ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the Antigua and Barbuda government has received the first seven million (EC) dollars from a bank financing arrangement that will ultimately total EC$167 million.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne (File Photo)Speaking on his weekly radio programme, Prime Minister Browne said that another EC13millionisexpectedthisweekandafurtherEC80 million to be released later as he sought to clarify the structure of the financing arrangement following questions raised during a recent parliamentary debate.
Browne told radio listeners that the consortium of banks led by Antigua-based ACB Caribbean, the largest indigenous commercial bank with an asset base of over two billion Eastern Caribbean dollars, had begun disbursing the money.
“I’m also pleased to report that the consortium of banks led by ACB, they have made the first seven million dollars million of a EC$20 million bridging loan that they’ve given us,” Browne told radio listeners, adding that the overall bridging facility is larger than the $20 million being advanced directly to the government.
“Well, the bridge loan is actually EC$87 million,” he said, explaining that EC $67 million of the $87 million bridging facility is being used to cover existing government debt, while the remaining $20 million represents an advance to the government.
He said the $67 million was used to settle money owed to the locally-based Finance and Development Company Limited FDC).
“It’s a bridging facility in which they paid out the EC67millionthatwasowedbythegovernmentofAntiguaandBarbudatoFDCandtheygaveusEC20 million out of the EC$100 million.
“So of that 20million,wereceivedachequefromACBforsevenmilliondollarslastThursday,andtheotherEC13 million we’re told will come this week,” he said, adding “so we’ll get the full EC$20 million as part of the bridging facility”.
“There will be another EC$80 million to follow, which will give a total loan amount of 167million,”hesaidindicatingthattheadditionalEC80 million would not necessarily be transferred in one payment.
“The remaining EC$80 million will come to us, I guess, in tranches as needed,” he said.
Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle had during a recent parliament sitting questioned the amount of money that would actually be available to the government.
Browne told radio listeners that the arrangement consists of an initial EC87millionbridgingfacility,comprisingEC67 million to cover existing debt and $20 million advanced to the government.
He said once the broader loan facility is completed, another EC80millionwouldfollow, bringingthetotalfinancingtoEC167 million.
Browne said that the resolution tabled in the Parliament made it clear that the EC$87 million was a temporary bridging arrangement pending completion of the larger facility.
“And it says very clearly that this is a bridging facility pending the conclusion of the loan facility agreement,” Browne said.
