Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis: Dr Terrance Drew, the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis has once again raised the issue of critical state of the development bank’s financial crisis. He reiterated that the previous regime’s inaction has significantly contributed to the bank’s poor performance.
It is to be noted that just a day ago, PM Drew strongly highlighted the bank’s poor performance, accusing the previous government’s faulty policies that led to its downfall.
Prime Minister took to his official Facebook page and stated “ As announced earlier today, I am sharing some excerpts from the ongoing audit sanctioned by our government; the last one was conducted in 2018. The audit shows that an amount more than 22 million dollars is untraceable due to mismanagement.”
PM Drew further stated that despite the bank borrowed $100 million for social security schemes, the previous government ceased repaying social security in 2021. However our government immediately stepped in and resumed the payment of social security benefits demonstrating our commitment of survival of bank. Notably due to a huge debt ($333 million) the bank is unable to meet the mandatory obligations. Moreover, the student loan program also suffered due to the same reason(heavy debt amount).
The regional or world financial institution refused to do business with the bank, which affected the bank’s ability to overcome the crisis. In contrast the innovative policies of the Labour government enabled the bank to come back on track by rectifying the loopholes, added the PM.
The PM also accused the bank’s former Chief Executive officer of filing a lawsuit against the bank, which affected the audit process. PM Drew stated that accountability to all responsible persons will be fixed. He said that the ruling Labour government is steadfast in its commitment to stabilizing the Bank for a better future.
In response to PM Drew’s Facebook post, netizens demanded strict action against the culprits. One Facebook user, Mikey Clarke, commented, “No relenting, it’s action time, Mr. PM.”