AS REPORTS SURFACED on June 8 that public servants have begun to receive consent forms for the Barbados Optional Savings Scheme (BOSS), the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) made a last-ditch effort to get workers to heed their warning about the viability of the bonds being issued.
Speaking at a press conference via Zoom on June 8, PdP spokesman on the economy, Scott Weatherhead, said the Mia Amor Mottley administration had already committed to the repayment of the restructured bonds it recently issued to its creditors in 2018.
He said with Government having to shell out $35 587 500 in interest payments on its restructured debt this year; make a payment on the principal of $49 906 250 in the next four months; and with $85 493 750 in debt repayments this year on the previous set of bonds, the PdP was questioning if Government was not merely borrowing from public workers to service old debt.
“Government knows it has to meet debt payments of almost $85.5 million to creditors this year on bonds it just issued to them, so now they are issuing another set of bonds to public workers in order to finance the first set of bonds that they have to start making payments on this year. That is not what they are telling you, but it all comes from the same account called the Consolidated Fund. Is this what we can expect of this Government?” asked Weatherhead. (CLM)
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