Only $10 million of the government’s $100 million loan from CIBC Caribbean bank has been drawn down so far, according to Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley.
That $10 million was made available when the loan was signed last October, and no more funds have been accessed since then, Mr. Wheatley said last Thursday in response to questions from opposition member Ronnie Skelton in the House of Assembly.
Mr. Skelton (R-at large) then asked Mr. Wheatley when government intends to draw down the rest of the loan.
“It’s expected that we’re going to have a draw down between now and the end of the year,” Mr. Wheatley replied.
Though government previously had planned to draw down approximately $29 million this year, he said, that is now unlikely to happen — in part because many of the projects to be funded by the loan are still in the procurement process.
“We only draw down when we’re ready to make payments to save ourselves from paying the interest,” Mr. Wheatley explained. “It’s not really until these projects are ready to receive money that we’re going to draw down.”
A draw-down of $52.02 million is planned for 2026 and $13.38 million is planned for 2027, according to Mr. Wheatley.
CW Ministry
Later in the meeting last Thursday, opposition member Marlon Penn asked Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer how much money from the loan had been allocated to his ministry and how it will be spent.
“A total of $70,150,000 has been allocated to the Ministry of Communications and Works,” Mr. Rymer replied. “The money has been allocated in the following manner: for road infrastructure work is $34,800,000; the Ralph T. O’Neal Administration Complex, $10 million; Cane Garden Bay sewage, $3.9 million; East End/Long Look sewage, $7,450,000; water network improvement, $8 million; [Terrence B.] Lettsome International Airport, $6 million.”
Mr. Rymer also provided Mr. Penn with an appendix that he said showed a detailed plan for 60 projects, but Mr. Penn did not ask him to read it aloud.
The HOA had not provided the Beacon with a copy of this appendix by press time yesterday afternoon.
The loan
The long-promised loan, which was signed with CIBC last fall, is expected to fund many of the recovery needs that have been outstanding since Hurricane Irma in 2017.
The deal was struck following a formal procurement process initiated on April 26, 2024, when six local financial institutions were invited to submit proposals by May 28, 2024, according to government.
Four proposals were received, and after an evaluation the Central Tenders Board recommended and Cabinet accepted the CIBC proposal pending further negotiations on the terms, government stated.
The government was represented in the loan negotiations by the ministry of finance together with Senior Crown Counsel Renard Penn and Walkers attorneys Omonike Robinson-Pickering and Matthew Cowman acting on behalf of the attorney general.
Largest in VI history
Though the $100 million loan is the largest in the territory’s history, it is much smaller than what officials previously envisioned to pay for a public-sector hurricane recovery initially projected to cost more than $700 million.
With the territory still reeling from the 2017 storms, the HOA voted in March 2018 to accept a United Kingdom offer of a loan guarantee worth about $400 million. As required by the deal, the government then established the independent Recovery and Development Agency to administer the funding.
However, negotiations subsequently stalled, and successive governments never accessed any loans under the guarantee, which would have been cheaper than the CIBC loan — an 18-year deal that carries an interest rate of 6.5 percent.
In August 2022, shortly after becoming premier, Mr. Wheatley announced that the guarantee was “no longer on the table.”
In the meantime, the largest single source of recovery funding was a $65 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.
But without more money, many major recovery projects have stalled.
British Caribbean News
