By Sue-Ann Wayow

THE Trinidad and Tobago dollar will be devalued should the United National Congress (UNC) get a chance to return to government in the upcoming general election.

Prime Minister Stuart Young is warning the population that the TT dollar will move from roughly $6.80 to $7 per US dollar to more than TT$15 to US$1.

“I stand here today and warn Trinidad and Tobago that if the UNC gets into power on April 28, 2025, no matter what they say, they are going to devalue our dollars $15 to $1(US),” he said.

And Trinidad and Tobago will be forced to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which the PNM has tried to stay clear of during its terms in office.

Speaking at a public meeting in San Fernando on Wednesday, Young told supporters that the UNC led by political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was rolling out not sensible economic measures but “a bag of poison” which will only lead to bankruptcy.

He asked where the UNC will get the money from to follow through with what they were promising.

Young, read from a UNC document, “A new UNC government will commit to the following: work with the Central Bank to ensure a competitive exchange rate.”

“For those who don’t understand what that means, that means to devalue our dollar,” he said.

Young also showed the document entitled – National Economic Transformation Master Plan 2020 – 2025 available on the UNC’s website.

Under heading “Money and Exchange Rate Policy) the document states, “A New UNC government will commit to the following to help protect our country’s external position: work with the Central Bank to ensure a competitive exchange rate. The Ministry of Finance will work with the Central Bank to ensure Trinidad and Tobago’s exchange rate is competitive, eliminating the current dirty managed float and allowing market forces to operate within a crawling band.”

Young told supporters, “I stand here tonight without fear of contradiction and tell the population of Trinidad and Tobago that the UNC bag of poison, that they promising people and trying to fool people with, is going to lead us straight to the IMF.”

He said he consulted with economists, discussing the UNC’s financial plans and what it will mean for the local economy.

Young detailed what such a devaluation would mean to citizens especially at the supermarkets.

“Everything is going to cost twice as much,” he said.

Young compared present some food prices to what it could be, should the TT dollar be devalued to such an extent.

According to Young, the price of flour will be increased from $18.49 to $40.85. Rice would be increased from $29 per 2kg to $64, curry powder 85grams – $12 will increase to $26.50, sardines will move to $30.82 from $13.95 and a pound of onions which cost $5.95 will cost $13.

He said the PNM government has always told the truth to the public, no matter how hard it was.

Young said the UNC always try to give what they did not have and when they left government in 2015, left the country worse off.

There was no way, government could currently afford to give public servants a 10 per cent back pay as being promised by the UNC, he said.

Young said, “This government offered four per cent, we took it to five per cent. That is what we could afford. As a new prime minister, I am willing to look at it and to see if there are ways we could help in other directions but I know what we can afford and what we can’t.”

He said it would cost over $6 billion in backpay if 10 per cent was approved. And if 14 per cent was given, it would cost taxpayers $8.5 billion.

“That is not responsible,” Young said.

The UNC’s proposed plan to also slash corporation tax will cost the treasury over $1billion annually he added.

“On the one hand, they want to increase your spending by billions but they want to reduce the amount of money you earn by billions. They are going to bankrupt Trinidad and Tobago…Up to now, they cannot tell you how they are going to increase revenue, but they could tell you how they going to spend,” Young said.

Young who is also the Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs said attention must be paid to the energy sector because, that sector remained the main revenue earner for the country and defended the decision regarding Petrotrin.

“It wasn’t easy,” he admitted.

Young said, “We spent months thinking of ways to stop the loss at Petrotrin. But we had to take the difficult decision and that is what a government does.”

He also declared that the government did not shut down Petrotrin, a company that was losing oil during the period 2010 to 2015 when the UNC was in government.

“By the time, they left office, we were losing billions of dollars every year at Petrotrin.”

Young also defended the decision to close borders during the Covid-19 pandemic – two issues for which his political opponents continue to knock him for.