Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3333/-1/140/
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ANGUILLA BORROWS WITHOUT CONSTRAINTS Easy Passage For CDB Loan Motion
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Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, told the House of Assembly on Tuesday, February 21, that the Anguilla Government had worked extremely hard to ensure that in terms of national development, the administration could achieve its objective of creating a level of independence in financial matters.
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Members of the Government
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He made the statement while piloting a motion through the House of Assembly, to enable the Government to guarantee a loan of US$5 million on behalf of the Anguilla Development Board. The money is for on-lending to Anguillian small business entrepreneurs for project financing and others for home mortgages and educational studies.
“It is critical to achieve the kind of autonomy which ensures that we are able to make decisions on our own which do not require approval from outside agencies including the British Government,” Mr. Banks stated. “The Borrowing Guidelines of the British Government set out a strategy towards achieving that level of independence over a period of time with clear time lines involved.”
He said it was in this light that the Anguilla Government had negotiated the Caribbean Development Bank loan. He hoped that the Development Board would now have the capacity to continue its mission and go from strength to strength.
Opposition Member Hubert Hughes said that while the motion was a normal one, he had a few personal thoughts about the issue of borrowing. He pointed out that the British Government was a major contributor to the CDB and suggested that it should guarantee the loan on behalf of Anguilla. He was of the view that Anguilla, being a Caribbean island, was unlike other small states with common borders with Europe and can benefit from overflows of European economic development. He added that Anguilla, largely dependent on its own assets, was in a very delicate economic situation.
Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, observed that the Anguilla Development Board was playing an important role on the island. He recalled that in times past it was difficult for Anguillians to obtain bank loans for such private sector projects as housing, fishing boats and other commercial boats as well as various small business enterprises.
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Oppostion Members Hubert Hughes and Edison Baird
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“When the ADB came it provided a jump start for a significant number of Anguillians. It did a very good job,” he added.
Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, was particularly pleased with the funding opportunities for education and training. He said that the ADB was assisting Anguillians to educate themselves and on a larger scale empowering them to utilise some of the economic prosperity that Anguilla was experiencing.
Meanwhile, during the meeting, Mr. Hughes introduced a motion in relation to the Labour Code Bill, which has been the subject of much debate recently. The motion read in part: “WHEREAS the people of Anguilla had expressed serious objection to certain aspects of the Bill…especially on the issue of the lack of positive discrimination in favour of Anguillians;
“AND WHEREAS such positive discrimination in favour of nationals is a fundamental provision in any country’s Labour Code;
“BE IT RESOLVED that after consultation with the general public and the local Lawyers, the Labour Legislation is amended to provide for a fair Labour law and to permit Government to establish a basic minimum wage for different categories of work as well as severance pay for all categories of workers.”
Mr. Hughes spoke at length on his motion, but ended without seeking a vote on it from the body of the House of Assembly.
The House is scheduled to sit again on Tuesday, February 27, to consider a number of draft Bills.