Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 20/Jan 04:46

Lifting of exchange controls one-sided

THE EDITOR: The selective lifting of the Exchange Control Act for international lenders, while leaving local citizens and businesses constrained, exposes a serious contradiction in national economic policy. By exempting foreign lenders, the state implicitly admits that rigid exchange controls are incompatible with modern finance. International capital demands flexibility, speed, and certainty. Foreign lenders will not tolerate delays, approvals, or bureaucratic barriers when moving funds, repatriating profits, or managing currency risk. The government has recognised this reality and adjusted policy accordingly. Yet local entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors remain bound by the same outdated restrictions. They must still seek approvals to invest abroad, manage foreign currency exposure, expand internationally, or conduct ordinary cross-border transactions. This creates a clear double standard: foreigners are trusted with freedom, while locals are treated with suspicion. Such a policy entrenches dependency on external financing. It prioritises foreign lenders over domestic enterprise and reinforces a system where national growth is driven by imported capital while local wealth creation is constrained. It weakens competitiveness, stifles innovation, and leaves the private sector operating with one hand tied behind its back in a global economy. This approach is also fundamentally incoherent. If exchange controls are no longer necessary for international lenders, then they are unnecessary in principle. Economic logic cannot apply selectively. Either these controls are essential for national stability, in which case they should apply equally to all, or they are outdated, in which case they should be dismantled transparently and comprehensively. Partial reform is not reform at all. It is distortion. A confident and serious country empowers its own citizens and businesses, not just its creditors. True economic reform must be consistent, equitable, and grounded in trust in the people it governs. FUAD KHAN via e-mail The post Lifting of exchange controls one-sided appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.