PM: Job, business preservation a priority

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley speaks to media in the VIP room at the Piarco International Airport after returning to TT from Ghana on Tuesday. - ANGELO MARCELLE
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley speaks to media in the VIP room at the Piarco International Airport after returning to TT from Ghana on Tuesday. - ANGELO MARCELLE

THE PRIME Minister has said job preservation is a priority in the covid19 situation.

He was speaking on Wednesday at a special post-Cabinet media conference at the Diplomatic Centre, Port of Spain.

He said the real issue the Government had to confront was preserving liquidity in the economy.

"We have to have cash for people – for conglomerates and people who will lose their jobs because the bars closed, the restaurants are partly closed."

Dr Rowley said Government sought to deal with the effects of the covid19 restrictions across the board and for all people affected.

"(So) we all have enough sustenance to take us over this hump."

He recalled that former Jamaican prime minister Edward Seaga once said, "It takes cash to care".

"And I want to add, 'The cash has to be there.'"

He said the Finance Ministry is working to ensure money is available throughout for sustenance. He stressed that job preservation and business preservation were key objectives, saying that the country needs healthy businesses "after this thing is over."

He said that to ensure significant cash is available in the system, there needed to be high liquidity and low interest rates. He noted that after conversations between the Central Bank Governor and the Finance Minister the bank's reserve requirement has been reduced and the repo rate lowered.

Rowley said the intention is to put $2.6 billion from the Central Bank into the business community so people doing business would not be in danger of running out of cash.

He thanked the business community's leadership at all levels, including conglomerates and chambers of commerce, for the support with the covid19 initiatives. He said the covid19 committees that were put in place on Monday went to work immediately.

The Government had been in full consultation with the business community, and: "The response has been very heartening."

Rowley said not everybody is in support, but the vast majority of people contacted for consultation have been very co-operative, have"thrown in their lot" with everyone else and are on board with what is required to be done.

"We all in this together," he stressed.

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