Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster 
Mr. Evans Rogers 
Premier Victor Banks
The Government of Anguilla and the UK Government are working out the details of a 100 million EC dollar grant to the island in support of its 2020 budget.
This is thought to be the first time that the British Government has undertaken to provide budgetary assistance to Anguilla since grant aid was discontinued in 1983. This time, however, the 100 million dollar support is to take care of the shortfall which the Anguilla Government is expected to experience towards the end of the year. The shortfall results from the Government’s re-allocation of substantial funds from the budget to improve the medical and health services to deal with the covid-19 disease threat to Anguilla.
Both Premier Victor Banks and the Minister of Health, Mr. Evans Rogers, have expressed thanks to the UK Government and the British taxpayers for their assistance. They were at the time speaking at the public meeting of the Anguilla United Front at Stoney Ground on June 6. Mr. Banks informed his listeners that he was going to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Government during the course of this week.
He subsequently told The Anguillian on Monday, June 8, that the details of the agreement were still to be worked out. He explained that the details included whether the money would be made available monthly or quarterly.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Anguilla Progressive Movement, Dr. Lorenzo Webster, was critical of the financial arrangement. Speaking at the APM’s public meeting at Island Harbour, on June 6, he charged in part that the money “might be a millstone around our necks as we do not know what conditions will be applied.”
So far, however, Premier Victor Banks recently said that the UK Government had requested the Anguilla Government to make a number of re-allocations within the 2020 budget to accommodate its extra expenditure on health and other services. It was understood that the UK grant would assist with the management of the shortfall (including loss of revenue) and it was not repayable.
