Browne: Farrell’s resignation trumped Rowley’s speech

In terms of economic importance and confidence, Dr Terrence Farrell’s resignation as chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Board trumped Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s address to the nation last week Sunday, Mariano Browne says.

“Nobody is talking about what the Prime Minister said. Everybody is talking about the implications of Farrell’s resignation. (Rowley) didn’t give us anything for the future. He is going backward. Farrell sends the signal that all is not well in terms of how we address the future,” Browne, a former minister in the ministry of finance, said.

Browne was one of the panellists at a forum on Friday on the latest International Monetary Fund’s report on TT’s economy hosted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

Farrell submitted his resignation to the PM on January 8. On Tuesday, he released a statement saying that he was disappointed with the government’s slow pace of implementation of the EDAB’s recommendations. Recently, Farrell has been outspoken in his criticism of the government in various public forums, especially regarding their handling of the exchange rate.

“There is nothing in the PM’s speech. He talks about the past, not (the future). He said he talked about vision 2030. I thought the speech would have laid out some some sort of plan that would have carried us forward but there is nothing that deals with that,” Browne said. Farrell’s resignation, on the other hand, he continued, is significant because it sends a signal, particularly the reasons he gives: that we are not making decisions, and if we are, we are not implementing them.

“(After the announcement,) everybody was on damage control, saying it wasn’t their fault. What you would have expected was a statement of intent. And in the absence of any such statement what are you to assume,” Browne said.

Instead, he said, the PM had set up a committee to talk about implementation. “Well, this is midterm. How many more new ideas will they have generated. I think this is really the end of the EDAB.”