Antigua-Barbuda PM not happy with IMF

According to a report in Antigua's Observer newspaper, Prime Minister Gaston Browne recently delivered a harsh critique of the role the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had played in the economy of Antigua and Barbuda under the previous government.

In what it described as "no holds barred address" as featured speaker at the recent Economic Business Forum, hosted jointly by the Antigua & Barbuda Chamber of Commerce and IMF Western Hemisphere Department, the newspaper said Browne blamed the IMF for contributing to economic stagnation in the country and harming the investment climate.

“The fiscal problems have not been resolved, but yet still we are being asked to pay back EC$320 million over the next four years,” Browne said. “When the IMF come and give us EC$320 million for four years it does not help us. They are the ones who would eventually be very critical about volatile investment flows, but what do you say about a temporary support programme, and you literally pull the plug. We have to pay you back even before the problem is solved."

He reportedly added that it was quite problematic for the IMF to "intervene to solve a problem and perhaps make the problem bigger than it even is."

The new Prime Minister who came to office on June 13, declared that he was not happy with the repayment terms for the US$120 million IMF loan negotiated by the previous United Progressive Party administration and called for the highest level of the IMF to review the terms.

Furthermore, he declared that his government will not enter a second IMF programme, under any condition, given the highly unsatisfactory results, from his perspective.

Declaring that he was "speaking truth to power," Prime Minister Browne said there had been no significant growth as a result of the IMF’s intervention: “The cash flow crisis has been worsened, because whereas during the past four years we were getting in about 80 million annually, we are now being asked to pay 80 million annually."

Venezuelan option

Regarding the country's next options, Browne revealed that he had already asked President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela for a loan to pay off the IMF in short order.

“I said to him, ‘look the IMF has us in a stranglehold, and you know those countries in South America, they nah love the IMF at all. So I said to him we need your help; we need US$100 million to pay them out.' So he is now looking at opportunities to help us out,” Browne said.