Four Years Later, BVI Still Negotiating UK Loan Guarantee Offer

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Hon. Dr. Natalio 'Sowande' Wheatley has announced that the British Virgin Islands is seemingly still interested in the United Kingdom’s Loan Guarantee offer and negotiations are still underway.

Following the 2017 hurricanes, the UK offered to guarantee a £300 million loan for the territory for hurricane recovery.

Four years later, the loan offer has not been accepted by the territory.

Addressing the matter during the recent 2022 budget debate, the Deputy Premier said: “We haven’t borrowed anything by this administration and that’s okay because we were executing the $65 million loan [From the Caribbean Development Bank] but we have a challenge as it pertains to the loan guarantee because of all of these conditions which were attached to this loan guarantee which are essentially unfavorable for us.”

He continued: “My grandfather who was the first Minister of Finance for this government back in 1978 or so, and we have a legacy of being in control of our own finances as we haven’t received any grant in aid from the UK in over 40 years. So we want to maintain control of our finances and we fought hard for that and that is something that is important to our progress as a people."

The minister further said, "So it doesn’t make sense to me for us to summarily dismiss our concerns about losing our financial autonomy because of a loan guarantee and the conditions attached to a loan guarantee.”