KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent– Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says St. Vincent and the Grenadines have obtained permission from Venezuela to “borrow back” nine million US dollars Kingstown paid on loans owed to the ALBA Bank.
The money had been held in an escrow account at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) as sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the United States prevented its transfer to Caracas.
Prime Minister Gonsalves, who was in the South American country for medical treatment last week, said his government obtained permission to use the money.
“We have in that account, which we have paid, which money belongs to the ALBA Bank in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela nine million US dollars and something. And we had paid the money there because we didn’t want any challenges arising with the sanctions,” he said.
Gonsalves said that Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, who joined him in Caracas, had the idea of asking the Nicolas Maduro government to allow Kingstown to use the money.
“And he put forward two proposals, which the Alba Bank has accepted,” Gonsalves said, adding that one is to allocate four million US dollars to buy vessels for the fishing industry.
“And an arrangement would be made with particular fishers, train them. And these are bigger vessels… at a higher level requiring other kinds of training and building a fleet because there is a lot of fish out there, there’s a lot of conches out there, there’s a lot of lobster out there, and we have to be able to harvest it.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves said that the finance minister was hoping to include in next year’s budget a sum for the repair of Little Tokyo, the bus terminal in Kingstown that services the east of the country.
“He’s looking for a number in the region of five million dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) to rebuild Little Tokyo. And it has been agreed that we can, in a sense, borrow back that money which we had paid because it’s lying in the Central Bank not being used.”
Gonsalves said that the finance minister had informed the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Timothy Antoine, of the development, adding, “but the requisite paperwork will have to be done.
“But this is absolutely an incredible package of support,” he said, referring to the meeting outcome in Caracas.”
On his return here last week, Gonsalves disclosed that Venezuela canceled Kingstown’s debt under the PetroCaribe oil initiative and agreed to cancel 50 percent of the debt owed by the other members of the Organisation Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Caracas also promised Kingstown 150 pre-fabricated homes for people affected by the April 2021 eruption of La Soufriere and Hurricane Elsa last July and asphalt and fertilizer, Gonsalves said.
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