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SOURCE: TRINDAD & TOBAGO GUARDIN- Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne is urging the new Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government to fulfil a commitment made to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) during the tenure of the People’s Partnership government—an obligation that would cost Trinidad and Tobago approximately US$60 million.
This matter stems from the massive financial crisis that originated with the collapse of two major Caribbean insurance and financial companies: Colonial Life Insurance Company (Clico) and British American Insurance Company (Baico).
This crisis, which began in late 2008, sent shockwaves across the Caribbean, particularly affecting T&T (where Clico was headquartered) and the OECS.
“About a billion dollars was lost by EC (Eastern Caribbean) depositors. Those are funds that were invested by Clico/Baico in the Trinidad economy.
And we felt that there should have been greater participation of Trinidad and Tobago in the resolution of the issue.
Now, the previous Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) administration had agreed to provide a compensation of 100 million US dollars for the OECS countries, of which 40 million US dollars is paid.
Unfortunately, the (Dr Keith) Rowley administration did not honour the remaining 60 million US dollars,” Browne explained to Guardian Media during a lunch break at the 49th meeting of Caricom Heads of Government in Jamaica yesterday.
Browne said with the return of Persad-Bissessar as T&T Prime Minister, he is hoping the balance will be paid. He, however, acknowledged that T&T has its own financial problems.
“So, we’re not even asking for all of it to be paid at once. It could be a long-term bond, payable at a low interest rate over an extended period in order to reduce the cash flow impact.
But those are negotiations that we hope to have with Kamla (Persad-Bissessar). And I remain hopeful that we’ll be able to resolve the issue.”
Persad-Bissessar did not attend the ongoing Caricom meeting in Jamaica.
However, PM Browne said the option of sending a small OECS delegation to T&T is a viable option to discuss the matter.
“Mohammed will go to the mountain,” he said.
The Clico and Baico fallout had a particularly severe and disproportionate impact on the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
The OECS/ECCU region had the largest exposure to Clico and Baico as a share of their GDPs, with some countries’ exposure reaching as high as 15 per cent of their 2009 GDP.
OECS governments were forced to undertake costly interventions and bailouts to mitigate the crisis and protect policyholders.
This placed a severe strain on their national budgets and significantly increased public debt.
Browne said the inequities faced by OECS members in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) framework were discussed during yesterday’s meeting. And again, he referenced T&T.
“There must be some benefit for the OECS countries. You’d find, for example, that the MDCs (more developed countries), they produce most of the goods that we consume.
Trinidad and Tobago, for example, is like a supermarket to the OECS. A lot of the goods that we consume, they’re imported from Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
“But we can also source goods extra-regionally at a cheaper price. But the CET (Common External Tariff) precludes us from importing those goods, even from the Dominican Republic, for example, where we can get better prices. So technically speaking, we are subsidising prices for the MDCs.”
He said within the treaty, there is the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF), which is required to assist countries displaced as a result of the CSME to assist in capacity building but MDC’s have failed to meet their subscription to the CDF.
OECS countries have felt that the Caricom arrangements, particularly the CSME, have historically disadvantaged their manufacturing sectors, he said.
St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves recently used the phrase “Monopoly money” to describe T&T’s currency due to the severe difficulties Vincentian traders face in converting their earnings in TT dollars into hard foreign currency.
PM Browne said he would never refer to any Caricom member’s currency in that manner.
However, he said, “But in terms of settling these outstanding invoices in US dollars, understanding they’re small amounts, three million US dollars, I don’t know that is insurmountable.
So, as far as practicable, I believe that Trinidad and Tobago should settle, and to settle in the appropriate currency, that is US dollars. And it’s a work in progress.
These issues that have been raised now for several years, and we’re hoping that the new administration will give a tangible effect to resolving these issues.”
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Firstly, It was rather disappointing to see that Trinidad and Tobago did not attend the recent summit. As a key player in Caricom, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister’s absence from the recent Caricom summit was not just disappointing but it shows the level of interest that she has in the regional body. In fact, Trinidad and Tobago was not even represented at the summit. It’s little wonder that some of the OECS countries are questioning their continued involvement and participation in Caricom. And even in her absence Prime Minister Browne was making known his desire in seeing Trinidad and Tobago fulfill its US$60 Million debt commitment and obligation made to the OECS under former PM Keith Rowley’s administration. This stems from the financial crisis that originated from the collapse of Colonial Life Insurance and British American Insurance Companies. . Whether or not PM Kamala Presad Bissessar UNC government would honour it is another matter.
Here we go again. We have a Prime Minister not only standing up for the interest of Antigua and Barbuda, but of the entire OECS that suffered from the demise of the CLICO Financial Group. And may I remind people that under the UPP Social Security lost about $7million of their investment and Medical Benefits lost aboutn$17million. Yet Lovell thinks he can make noise about the PM handling of Social Security. He needs to thank the PM for having saved Social Security and is now looking at making it even stronger in the future with sound investment vehicles(Jolly Beach Propperty). When this deal comes to past it will simply mean that a prime beach property is back in Antiguan and Barbudans hand.
@ Audley Phillip Did you read the article?
Now, the previous Kamla (Persad-Bissessar) administration had agreed to provide a compensation of 100 million US dollars for the OECS countries, of which 40 million US dollars is paid.
Kamala Persad-Bissessar made that agreement in her previous stint as PM not Dr Rowley.
@Bertaboi July 9, 2025 At 10:04 am
Thank you for correcting him, before I did. He keeps on spewing things he doesn’t know anything about. He likes to think of himself as a social and political commentator. But he talk on every issue without having the facts or understanding the issue. The PM had to put him straight more then once already.
@less we forget.
This is not tit for tat dude.. you keep talking about UPP like they are still running the country. You are talking about 16-17 years ago dude.
And if you really want to be honest, UPP were in office at the time of the greatest economic collapse in American history..and let me remind you, that over 50% of Antiguan’s revenue comes from the US.
So even though I don’t give UPP a pass, you are talking apples to oranges.
To be honest, I think Lovell did a wonderful job under those kinds of pressure. Quite frankly I’m surprised that only $24m was lost under those conditions.
Meanwhile your golden boy GB was laid a golden egg from the golden goose, and he still found a way to eff it up.