This year 2011 is almost at an end. It has been one of the most difficult years economically in recent times for many in St.Kitts and Nevis.
Whatever the growth figures are generated at the end of the year, cannot remove the reality that we have had a tough year and we now face an even more uncertain 2012.
As the main opposition political party, we have been at pains relentlessly over the past decade to keep the government in check with its spending of the people’s money. We knew that one day the chickens would have come home to roost and were giving those warning so that this day would not come. We knew it would not happen overnight. We knew that the cumulative effect of wanton spending, mismanagement, overpriced contracts and bad policies by the government would come back to haunt, not them but every single citizen of St.Kitts and Nevis.
From the reckless statement by the Prime Minister of “national debt me ass…” to his now understanding of the economic crisis that he has put us in, he now says that all of us will have to bear the brunt of the burden of our excessively high national debt; but while he says that to us as citizens he continues to travel the world without care of cost.
On November 30th 2011 the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange issued a notice of non- payment of interest stating the following: “Holders of the Government of St Kitts and Nevis 10-year Bond, trading symbol KNG101112, have been advised that the Eastern Caribbean Central Securities Registry (ECCSR), Paying Agent for the bond, is unable to make the 18th interest payment on the bond, which became due on 25 November 2011, due to non-receipt of the necessary funds.
This is nice language for saying that the government could not pay because they had no money on the date when the funds were due to be paid.
If this was the worst then we might have been able to say we could weather out this long storm. The truth of the matter is this is far from the worse. We are lucky because the rules governing the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange obligates them to bring this to the attention of all of the bond holders. It’s called transparency; a word that this government likes to flaunt but not practice.
Having said that; the problem is not with the ECSE who will disclose, but with those institutions with whom we have bonds. I make mention of the numerous bonds we have with the Unit Trust in Trinidad and Tobago. Will we be notified when the government defaults on their bonds? Has the government defaulted already? If so, how much has the government defaulted by and when do we expect our government to pay those bondholders. We must also appreciate that the IMF is pushing for institutions that are owed by the government to take a 60% cut on those funds all because of the debt situation we have racked up in such a callous matter.
Are those institutions willing to do so and what is the overall effect this would have. These are only but a few questions that appear to be critically important at this juncture. I do hope that John Public is not ignoring what is happening in our Federation and that the numerous shouts of its working have faded into the abyss.
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