A national recovery fund, consolidation of debt, enforcement of tax laws, divestment and investment by state companies, regulations for venture capital and private equity investment and investment using a fraction of the Heritage Stabilisation Fund are among the suggestions for recovery post covid19, made by the American Chamber of Commerce Trinidad and Tobago (Amcham) to the Government for the 2021 national budget, expected to be read next month.
Amcham made the suggestions in a 15-page submission given to the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.
Amcham said it recognised the need for Government to increase revenue while supporting citizens and businesses through the covid19 pandemic.
“It is important that our country’s economic recovery plan has clear objectives related to the improvement of quality of life and social harmony as prerequisites to a more attractive business environment.”
Amcham said a national recovery fund with an independent board, similar to the art and culture tax, could mobilise private capital through future tax credits for a suggested period of three to five years for expenditure in the fund.
It suggested that decreasing the US-dollar denominated debt should be a priority, thus refinancing was advisable rather than risking debt restructuring in the future.
“(Government should) consider divestment and strategic investments/acquisitions of and by state companies that have been operating as commercial entities,” Amcham added. It suggested that this would work for commercial entities who have not required subsidies from government for about five years.
“The use of transparent public private partnerships should be explored to achieve these objectives and feasibility studies/data analytics studies should be conducted on all of them as part of the annual agenda, so the process can commence with the appropriate data available.”
[caption id="attachment_911955" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Venezuelans wait outside the Immigration Division, National Security Ministry, Port of Spain to collect new registration cards on March 18, 2021. Amcham suggests TT develop a policy to intergrate migrants into the economy in its 2021 budget recommendations. - File photo/Sureash Cholai[/caption]
It also suggested that Government collaborate with the Financial Intelligence Unit and utilise technology like GIS maps, artificial intelligence, fraud detection tools, professional accreditation bodies and associations to identify businesses that are not BIR compliant to bring more people into the tax net.
Amcham also said Government should incentivise venture capital and private equity investments by allowing institutional and private investors to invest a portion of their capital in those types of funds. It also suggested that Government invest less than five per cent of the heritage fund in a similar fund, as well as revenue generating projects and diversification investments.
Aside from post covid19 growth, Amcham made general suggesti
