MEMBER of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray says the promise made by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to make Ease of Doing Business (EODB) a priority lacks credibility and value.
In a statement on Thursday, Paray said, “The guarantee was hollow and meaningless because, under the PNM administration, the Ministry has led Trinidad and Tobago to become one of the lowest-rated countries in the World Bank’s EODB metrics.”
He said the current Government also presided over the flight of more than US$10 billion in foreign-owned businesses, while the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration had attracted over $15 billion in investments.
Paray said the regulatory environment was the worst it has ever been in the country’s history with construction permits taking 254 days, electricity connections being obtained after 61 days and three-and-a-half years to enforce contracts.
He said, “Under this failed regime, it takes two and a half years to resolve insolvencies, 77 days to register a property, and 65 days to obtain credit.”
Paray said, “The country has since fallen to 105th in the world, lower than Haiti, the poorest nation in the hemisphere. Even Finance Minister Colm Imbert has acknowledged that these measurable benchmarks are “totally unacceptable.
“The lengthy statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry is, therefore, is a typical vacuous PNM promise, since there has been no resolve over the past six years to return T&T to the appealing investment capital it once was.”
He added that because of its pathetic track record, this Government cannot be trusted to implement the vital reforms that are required to make Trinidad and Tobago a competitive hub for investment and trade.
Paray described this as a disgraceful state of affairs since foreign investments are sorely needed to assist in reviving and sustaining the sinking national economy.
