And while he can blame the accommodation agreement on the former Prime Minister, the 200 million dollars in interest payments is all on Mr. Barrow. Coming up shortly you’ll hear COLA’s attorney argue why the interest never had to go so high, but first, the Prime Minister went deep into the spin cycle when he said that even with that 198 million bill – he feels Government still came out ahead:..
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"The arbitration panel awarded 8.3% interest with the interest as I indicated also being split 40% for the acquisition of the shares and 60% for the accommodation agreement. Total interest in therefore by my calculation 198.2 million Belize Dollars. The bottom line ladies and gentlemen is that while we would have wished a less onerous interest rate from the tribunal; 8.3%, we can't really complain given how well we did in the actual share price award. So that especially in view of what we were able to accomplish in rescuing the accommodation agreement position, government has no regrets. We consider the nationalisation by any measure to have been absolutely in the best interest of Belize and GOB stands as strongly as ever by its decision."
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