The financially-strapped Government of Anguilla has just succeeded in obtaining the permission of the House of Assembly to borrow twenty million East Caribbean dollars from the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla.
This is a usual requirement, under the Financial Administration and Audit Act, to ensure that the Anguilla Government is in a fiscal position to meet current requirements from the first day of October 2020 to September 30, 2021.
The request for the approval of the loan was made to the House of Assembly, on September 22, by Premier and Minister of Finance and Health, Dr. Ellis Webster – by way of a Motion.
In introducing the Motion, Premier Webster told the House that the current one-year overdraft facility, provided by the NCBA, was due to expire on September 30 and needed to be renewed. He stressed that he had reviewed the fiscal position of the Government – and it was deemed necessary to maintain the overdraft facility for an addition twelve months. The twenty million dollar loan comes at an interest rate of 5.75 percent.
Opposition Member, Mr. Evans Rogers, described the Motion as being straightforward and non-contentious. He noted that every Government of Anguilla had used the facility to meet some of its financial obligations throughout the year.
Premier Webster responded: “Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Honourable Member, for Valley North, who is affectionately known as the Father of The House, for his support. The overdraft is necessary to continue the business of Government. We appreciate that the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla is in a position that we can have access to this facility. We hope that, as growth improves in the economy, that the bank, now in its bridge status, can be converted into a regular commercial bank, with a United States corresponding bank, and would grow from strength to strength.”
He hoped that NCBA would be able to continue to provide the necessary indigenous banking that was essential for the development of the people of Anguilla.
Other matters on the September 22 agenda, before the House, included a Bill for Recording of the Court Proceedings Act, 2020; a Bill for a Justice Fees (Amendment) Act, 2020; a Bill for a Magistrate’s Code of Procedures (Amendment) Act; a Bill for an Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2020; and a Bill for a Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2020. These Bills were given their first readings.
The House of Assembly meets again on Friday, September 25. The Order of Business includes the second and third readings of two pieces of draft legislation. They are a Bill for a Supplementary Appropriation Act, 2020; and a Bill for a Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2020. The latter Bill is to regulate the glass-tinting of vehicles, now a current topic of debate in Anguilla.
