Gov’t’s bailout of B.S.I. does not necessarily take sugar industry out of trouble

Recently, the sugar industry also faced its own crisis when the Belize Sugar Industries was unable to make third payment to farmers and did not have the funds necessary to start the new crop. After BSI received waivers from both the ING and FirstCaribbean International Banks, it was able to access a ten million dollar bailout loan from the government.  The loan was approved by the House late last month and has been disbursed last week to cane farmers. This Wednesday, the Towel Hill sugar mill began receiving cane. But, as the Prime Minister admitted, the bailout does not necessarily take the industry out of trouble.

Dean Barrow

dean barrow

“We’ll know for sure when I believe September of next year comes, perhaps no later than September. What has happened is that I.N.G. and F.C.I.B. who had pulled their thirty million dollar working facility had also said to B.S.I. you need then to repay me the monies and they had said you need to do so by March of next year. In order for Tate and Lyle to lend their ten million dollars, they had to get, all of us had to get F.C.I.B. and I.N.G. to extend that deadline because Tate and Lyle needed to be sure that they would have first call on the earnings until their ten million dollars are repaid. Remember unlike the government’s ten million dollars which is going to be serviced and going to be paid back in five years, the Tate and Lyle money has to be paid back before the current crop is over. And so that was done and therefore the deadline by which B.S.I. has to pay off I.N.G. and F.C.I.B. is September. B.S.I. is working furiously; the government is working furiously to try to find the replacement financing. There have been varying or various expressions of interests from Banco Atlantida, Scotia Bank has insisted that they are interested in participating in a long term facility. We have spoken to the Taiwanese and they might be prepared to lend the government some money so that government can put some money in the pot. But it is my sense that B.S.I. will be able to secure commercially the replacement financing so that…I am not sure there will be any need for government to take any additional stake in this thing. But if there is, we are certainly going to be prepared to do that.”