Calling it a “floating” currency in Trinidad and Tobago is a stretch, what we really have is a tightly managed rate that behaves more like it’s moored to the dock than drifting with market forces.
The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago intervenes heavily to stabilize the exchange rate, allocating foreign exchange and smoothing volatility, but in doing so it suppresses true price discovery.
The result is persistent forex shortages, limited access for businesses, and a widening gap between the official and parallel markets.
A genuinely floating system would force adjustments, painful in the short term, yes, but it would also improve transparency, competitiveness, and investor confidence.
Right now, the contradiction between policy and reality is creating distortions that the economy can’t indefinitely absorb.
Gordon Laughlin,
Westmoorings
