it's unbelievable. I mean I was, there's a, there's a gentleman who's from the US and he came back into the country doing some business home here. You know, you have people living here, they have all kind of thing going on. When he came here, he wanted some us to do something and somebody said to him that he could go up to Piaco, there's a cambio there that he could, he could purchase us. And the man went on to social media and said they won't charge him $9 for a US 9T to US$1. So he asked, let me see how much you're buying for. And they said 660 or 663 or some kind of thing like that. And it highlights just how much on the back foot business people are. What are some of the other challenges that your membership, your organization are expecting to have to confront in 2025?
[00:17:46] Speaker B: The clearance of cargo have been, you know, providing have been some challenge to the business community.
We would have seen certain developments over the last couple of months and so on. And while we have Seen a lot of progress addressing those areas. It is something we have to be mindful of as we move forward because, you know, there are moves to transition the areas of customs and other areas that will benefit the way that business is done in the country. Some of these things have been in the works for a while and there are moves, positive moves that are happening as, as we speak now to address some of these matters. So those things will have presented some challenges in getting businesses to have cargo available, rather goods and so on, to their consumers. We one of the things too that a lot of, as you pointed out here, you know, people just see things on face value. In some cases, businesses, business people work very hard. I mean, I'm not saying the other people don't, but it's quite a challenge to run a business and feel some of what is happening here.
There are a lot of external factors outside of Trinidad as well that affects how goods, cargo and things like that come into this country. And so it's not always at the point of where we have that transition taking place in the country where goods arrive and you have to get it and so on. It's not always something like that. A lot of logistics factors outside there that as a, as a people, we would not be aware, a lot of you will not be aware of. But sometimes it's good to have an understanding of those things because then you'll understand the impact of how some of these things are unfolding here. Because people are accustomed to going to these shelves and seeing, you know, what, what is available. And you're right, we, we have, we have not really seen that impact in terms of availability. You know, yes, the prices would have their effects on the prices and so on, but availability have been there and that tells you that, you know, business people have found innovative ways in trying to have that the Kaggle and the goods and so on are available.
So the challenges, again, we're seeing the movement towards the revenue Authority, we're seeing those kind of things that are coming out, the digitalization so on. I mean, these are some of the things that have been in the works for a little while, but, but there have been some progress in it and we're looking forward to more implementation of some of those measures because at the end of the day, those things are going to really assist and help businesses to move forward, but still comes back to being able to provide that supply and our ability to earn the Forex as well.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: I know that these are matters that have been confronting the business community for quite some time. And while Some have been able to be creative in navigating some of these challenges. It has proven to just be too much for some others. We've spoken to other business chambers and they've spoken about the number of their members who've closed up shop.
I know people who are in business and a number of them, they've just decided to throw in the towel. If it's not because of the challenges with Forex and doing business, it's because of the crime situation and other things that are impacting on business and the ability to do business and everything else but this. We're gonna have to leave it here this morning. It's an interesting discussion. We've only just scratched the surface about some of the challenges confronting the business community. I want to thank you for being with us here this morning and I'm sure that we'll have further conversations as this year 2025 has only just begun and there are so many other things that we need to discuss. Thank you once again for being with us here this morning.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Thank you, Satish. Thanks to the freedom for giving us the opportunity and we look forward to, you know, working with you guys.
We are always available on membership and we want to really do what we can to contribute, to assist and to work with the relevant groups in media and support to really see. Because at the end of the day it's a all of us, it's a national movement. It's not anything that is in one side or anything like that.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you once again for being with us here this morning. The best insight, instant feedback, accountability, the all new Talk Radio Freedom 106.5.
