Petrocaribe Rolls Out Countrywide…

Dean Barrow

Amidst all that was said about Petrocaribe this morning, there were only a couple things we hadn’t heard before. One is that those glorious monies will be rolling down south to citrus farmers, and we’ll have more on that later in our newscast. The other is that the Petrocaribe monies from the start of this financial year will be harnessed somewhat with a view to dealing with nationalization issues, which are still before the courts, but for which the prime minister said there will be compensation…and also the super bond.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“We can say that everything collected between April of this year…the April amount hasn’t come in yet and March thirty-first of next year will not be used for capital or social assistance spending but will be reserved only for payment of nationalization compensation once that figure has been assessed. And thereafter, starting April first 2017, and we fully expect the UDP to be here at that time…starting April first 2017 not less than one half of every dollar to be collected from Petrocaribe will be earmarked for that superbond buyback. This buyback which has been under active consideration for some time now, with discussions already held between GOB representatives and our debt attorneys and key creditors, will ultimately reduce by significant amounts, as I said, those monies required to service our commercial debt, the superbond. I will see how we can put this commitment into legal language and take it to Parliament for ratification.”