Mark wants audit of Republic Bank Holdings

Opposition Senator Wade Mark is calling on the Central Bank to do an urgent special forensic audit on Republic Bank Holdings Limited to determine if foreign exchange resources are being used in the country’s best interest.

He made the call yesterday during the budget debate in the Senate against the background of a “major outflow” of foreign exchange resources by key players in the economy. Mark questioned whether the amounts issued by Central Bank in support of the national economy “are being used in the best interest of this country, or just being frittered away by the rejuvenated parasitic oligarchy in this country.”

By Republic Financial Holdings financially supporting its overseas subsidiary, Mark said “They are contributing to the deteriorating foreign exchange situation. If this is not the case, then Republic Bank and the other financial intermediaries must show to this country how their financial activities had, and are contributing, to the net inflow of foreign exchange into this country.”

The dealings of many of the financial institutions, he said, are contributing to an exponential growth in the nation’s total debt stock, which total public debt now stands close to $95 billion with the external component at about $22 billion and a debt of about 65 percent to the GDP ratio.

At the present rate of decline of Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign exchange reserves, which was US$ 8.5 billion at the end of September and, given “our high propensity to import,” he said, “we are looking at a recipe for economic chaos and social disaster.

“It was estimated that in September 2015, the foreign exchange reserves was US$11.5 billion or an import cover of 12.9 months. By September 2017, he said, “there has been a precipitous decline in this nation’s foreign exchange reserves which has now collapsed to US$8.5 billion or the equivalent of less than ten months import cover, the lowest since May 2008.” Among the foreign exchange used, Mark said, was US$900 million Petrotrin spent to import crude oil for its refinery.

Combined this with a proposed injection of US$120 million into the HFC of Ghana, which is owned by Republic Financial Holdings Limited, and “as required by the Ghana’s Central Bank (i.e. new capital adequacy ratio requirement),” Mark said, “the scarcity of our foreign exchange resources will assume even greater turbidity for the stability of the foreign exchange market.” This was cause “for grave concern” as Government was now in the business, he said, “of providing scarce foreign exchange to the Government of Ghana courtesy of the mandarins of Republic Bank.”

On the power of the super elite and the need for transparency, accountability and integrity in government/private sector affairs. Mark said, in August the Central Bank disclosed on its website that it had granted Massy Holdings a licence to operate Bureau de Change for the buying and selling of foreign currency notes, coins and travellers cheques.