At his weekly Tuesday press conference, Anguilla Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, informed reporters that he would be attending the 20th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Belize. Mr. Fleming, who left here the same evening for the meeting on Thursday and Friday, is accompanied by Principal Assistant Secretary, Kenneth Hodge.

“Most of the agenda items will be dealing with the financial situation and, seeing that Anguilla is part of the Caribbean, we want to be involved to see what is happening and to position ourselves so that we can address the problems that are probably going to face us,” he stated.
Mr. Fleming reported, with some relief, that the closed golf course was now being watered, a sign that it is not being allowed to deteriorate. “As you know, this was a very serious problem that we were encountering as the project was not being maintained for quite a while,” he said. “As a Government, we could not sit by and allow the golf course project to be destroyed because if it was not maintained we would have big problems in getting it up and running. We took a bold decision last week, brought in ANGLEC and we discussed with them the importance of this project and how concerned we were. In spite of our financial problems we were prepared to take the bull by the horns and ensure that it was up and running. Lucky for us, we got some word from the owners that they were prepared to finance the maintenance of the golf course.”

The Chief Minister observed that there was a growing concern about the unemployment situation in Anguilla, especially as it related to Anguillians. He said his office was being bombarded by unemployed Anguillians. “To that end we are now considering suspending all [new] work permits for workers coming in, but this is not written in blood because there will be occasions when we will have to take care of certain needs [such as taking care of the elderly, a job to which Anguillian workers do not readily respond].”

Mr. Fleming strongly denied statements that the Government was sending Caribbean nationals home. He stated that to the contrary nearly 100% of work permits were being renewed on expiration. He pointed out that the persons who were being asked to leave were those who were over-staying or came to the island illegally. He said that a number of Caribbean nationals were leaving Anguilla voluntarily as they were not gainfully employed and because of the high cost of living. Mr. Fleming noted, however, that there were a few Caribbean nationals working in certain institutions but now that Anguillians had qualified for the jobs there was a need to employ them instead. “We want everyone to know that it is not a blatant situation where we are throwing people out of the island,” he stressed. “It’s not true. We are a Christian-minded people and we understand that our Caribbean nationals are our brothers and we will do everything to help them. But there is a financial crisis and so we have to watch what we are doing.”

The Chief Minister added that there were many erroneous statements being made on the island and that on his return from Belize he would deliver a broadcast to clarify the situation. He stated that Government was monitoring its expenditure and revenue to keep the island moving. He dispelled rumours that the Government had laid off workers, saying it was a surprise to him and his ministerial colleagues that such misleading information was being spread around.

“If Government has to consider options, the option of laying-off people would be the last. The option of cutting salaries would probably be around the same thing,” he assured employees. “We are not in the business of doing that. We are trying our best to ensure that we keep those who are employed still working. When we lay off people, what we are doing is making the situation in Anguilla worse. We have an obligation to keep people working as far as we can.”

The Chief Minister reassured the people that Anguilla was fortunate in that tourist arrivals were not that bad and the Government was able to pay its bills including paying civil servants.

Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, joined the Chief Minister in stating that the economic and financial situation was being monitored very closely and his Ministry was working on developing a stimulus plan, not to bail out businesses as some persons thought, but rather to stimulate certain aspects of the economy. He disclosed that there was a 9.4 deficit in revenue for the year so far.

“The stimulus plan will also include measures for making more efficient revenue collections, measures for cutting back on expenditure…and also a number of other provisions within the capital expenditure vote to generate economic activity,” he explained. He said his Ministry had a third meeting on Monday and the fiscal and economic plan was still on track for completion by March 26.

“While we look at all areas, we cannot take spending out of the economy, but there are considerations on doing certain things; and the entire Anguillian community, whether restaurants, stores, or people who work in the construction and hotel industries, at some point must experience a level of sacrifice to make things work,” he said. “The critical area where Government must do some expenditure must be in the capital sector because businesses will probably have difficulty in spending when there are scarce resources, and Government will have to look at the long-term situation and spend in the immediate term hoping that these projects will have long-term impact.”

Mr. Banks said that he and other officials in his Ministry met with the FCO Economic Adviser as well as the IMF team visiting Anguilla and other islands to review the economic situation in all of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union Territories. “One of the things we pointed out to them is that Anguilla is one of the second most vulnerable states in the world because of the nature of its economy which focuses on tourism, and we have the impacts when a hurricane affects our coastal resources where all the hotels are located. Montserrat is the only territory which is more vulnerable,” the Minister of Finance said.

Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, extended condolences to the family of the late Adrian Hazell who died suddenly last weekend. He said Mr. Hazell was his mentor and that Anguilla had lost “an education giant.”

He disclosed that his Ministry was now getting ready to put out a tender for the covered basketball arena at the Valley Primary School which would also serve as an auditorium there. It will be a joint project between the Anguilla Government and local businessman, Ashley Brooks, with whom he said Government had made an agreement in terms of land exchange and monetary compensation.

Mr. Rogers reported that, though slow, work was progressing on the completion of the new Alwyn Allison Primary School at West End for the official opening later in the year, but classes were being conducted there. Work is progressing steadily on an extension at the Orealia Kelly Primary School at Stoney Ground and the material that was being awaited has now arrived on the island. Work is also continuing on the vocation and technical area at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. Meanwhile, he said discussions were being held with residents at Island Harbour on the location of the planned new school there and that next month further discussions would be resumed. “We will be taking on the sentiments of the people there because while Government has an obligation to provide the physical structure, ownership really belongs to the residents of Island Harbour,” he said.

The Minister reported that the physical structure of the Juvenile Centre and the Psychiatric Ward at the Hospital were just about completed. There are problems however in recruiting qualified staff for the latter. He said that with the arrival of another bio-engineer the equipment at the hospital, including the x-ray machine, was now working well and a number of soft-ware installations and upgrading work had taken place in an effort to meet the requirements of serving the health needs of the public. “There is still a little bit of work to do, but we are functional and are continuing to put in place the mechanisms whereby the training of local technicians, in the particular instruments, and a number of things can be put in place to have a far less down time than we have experienced recently,” Mr. Rogers stated.

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