Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, is opposed to the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR), a new proposal, put forward by the United Kingdom to its British Overseas Territories, to replace the Borrowing Guidelines.
Mr. Hughes initially appeared to have hailed the FFR, a more modern and far-reaching arrangement than the Borrowing Guidelines, the latter ofwhich he described as being antiquated. He nevertheless kept the FFRon the desk of his ministry for over a year before giving consideration to it.
A number of the Overseas Territories have already signed the FFR although there are said to have been some concerns and amendments. Among other matters, its provisions call for Governments to follow certain guidelines in order to get UK approvals, for financial matters and project developments.
“Well that is blackmail,” Mr. Hughes told Felicia Hennis, Radio Anguilla’s Information Officer, in an interview on Tuesday this week. “If you looked at the Caribbean news, you will see the Premier of the Cayman Islands is screaming out loud because every aspect of investment is stalled in the Cayman Islands. This is because he refused to take the type of advice he was given that he should not sign the Fiscal Framework in the way he signed it.”
Asked what was one or more of his concerns with the FFR, the Chief Minister said: “It is extreme in that they [the UK Government] are saying that you can’t accept a project for more ten million dollars without the British approval. It means that we are stalled. Anguilla has nothing going. The economy of Anguilla is not functioning. The British stalls every project.
“We started off with the marina project for Cinnamon Reef … in London, while the Governor was there. Whether it is the Governor [who] told them – or whether it is the Foreign Office – [somebody] told the French developers that this is no time to invest their money in Anguilla. We have a situation where the golf course project stopped since June 2008 and I am very unhappy with the relationship between the Governor and the people at CuisinArt and that project is going far too slow. When I had power, many years ago, with Ronald Webster, we went full speed ahead.”
Told that it was reported that work on the project would be started next year, Mr. Hughes replied: “That’s not good enough for me because that bid was won almost two years ago; and that project was to have started at least a year ago. Everyday you hear it is being put back, put back…”
