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PM Makes Changes To Petrocaribe Loan Motion
posted (May 14, 2015)
Mother's day has come and gone - and UDP representatives were rolling Petro-bucks like nobody's business. But, turns out, it wasn't only representatives; a few select standard bearers got their share as well, and even a few village councils. That's what we learned from the Prime Minister today:....

Reporter
"As it relates to the standard bearer for the UDP getting a mother's day cheer..."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"No man, go ask, I'm trying to remember who..."

Reporter
"But he has now confirmed that the financial secretary has in fact confirmed that UDP standard bearers did get assigned mother's day cheer monies..."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I was going to tell you to go ask Mr. Espejo, Mr. Cowo and Mr. Ralph Huang and all these people, they didn't get."

Reporter
"But the financial secretary is saying that some standard bearers for the UDP were in fact assigned..."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Well Tracy Taegar-Panton and Darrell Bradley did get. There was some money transferred to the Ministry of Human Development and so I am sure that Minister Boots Martinez helped as many as he could. But there was no formal arrangement and you're really putting me get in trouble now because I just called out the names of several standard bearers who did not get a penny. I suppose they're going to go complain to Boots."

Reporter
"Did Dr. Barnett get?"

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"From the Ministry of Human Development, I do believe she got some assistance."

Reporter
"From then village councils is what the financial secretary says..."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"Village councils is not standard bearers, that's a completely different thing."

Reporter
"No, but I'm saying that he's saying that they got as well."

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"One or two village councils who asked. It's not like the PetroCaribe summer of sports of which we'll be making a grand announcement because everybody is entitled to apply. I didn't make too much noise about the village councils. One or two of them asked and we tried to help. But there will come a point at which we will have to use the money to do things like the debt buy back. Because clearly, even if only in an inching sort of way, it is in fact affecting our debt profile. And it's certainly, in terms of the fiscal position spending the PetroCaribe funds is not something that our international monitors or those who sometimes think that they're masters rather than monitors would agree with. I will disagree with them, but ultimately it is a question of not going overboard to the extent where you can't bring back the thing to manageable proportions."

And in that vein, there will be no father's day cheer.

And while he will start to ration the Petrocaribe funds in 2016 - in the here and now the Prime Minister is also making changes to the Petrocaribe loans motion. He says these amendments are to silence critics who got it wrong in the first place:

Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"'The money borrowed from APBEL shall be kept in a fund at the Central Bank of Belize. Which funds shall form part of the consolidated revenue fund of Belize and may be withdrawn from time to time as the need arises. The withdrawal and spending of the said money from the Central Bank shall be in full measure subject to the finance and audit reform act. And all other laws, regulations and procedures applicable to monies forming part of the consolidated revenue fund of Belize'. Now that is how it is at the present time, but because they keep saying it is not so, we are spelling it all out. Repeating sub section 3 of section 3 and replacing it by the following. 'the money borrowed from APBEL may be used to finance capital projects, provide social and community assistance to the poor, socially marginalize and other sectors of the community, pay compensation relating to government's nationalization of BEL and BTL, assist with commercial and super bond debt buy back and for any other similar legitimate purposes'. They say that I can spend large, take the money and put it in my pocket, hopefully this will deal with that. And then by inserting the following new sub section 4 immediately after sub section 3, 'it is hereby provided that all money borrowed from APBEL shall be reported to the national assembly quarterly'. I promised that I am putting it in law, 'and shall require the passage of a retrospective supplementary allocation for any spending done in the reporting quarter that was not provided for in the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure.'"

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