Much commendation with respect to the just-ended Summer Festival in Anguilla prefaced the Chief Minister’s Press Conference on Tuesday this week. “Thanks to the Carnival Committee and the Police for a job well done,” the Hon. Osbourne Fleming stated. “We want to thank [the Police] and all the security agencies for ensuring that law and order was observed and all the people of Anguilla who aided the process in making sure that there were no serious incidents.

L-R: Cm Osbourne Fleming, Hon. Victor Banks and Hon. Evans Rogers

“I cannot leave out the people of St. Martin/St.Maarten and I believe it is in order to thank them immensely for their participation and support given to Anguilla over the festive season. I must also thank the people of Guadeloupe, many of whom came to participate in our festivities. Everyone who saw the August Monday events would agree it was the best we ever had. In addition it was very safe. I also commend the cleaners because I took time to ensure that the beaches were properly cleaned by persons who were actively collecting bottles and tins. I believe other persons may have been involved but I took the initiative to pay people to do some of the work…All and all I think the Anguilla Festival Committee did a very good job. The Government of Anguilla provided some funding for the festival. We had some criticism for that, but we are very proud to report that the same people praised the efforts of Government as many people benefitted from what we did…”

Mr. Banks, who was a participant in the Valley Community troupe, also took the opportunity to congratulate all the persons who were responsible for a very safe carnival. He noted with much sadness the death of Shaune Mussington who died as a result of an accident involving one of the band-carrying trucks. We are all saddened by it and I take this opportunity to extend the condolences of the Government and myself to the family and I am sure that many other persons in the community would want to do that as well.”

He was also joined by Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, who was grateful to the police, security agencies and the general public for helping to make the festival a safe and enjoyable experience. “I also commend the Carnival Committee for putting together the programme and the large crowds that attended,” he stated. “I think it was one of the better carnivals we have had over the years. I also thank the sponsors and hopefully next year we will be in a better position from a financial standpoint to add a little more money in that area.”

The Chief Minister said he had occasion to visit the Viceroy project and that the Government was very proud about the progress of work there. “It is unbelievable,” he commented, saying that there were already some guests at the property.”

A main matter at the press conference was the letter of response the Government received last week from the Minister of the Overseas Territories in London, Chris Bryant, following the visit of the Anguilla delegation to discuss matters relating to the global economic situation impacting the island. One of the requests of the delegation was for a relaxation of the borrowing guidelines to enable Anguilla to borrow money to finance its public sector investment programme.

Mr. Banks said the Anguilla Government had not yet responded to that letter. “We are not very happy with the response from the Minister,” he stressed. Without circulating the correspondence, he outlined some of the specific contents as follows. “I understand that the borrowing guidelines need to be flexible but they already are,” he quoted the British Minister as stating. “Therefore, in order for any further borrowing to take place, I will ask you to provide me with a credible and realistic plan for paying off [and] managing your debt for the next few years. I could not even consider further borrowing without being confident of this. I need to be confident that you have a realistic, sustainable plan for the future which includes broadening the base of your revenue and increases in taxation whether now or in the future.”

Replying to a question as to whether the Government needed to be more careful in granting duty-free concessions and other incentives to developers, Mr. Banks replied: “The British Government gives incentives and tax holidays to investors from wherever they come from. We don’t have income tax and corporate tax. The only incentive we would be able to give is Customs Duty and we do this at a level which is way below a lot of other territories in the region. Of course the British Government from time to time would ask ‘why do you give incentives?” Well we are in a competitive environment for investment and investors make a decision on where they locate their investment and the favourable conditions in those jurisdictions…If you look at other territories they give away everything but the kitchen-sink. The Government, for example in the case of Temenos, gave incentives only on that part of the project which is for the hotel and the golf course. There are no duty-free concessions for the villas and other estate residencies…”

Chief Minister Fleming commented that “the bottom line is that they [the British Government] know Anguilla inside out. They see how we live. They know what we earn and behind their mind [is] that we must go back and look at our tax measures…We have told them that we will not be introducing any taxation in this environment on the people of Anguilla. It is clear-cut.”

Mr. Banks said that the Head of the Overseas Territories had asked openly in the Turks and Caicos Islands: “Do you expect British citizens to pay taxes when you don’t pay taxes to cover the mistakes you have made?” Mr. Banks further stated that the British Government’s concern was that the Anguilla Government had not gone far enough. “They want to see clear indications of the kind of taxes that the Government of Anguilla would put in place in the future,” he went on. “They want to see some indication of the plan that we have. I said to them ‘look: the Government of Anguilla has no oil; no gold, no natural resources beyond the marine and tourism resources that we have…The recession that is taking place in the developed world affects the level of tourism arrivals we are having in Anguilla, jobs and investment in tourism and other areas. There is nothing that we can come up with as a sustainable plan…’ If we have a hurricane it will wipe out all we have so we have to live by our wits…and are very vulnerable.”

It was indicated by Mr. Fleming that, as part of its financial plans, the Government was undertaking to go to the House of Assembly to increase its bank overdraft facility. In the meantime, Mr. Banks said that the Government had been working with the local banks to ensure that there was liquidity in the system, not for Government, but for the wider community. “As we re-finance our borrowing with the local banks, it allows loans to be available to the wider community,” Mr. Banks stated. “There are certain measures we are putting in place. The worse case scenario in dealing with our situation [would be] what the British Government would say to us if we have to incur some borrowing? Well, if something is wrong, we can go independent – I don’t know. At the end of the day we have got to do what is necessary and we have always been very responsible.”

Mr. Fleming warned that “the environment in which we are now living is a very touch and go situation and that’s why Mr. Banks has made those points. It is not as rosy as one would think, and with the British trying to curtail our borrowing ability.”

Mr. Banks also spoke about the Flag/Temenos project. He said the Government had a very encouraging meeting with the Chief Financial Officer who was in Anguilla last week. The Minister reported that the Government was informed that the developer now had an arrangement with Cap Juluca to maintain the golf course including its watering. He said it was hoped that the golf course would be opened November/December and efforts were now being made to find a new buyer for the hotel, villas and estate residencies on the project within 60 days. Meanwhile, the Government is hoping to enter into an agreement for the purchase of the golf course and for the appointment of a manager.
Another matter, on which Mr. Banks commented, was the situation in which the Anguilla High Court appointed Claudel Romney of KPMG as Administrator of the Anguilla Branch of British American Insurance Company. Mr. Banks said this was part of an arrangement where someone with the accounting form was appointed to oversee all the branches of the insurance company in the OECS to safeguard policy holders.

“One of the important considerations as regards to the British American Insurance Company is the fact that it is the contractor that supplies coverage for the public service,” Mr. Banks said. “We have been working along with them for a period of time…ensuring that we do no find ourselves at risk. We are now ensuring that coverage for the public service remains intact…There has been a challenge responding to claims. The appointment of a judicial manager in the person of Claudel Romney is because KPMG has been retained regionally as judicial manager for all the territories and as a Senior Partner of KPMG Claudel Romney is the judicial manager for Anguilla. He will be responsible for carrying on and managing the affairs of British American Insurance in Anguilla over this period…

“The OECS territories have a certain level of exposure. Anguilla’s exposure is not all that great in terms of insurance. But certainly in terms of annuities there are some concerns that we have for certain citizens of Anguilla who have invested in fix deposits with CLICO which is part of the whole organisation. The public servants will be taken care of and the Government is now considering going out to tender for another carrier if things don’t show a turnaround within the next couple of weeks.”
There were some comments made on the fire at the prison earlier in the morning. The Chief Minister was grateful to a contractor who offered to repair the damage done to a section of the facility free of cost.

The Minister of Social Development, Mr. Rogers, said the prison was severally overcrowded and that it was a very tense situation there. Up to that day there were 65 inmates when the prison capacity was really for about 40 prisoners. He pointed out that the relocation and building of a new prison was one of the matters discussed in London during the recent visit by the Government delegation to London.

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