(Trinidad Express) The Central Bank is ready with the bonds for CLICO depositors, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said yesterday.
“The exact date (they would be issuing them), they would let me know any day now,” he said, adding that he got the assurance it would be done shortly.
CLICO investors would have many options—cash, bonds and shares, Dookeran said. He was speaking to reporters at his Ministry of Finance office in Port of Spain.
Dookeran said Government would set up a trust similar to National Enterprises Ltd operations. He said the shares of Republic Bank Ltd would be placed into that trust, and the units of that trust would be made available to CLICO depositors (with investments of over $75,000).
He said they can exchange their bonds for these units, but they didn’t have to. “And even when they exchange it for units, they can market and trade that unit and convert it into cash in the stock market,” he said. He said the trust legislation would take a little while—”some months”—to finalise.
On the issue of confidence, Dookeran said he believed the confidence issue was almost an excuse for inaction. Stating there was a challenge facing the private sector, he said: “The private sector must not come to Government to say, ‘I want more tax incentives, I want this and that.’ Those days are past. They have to come with investment proposals in new areas for opening new space…. They cannot win if they want to protect the profits of the past without risking investment for a better future,” the minister said. He added that confidence was about the right policy, framework and environment, which were “all there”.
On the curfew imposed during the State of Emergency, Dookeran said if it goes on for a long period, it would dampen economic activity.
“Within the time frame of the next three months, I don’t anticipate significant changes in economic activity,” he said, though he conceded he has received correspondence from hoteliers and music organisations indicating the curfew has had a negative impact.
He said the two main things about the budget were that it increases revenue intake without increasing taxation and it increases expenditure without putting at risk the country’s macroeconomic stability.
On rumours that he was leaving the country for a job at the World Bank, he said: “I have been hearing that, too. In political life, you never know what tomorrow would bring. But I have no such plans”.
