The following is a joint statement from the Chief Minister and the Governor:
Lord Ahmad, Minister for the Overseas Territories, wrote to the Chief Minister on 20 July to advise that Her Majesty’s Treasury has approved release of the remaining £50 million of the £60 million reconstruction grant. This important step follows the UK Government’s approval of Anguilla’s Medium Term Economic and Fiscal Plan. (MTEFP) which the Chief Minister submitted to the FCO on 29 June. The MTEFP outlines Anguilla spending and revenue plans, along with important steps needed to achieve strong public finances for the period up to 2021.
The Governor Tim Foy and Anguilla’s Chief Minister Victor Banks thanked Ministry of Finance staff for their work in developing the MTEFP through a new consultative group which brought together officials from Anguilla and her two key regional partners – the Caribbean Development Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank – alongside those from the UK. Both noted that they looked forward to seeing an acceleration in the pace of reconstruction work and the completion of projects already started under the £60 million UK grant, the more than £7million of interim funding granted in October last year and the additional £1.9m of disaster resilience funding approved in June. These projects include finalisation of the refurbishment of Princess Alexandra Hospital, the refurbishment of critical national infrastructure including hurricane shelters, the RAPF headquarters and the National Emergency Operations Centre. Additionally, equipment lost during the hurricane and essential to hurricane response is on its way to Anguilla. The pipeline of projects under the Anguilla Programme (£60 m) including schools, clinics, the Air Traffic Control Tower and the ferry terminal will now move forward.
