| The PM spoke to us after a nearly five hour meeting with the Teachers Union, which went late into the evening. That's why he was only willing to take a few questions. We did use the opportunity to ask about how the Government intends to make the second payment to the Ashcroft Alliance.
Coming out of Tuesday's CCJ hearing, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight told us that the Government will have to borrow 150 million dollars to make the second payment.
We asked the Prime Minister to explain:
Daniel Ortiz, 7news
"Was this in the works from the time this settlement was on the horizon?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"We didn't know what the arbitration award would be, but from the time the award came down, we knew that we would be paying in two tranches. The first tranches in year one and the second tranche in year two so we borrowed enough to meet the first payment and it is clear that we will have to borrow to meet the second payment. This is all domestic borrowing by way of the treasury bills and notes. So we are perfectly prepared to do that next year when we will need to make that second and final payment."
"This is domestic paper that government is well able to service. it serves the purpose as well of trying to mop up some of the excess liquidity in the system and it gives the banks and financial institutions another vehicle for investing in the sorts of…complying with their requirements in terms of the holdings of assets that they must have in their portfolio."
We also asked him if he is concerned about any political backlash when the time comes to start making those loans, and here's how he put it:
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Are you worried that the once hundred and fifty million dollars that - it seems to be a huge burden that the Belizean public may turn on you, given when they start to feel the pain of that?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"Bottom-line, we are now free and clear in terms of our ownership of BTL. I repeat that that is a company that will more than be able to pay this bill, this debt that we have to incur for its ownership and over the long haul we are going to come out ahead. Generations to come, the ownership of BTL is forever. The earnings from BTL will not just pay for what we have to borrow now, but will see us coming out indubitably and resoundingly on top. This is a good deal, this is not like the super bond where you owe 1.1 billion dollars and you get nothing for it and you have nothing to show for it. This is an asset that even now is worth well over half a billion dollars and as I said in terms of the prospects for the profits that the company will make, we are well ahead of the game, we are well clear in terms of coming out resoundingly overwhelmingly on the plus side of the equation."
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