Fishermen in Trinidad and Tobago may resort to buying cheap diesel from Venezuela to sustain their businesses. That is the view pf Robert Sagramsingh, who recently joined a group of fishermen from Sea Lot to protest the increse in the price of diesel.
In his 2018 budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced an increase in the price of diesel increased from $2.30 a litre to $3.41 a itre, while gasoline went from $3.58 a litre to $3.97 a litre. Diesel in Venezuela costs just under half a US cent.
Sagramsingh said that he is tempted to go to Venezuela to purchase fuel at a cheaper rate because even before the price hike, for the past 18 months he have seen a significant decline in his fishing business.
If I do that what will I be doing with the economy of T&T? We are the ones who generate the economy. In one month I generated US$100,000 and that monies going back into the economy because it spending here, I have workers to pay and more, he said.
Sagramsingh said with the price increase his fuel bill has increased by $40,000.
My business shut down. I have big vessels, from 72-foot and up. My vessels go further and it burns more fuel. With the price increase how can I sustain my business? How could smaller fishermen sustain their businesses? he asked
A Sea Lots fisherman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he knows some fishermen who are already buying cheaper fuel from Venezuela.
Fishermen have to cut costs by any means now and to survive would mean to go out there in the black market to purchase cheaper diesel, he said.
Sagramsingh said he has several proposals to improve foreign exchange and the standard of living in the country and is willing to sit and discuss these further with Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat.
2014 GUARDIAN MEDIA LIMITED