Mariano: T&T can benefit from Wall Street crash

Published: Tuesday September 16, 2008

The demise of one of Wall Street's biggest financial firms, Lehman Bros, and the sale of competitor Merrill Lynch could have far-reaching consequences as well as benefits for emerging markets and international financial centres throughout the world, including Trinidad and Tobago's, says Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne.

Speaking to the Express yesterday, Browne said: "To some effect, this could impact plans (for the IFC) as investors will now be taking some time, making up their minds as to where they want to invest following this."

Browne said he did not see this having a detrimental effect on the country's plans to set up an IFC.

He said the business community had not been drastically affected by the financial crisis in the United States, which has been going on for more than a year, and did not see the increasing ill health of Wall Street affecting local business in a major way.

While Browne said that his fellow line minister, Karen Nunez-Tesheira, was the official minister working with the development of the IFC, Browne said he believed the reduction in the number of players in the US capital market could free up the game for new companies from emerging economies such as Trinidad and Tobago's, and allow them to penetrate the international market and grow the economy at home.

President of the Securities Dealers Association, Ram Ramesh, also saw some positive effects coming from the financial shake-up in the US.

Ramesh said: "These setbacks will bring back some sanity to the international markets and investors all over could see this as a catalyst for the return of common sense investing and (they) will take a less risky approach to business as a result."

Economist Jwala Rambaran said a closer look at the local laws needed to be taken as a result of the fallout in the US. He told the Express: "The fallout will lead to a re-engineering of the US and even UK financial markets and tighter restrictions.


Source: Trinidad Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161376363