Business chambers happy TT off financial 'grey' list

Members of the public line up at Inland Revenue Division, Port of Spain to meet the tax amnesty deadline in September 2019. - Vidya Thurab
Members of the public line up at Inland Revenue Division, Port of Spain to meet the tax amnesty deadline in September 2019. - Vidya Thurab

BUSINESS chambers are welcoming the news that TT is no longer on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list”. On Friday, the FATF announced that TT was no longer under increased monitoring, having met the agency’s threshold for improving its financial legislation, including tax compliance.

In a statement, the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce said the Attorney General, who led much of the legislative mandates and met frequently with the FATF, rightly deserves credit for the achievement. It also highlighted other stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance, since many of the legislative reforms addressed financial and company matters and would have required action by that ministry, as well as the Financial Investigation Unit and the TTPS, responsible for regulation and enforcement.

“We look forward to continued and combined work as a country to move us towards best standards of international compliance.

“The TT Chamber stands ready to support in whatever way we can. Our belief is that strong businesses are the foundation of a prosperous Trinidad and Tobago.”

The American Chamber of Commerce of TT (Amcham) also added sentiments, noting while it was happy that TT is no longer grey-listed, there was no need for the country to ever end up on that list.

The chamber also congratulated the Government and the Attorney General for implementing the necessary regulatory and legislative measures.

“As the largest economy in the English-speaking Caribbean with the strongest financial sector, we must ensure that our regulatory environment is efficient, modern and robust. The measures taken to get enhance our FATF compliance are a significant step in this direction.”

The chamber also noted the Fair Trading Act, which it said was a positive step for improving the regulatory environment.

“We have, in the past, lamented the lack of alacrity in the passage legislation to enhance efficiency in the country. While there is more to be done, we would like to say kudos to the Government in these two instances.”

Amcham said it now looked forward to the passage of the Tax Information Exchange Bills, which has bipartisan support, as well as public procurement legislation before the end of March 2020, and the Revenue Authority Act.

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