Fin. Sec. Gives Update on Petrocaribe Funds

Last week, Government sent out a tag team of political legal advisor Michael Young and Financial Secretary Joseph Waight to sell the Petrocaribe Bill. That was a short-lived initiative as the duo came under heavy fire. One major point of contention has been the rationale behind the Petrocaribe Loan Motion, passed in the House last year, and the Petrocaribe Bill, also passed in the House. Government claimed that it was forced to take that course of action because it could not know beforehand the sums coming in from Petrocaribe. But it actually does? In fact, G.O.B. knows the exact amount even before the shipment leaves Venezuela. It’s a significant wrench in the works for Government’s PR plan moving forward, at least where Petrocaribe is concerned. Today News Five spoke to Financial Secretary Joseph Waight for some clarification.

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary

“Each shipment indeed carries a value. There is an invoice that shows the value. A portion of that invoice is paid. A portion is financed. The financed portion is then on-loaned to the government through APBEL. I don’t want to split hairs but to know in advance how many shipments we’ll have or what values for the year…we don’t know. We know…indeed we will know several days after the ship sails what the true value is because an average of the Platts for the last three days…but it is right to say that we would know by the time the shipment arrives in Belize, the value of that shipment or the quantities involved. But we wouldn’t know in the future how many such shipments will happen because we don’t know the volumes or demands going forward, so if it’s a question of going to the House each time a shipment comes…the House does not meet continuously.”

Mike Rudon

“Are you still convinced that this Petrocaribe Bill was an absolutely necessary and good thing?”

Joseph Waight

Joseph Waight

“Well I you know it was a Bill to end some of the noise and the misconception out there, but the Petrocaribe spending itself has never been a secret. It has never been a secret. And the Government has passed it through the government accounting system so it’s not take the money and run. It’s not a carte blanche to spend what you want how you want.”

Mike Rudon

“You said this Bill was put out there to stop the noise, to end the noise…do you think?”

Joseph Waight

“Obviously not! Gentlemen I gotta go.”

News Five is informed that the Prime Minister will be hosting a press conference on Wednesday on his return from Miami. While we are told the primary topics are the banking issues and cruise tourism and not Petrocaribe, we’re also absolutely sure that the matter will come up.