The Central Bank made a one off injection of  US$50 million into the local banking system on September 19th 2023, following a request by the Finance Minister.

This revelation came from Minister Colm Imbert, as he issued a statement regarding a decision by Republic Bank to reduce credit card limits from US$10,000 to US$5,000.

Mr Imbert dismissed claims that this was done on his instruction, saying the Minister of Finance does not interfere with the day-to-day operations and internal decisions of commercial banks.

Instead, he says the Bank advised that its credit card sales had reached an unsustainable level in September 2023, and had no choice but to reduce the limits to stay within its own approved guidelines.

He adds that upon being informed of the decision, it was determined that sales by all banks of foreign exchange using credit cards in T&T had reached close to US$6 million a day in September 2023, with Republic Bank responsible for a significant percentage of these sales.

He also revealed that credit card sales using foreign exchange is estimated reach US$2

billion in 2023, which is 45% higher than pre-Covid levels.

In addition to the USD injection to alleviate the situation, Mr Imbert says a meeting was also held with the Banker’s Association and the Chamber of Commerce to discuss the credit card situation and forex in general.