NASSAU, BAHAMAS — While the government receives “dozens” of offers annually for low-cost financing, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest suggested that such offers were often “too good to be true”.
Turnquest noted that the government had received and is looking at an offer from Public Resources International.
“The government receives these offers for financing and debt write-offs all the time,” he said.
“I would only add that the adage that when it appears too good to be true it really is. We are a sovereign country, not a fly by night entity, not just some small entity that can allow itself to be held at the mercy of any of these kinds of institutions.”
He continued: “We have a very sophisticated debt management unit staffed with competent professionals who evaluate each and every one of these offers to ensure they are credible, there is integrity behind the offer and they have the financial standing to make the offer.
“The last thing we would want to do is to enter into an arrangement with a group that is not financially sound itself or is looking to others to provide support for the offer such that once they make that offer and something happens they have to call on our loan and that puts us in a situation.”
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Acting Financial Secretary Marlon Johnson said the government “gets any number of offers from people who want to offer the government money”.
“We literally get dozens per year but as a sovereign country with all of the obligations it is incumbent upon the government to engage with institutional investors and multilateral funds where there is absolute confidence that all of the due diligence and information on the source of funding and all other matters are taken into account.”
