Govt disappoints TT chamber on closure of 'non-essential' businesses

The TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce is disappointed in the lack of communication from the Government with businesses before the surprise announcement that from Monday, all non-essential businesses will remain closed in a bid to mitigate the spread of covid19. A list of essential and non-essential business classifications is expected by Friday.

In a statement to Newsday, Chamber CEO Gabriel Faria said while the chamber recognises Government has to make these decisions, "we are disappointed in the lack of collaboration and engagement with the private sector."

"I was in a meeting yesterday with three ministers. The matter came up. We raised it. We said, 'Let us do a little planning so we don’t end up in a panic.' No one said let's discuss this. No need to discuss this. And today out of the blue, without any discussion, this is thrown on the population."

Faria said since the announcement on Thursday, he had received close to 100 messages and calls from chamber members and others in the business community with questions about what constitutes an essential business.

"There's been no context, no discussion. There are companies that may be considered non-essential services in manufacturing and they export. If they close we are going to damage forex earnings of the country. Are they going to close the energy sector? Because we import our fuel so I don't know why energy would be an essential service. I think gas stations should be. There are so many questions that are on my mind that are coming to me from our members."

These issues could have been pre-empted by having a discussion and dealing with it responsibly, he said.

"Again, we recognise the need. We are just disappointed. We did not have enough planning or thorough and proactive engagement. (Now we have) people who will be closing their businesses on Friday and not know where they stand until later."

There are so many questions and idiosyncrasies, Faria said, that needed to be considered about what is an essential business.

"For example, we as a chamber provide certificates of origin for exporters. I don't even know if we are essential. Should we continue? I hope we can bring some resolution to this that will ease the panic that the people of TT are feeling right now."