PetroCaribe
debt reaches $25B
Trinidad
& Tobago Newsday
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
09 16 07
The Jamaican government racked up US$362 million
(J$25 billion) in loans under the PetroCaribe Agreement
over the 18 months to July and has already disbursed
60 percent of the loan receipts to public projects
and entities, despite having not created the oversight
body that will oversee the fund.
“Parliament has authorised the creation
of the Petrocaribe Development Fund to manage the
inflows to Jamaica,” said Energy Minister
Phillip Paulwell in his address to the PetroCaribe
Summit held in Caracas, Venezuela on August 11.
According to the minister the Fund will also “provide
financing for approved projects and to ensure that
the obligations to Venezuela are met as they fall
due”.
But
Paulwell told the list of dignitaries at the
South American conference the state’s “activities
in establishing the Fund must be viewed as ‘work
in progress’ as we seek to resolve a number
of issues and to improve the social impact of our
expenditure”.
“A major challenge,” he said, “is
how to facilitate ongoing direct investments in
upgrading human capital, and in improving the welfare
of the poor.”
In
the meantime, the debt operations are overseen
by a “board of management comprising senior
officials in the public service”, which provides
loans on favourable terms to the finance minister
and to enterprises within the public sector.
“Our success will depend on the extent to
which the Fund can continue to manage its loan
and investment portfolio effectively, and also
the success of the projects which are being financed,
in expanding economic opportunities and overall
growth of our economy,” he added.
So far, 60 percent of loan receipts have been
disbursed to projects and entities as at the end
of July 2007. Approximately 30 percent of loan
resources was allocated to emergency road repairs
following Hurricane Ivan and a series of floods,
and investments in upgrading and expansion of the
ports, according to the minister. Another 30 percent
of loans has provided low cost financing to development
banks, and other public entities which are engaged
in the delivery of essential services to the poor
and providing a livelihood for members of this
group.
“Support, in this regard, has been in the
area of public transportation and agriculture,
particularly to the sugar industry, which is the
largest employer of unskilled labour,” Paulwell
added.
The agreement was signed in June 2005 and allows
Jamaica to convert 40 percent of purchase payments
for the 23,500 barrels-a-day of oil imported from
Venezuela, into a long-term soft loan.
The facility kicked in last February, which means
that the state has been building up debt at a rate
of US$20 million (J$1.4 billion) a month.
Trinidad
& Tobago Newsday
Thursday, September 13 2007
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©2007 Trinidad
& Tobago Newsday . All Rights Reserved.
