We currently have de most money in history yet we still borrowing.

[Sam]

T&T gets $60m no-interest loan from China.
By: -Juhel Browne (Express).

Friday, June 27th 2008
 
China has agreed to provide this country with an interest-free loan to buy a special port security scanner valued at some $60 million.

And while Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon said that such assistance from China is "not contingent" on this country's support for the "one China policy" on Taiwan, she said she could not comment on its controversial human rights record while one of its senior government officials was in the country yesterday.

Gopee-Scoon spoke on the issue in response to reporters' questions during yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Port of Spain. China's sixth highest ranking government official, He Guoqiang, was in Tobago on the last day of an official visit to this country yesterday.

Asked if the Government is concerned about worldwide perceptions of human rights abuses in China, Gopee-Scoon said, "I've said all the good things about our relationship with China and the Chinese are visiting with us now. I don't think you would expect me to raise any question of that sort at this time or to express any statements at all to the press at this time when they are in fact in our midst."

Pressed further on the matter, Gopee-Scoon said, "I'm not going to make an official statement on it. I cannot."

On Wednesday, Guoqiang met with Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's , which was built by the Chinese contractor Shanghai Construction Group.

At the Diplomatic Centre, Manning reiterated this country's support for the "one China policy" after the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the linear port scanner was signed by Gopee-Scoon and China's Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

Gopee-Scoon was asked why the Manning administration continues to support the "one China policy" to which she replied:

"We are just one of many countries who have supported that as well. It's not that we don't have any type..., we do not have any relationship with Taiwan. As you know they're here and they're engaged in some fishing industries and so on and we welcome them but the Government does not have any diplomatic relations with Taiwan."

She explained this was so because Taiwan is not "recognised as a sovereign state".

Gopee-Scoon noted, however, since last month's devastating earthquake in China's Suchian province, "in fact relations between China and Taiwan seem to be improving".

[Tallman]

China lending people plenty money these days, even de United States.

[Sando]

Chinese to complete Scarborough Hospital.
China Railway Construction Corporation

Largest construction firm in China.

Founded in 1949, stated-owned National Grade 1 Main Contracting Enterprise Group.
Has constructed railways, highways, top class expressways, water conservation and electric power stations, large scale airports, urban underground projects, industrial and civic buildings.
CRCC’s bid included $241.3 million (construction), and $236.3 million (supply of medical/other equipment) for total of $477.67 million.
When completed, Scarborough Hospital will be a modern, fully air-conditioned 100-bed hospital with a campus style layout.
By Gail Alexander

The Government is awarding a $477.7 million contract to the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) to complete the long overdue Scarborough Hospital by 2010, Health Minister Jerry Narace said yesterday.

The CRCC will also supply and install medical and other equipment in the hospital, Narace said in a statement to Parliament.

Work begins next month.

Narace said the Hyatt hotel, the Government campus complex and other buildings were successfully completed within time and budget using the design/build construction model to be used by the Chinese CRCC group.

He said: “The history of the construction of the Scarborough Hospital thus far, indicates that there may be contractors who seek to inflate the cost of projects to the detriment of the T&T people.”

Narace said the cost of the project being done by NH International (Caribbean) had jumped from the original $135.9 million in 2003 to $474.2 million in 2006 when work stopped.

Noting that a dispute with NHIC on the matter is currently the subject of litigation, Narace said the Government has taken all the necessary steps to pursue this to recover and protect taxpayers’ monies in the project.

“And intends to go the full distance in this,” Narace said.

History

Narace said an independent evaluator found that while NHIC’s bid for the two-year contract, was adequate to cover cost of the proposed work, it left little margin for profit since five elements of the NHIC tender were considered to have been inadequately priced.

“It is little wonder having regard to the independent evaluator’s view, that from the outset NHIC appeared unwilling to conduct its affairs in good faith with the ministry and Nipdec and this gave rise to the impression by independent consultants that having secured the contract, the company’s intention was to escalate the contract price.”

As soon as work began in 2003, Narace said NHIC raised several contractual issues and flagged further disputes.

[capodetutticapi]

should charge all them hole in de wall restaurants along de east west corridor more taxes.

[grimm01]

debt is cheap, especially when it interest free - not costing yuh anything. hopefully the gov't money investing somewhere earning a higher rate of interest than what they have to pay out (0% interest).

if yuh have $35K cash to buy a car and ah man offer yuh a 0% loan on de same car, yuh wouldn't take that? even if yuh $35K earning 1% interest in a savings account, yuh better off than dropping yuh lump sum cash on de car.

[kounty]

"We are just one of many countries who have supported that as well. It's not that we don't have any type..., we do not have any relationship with Taiwan. As you know they're here and they're engaged in some fishing industries and so on and we welcome them but the Government does not have any diplomatic relations with Taiwan."

lawd father please put a hand.  iS 7 and 8 yr olds running policy in t'dad?

grimm, I ketch your statement as valid but I also caution on the lender.  I not taking a 0% loan from a drug dealer or any such shady character..

[Flex]

Oil prices was very high and still is, T&T was booming for a few years well, were the money gone ?

TT to get $945M
By ANDRE BAGOO Tuesday, December 7 2010

THE BOARD of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) last week approved $945 million in funding for Trinidad and Tobago, $630 million of which is expected to be made available to the Ministry of Finance before Christmas, IDB representative Iwan Sewberath Misser disclosed yesterday.

The funding, part of a package of policy financing worth $1.3 billion, is to be used by the Ministry of Finance for Budget support. It is separate from a proposed $8.2 billion in financial support which is expected to come on stream next year, after final approval of the IDB board in New York.

In a press briefing held at the IDB offices at 17 Alexandria Street, St Clair, the IDB representative also expressed confidence in the management of the economy under Minister of Finance Winston Dookeran and said approval of the funding was a tangible expression of the IDB’s confidence in the macro-economic management of the country by Government.

“We will never approve a single dime if the IDB does not have confidence in the way Minister Dookeran manages the economy,” said Sewberath Misser. “We carefully study all risks and in this particular case, we are confident. The IDB is very confident with Mr Dookeran’s approach and the way he is managing the economy.”

The $630 million policy loan approved last Friday is aimed at providing budgetary support for reforms in public financial management. According to Sewberath Misser, some of the policies the loan is designed to support include ongoing reforms of: public procurement, the functions of the Auditor General, systems of fiscal and financial management and other areas such as the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP). The loan has been prepared in coordination with the European Union.

Sewberath Misser and IDB chief of operations Gabriel Castillo, who also sat-in on yesterday’s briefing, both said the $630 million should be dispersed before the end of next week. Castillo noted that the approvals of these loans are unprecedented and represent above-average funding on the part of the IDB.

Additionally, the IDB board last Wednesday also approved a $252 million loan for the Ministry of Housing for use in a $315 million neighbourhood upgrading programme. The remaining $63 million is to be provided by the State. The programme aims to support home improvements, the building of new homes and to deal with squatter regularisation.

Both loans fall under the IDB’s lending programme for 2010. They are separate from the IDB support proposed for 2011 to 2015 for which the IDB may provide a notional sum of $8.2 billion in funding under a country strategy tailored to Trinidad and Tobago.

That strategy aims to provide support for the areas of: public finance; sustainable energy; climate change adaption, coastal zone and disaster risk management, water and sanitation, transport and the social sector.

The IDB representative was scheduled to meet with Dookeran yesterday afternoon to discuss finalising the recent approvals and to continue talks.

[Dutty]

hmm

[fishs]

 This is cheap money and was probably in the pipeline since PNM days

[Dutty]

 This is cheap money and was probably in the pipeline since PNM days

If dais de case I surprised they move forward wit dat...this government makin sure people know they doin the opposite of what PNM would do.

But yuh proably right on the cheap money point, the interest rate must be damn low ... kinda like how rich people dont spen dey own money for investment

[Flex]

T&T gets US$130m in new loans from IDB
T&T Guardian Reports.
 
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) yesterday approved a total of US$130 million ($836 million) for Trinidad and Tobago, comprising US$80 million ($514 million) for climate change measures and US$50 million ($322 million) to strengthen the financial sector. The US$80 million loan will help T&T to incorporate the consideration of the impact of climate change into national policies and institutions. This initiative will also promote carbon markets and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“The programme will strengthen and modernise the regulatory, institutional and policy framework to develop and promote instruments to assess and reduce vulnerability and risks associated with climate change,” said IDB team leader Gerard Alleng in an IDB statement. “Mitigation and adaptation measures will be key in an island state highly vulnerable to the impact of global climate change.” The US$50 million loan will strengthen the financial sector supervisory and regulatory framework. “Trinidad and Tobago is considered the regional financial centre for the English-speaking Caribbean,” said IDB team leader Juan Antonio Ketterer. “This programme will focus on reinforcing macroeconomic stability to minimise the probability of exposure to any future vulnerability or systemic crisis.”

The Ministry of Finance will be in charge of both projects. The loans are for a 20-year term, with a four-year and five-year grace period respectively, at a variable interest rate based on LIBOR. “IDB lending and technical assistance to the country is expected to total around US$1.5 billion from 2011 through 2015, with a focus on the country’s ambitious reform programme,” said IDB Representative in Trinidad and Tobago, Iwan Sewberath Misser.

“Our operations support public sector management, financial sector regulation, private sector development, education, social protection, climate change, energy, water and sanitation, and transport,” he said. In 2011, new financing for the country totaled US$290 million. For 2012 the IDB will place an emphasis on the rehabilitation of the waste water systems, solid waste management, infrastructure improvements, local government reform, and in assisting with the rationalisation of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) through the public offerings programme in T&T.

[Flex]

US expert warns: Be cautious with Chinese loans
By Renuka Singh and Charles Kong Soo (Guardian).

T&T’s debt to Chi­na has jumped from $2.2 bil­lion last year to $6.2 bil­lion af­ter Gov­ern­ment part­nered with Chi­na again on two new projects.

That new fig­ure in­cludes the ex­ist­ing debt in­her­it­ed from the for­mer ad­min­is­tra­tions and now in­cludes the $3 bil­lion for new­ly-pro­posed La Brea Dry Dock fa­cil­i­ty and the $1 bil­lion plan for Phoenix Park.

Pri­or to the 2019 Bud­get pre­sen­ta­tion, Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert said T&T owes the Peo­ple’s Re­pub­lic of Chi­na $2.229 bil­lion.

To date, there has been very lit­tle in­for­ma­tion in the pub­lic do­main about these deals.

Many peo­ple have ex­pressed con­cerns that if T&T is not care­ful it may run the risk of falling in­to a crouch­ing eco­nom­ic tiger, hid­den drag­on debt trap sim­i­lar to sev­er­al coun­tries who were un­able to re­pay Chi­na, such as Sri Lan­ka, which hand­ed over its strate­gi­cal­ly lo­cat­ed US $1.3 bil­lion Ham­ban­to­ta port to Chi­na.

Af­ter lend­ing bil­lions of dol­lars to heav­i­ly in­debt­ed Dji­bouti, Chi­na now has its first over­seas mil­i­tary base in that strate­gic coun­try and var­i­ous na­tions through­out the world who have bartered their coun­tries’ min­er­als, oil, and land for Chi­nese loans. Chi­na is now propos­ing to take over the Ken­neth Kaun­da In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port should the Zam­bia Gov­ern­ment fail to pay back its huge for­eign debt on time.

A to­tal of 68 coun­tries are in­volved in Chi­na’s am­bi­tious US$4 tril­lion Belt and Road Ini­tia­tive, through which Chi­na seeks to boost trade and stim­u­late eco­nom­ic growth across Asia and be­yond. It hopes to do so by build­ing mas­sive amounts of in­fra­struc­ture, roads, port fa­cil­i­ties, new gov­ern­ment build­ings, bridges con­nect­ing it to coun­tries around the globe, fi­nanced by Chi­nese gov­ern­ment do­na­tions, aid, loans, and in­vest­ments.

Crit­ics say Chi­na’s plan is to gain geopo­lit­i­cal in­flu­ence, by en­gag­ing in “debt-trap diplo­ma­cy”; en­cour­ag­ing in­debt­ed­ness in cash-strapped coun­tries and then to take over strate­gic na­tion­al as­sets when debtors de­fault on re­pay­ments.

On Fri­day, Unit­ed States pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump met with se­lect­ed lead­ers with­in Cari­com and one of the top­ics of dis­cus­sion was ex­pect­ed to be the in­vest­ments from Chi­na in­to the Caribbean.

How­ev­er, Trump and the Caribbean lead­ers did not dis­cuss Chi­nese in­vest­ment is­sues.

Ac­cord­ing to in­ter­na­tion­al re­ports, at that meet­ing Trump in­stead pledged US in­vest­ment with the five Caribbean lead­ers who sided with the Unit­ed States in back­ing Venezue­lan op­po­si­tion leader Juan Guai­do as head of state.

On Fri­day, the U S pres­i­dent met with St Lu­cia Prime Min­is­ter Allen Chas­tanet, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic Pres­i­dent Dani­lo Med­i­na, Ja­maica Prime Min­is­ter An­drew Hol­ness, Haiti Pres­i­dent Jovenel Moi­se and Ba­hamas Prime Min­is­ter Hu­bert Min­nis at his pri­vate Mar-a-La­go es­tate in Palm Beach, Flori­da.

Ac­cord­ing to White House state­ment, Trump promised that a high-lev­el del­e­ga­tion from the Over­seas Pri­vate In­vest­ment Cor­po­ra­tion, the US de­vel­op­ment lender, would vis­it each of the five na­tions in the next 90 days.

While Trump steered clear of the Chi­nese in­vest­ment, the lo­cal arm of the US Em­bassy brought in an ex­pert in the field of Chi­nese mi­gra­tion of in­vest­ments to speak to sev­er­al lo­cal busi­ness bod­ies over the past week.

Dr Evan El­lis is a re­search pro­fes­sor of Latin Amer­i­can Stud­ies at the US Army War Col­lege (US­AWC) Strate­gic Stud­ies In­sti­tute (SSI) and has been study­ing Chi­nese in­vest­ment in the Caribbean and Latin Amer­i­ca for the past 16 years.

In an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia on Fri­day, El­lis warned the Gov­ern­ment to be “cau­tious” be­fore sign­ing any deals for in­vest­ments.

He spoke specif­i­cal­ly of the La Brea Dry Dock and Phoenix Park In­dus­tri­al Es­tate.

“Again, it’s the Gov­ern­ment’s mon­ey but it’s the peo­ple’s mon­ey that’s be­ing spent and the ques­tions that rais­es some con­cern for me is whether or not that is a com­pet­i­tive fa­cil­i­ty based on where the ma­jor ship­ping lines, such as Mediter­ranean Ship­ping or Cosco would pre­fer to do their dry dock,” he said.

“I would raise it as an open ques­tion and not nec­es­sar­i­ly as a con­clu­sion but its very im­por­tant that the Gov­ern­ment do a good busi­ness case if it does in­vest $500 mil­lion of the peo­ple’s mon­ey.”

With re­gard to the pro­posed in­vest­ment in­to Phoenix Park, El­lis said that af­ter fol­low­ing Chi­nese ac­tiv­i­ties for 16 years, there are ques­tions to be raised.

“I un­der­stand that there is a de­sire for the gen­er­a­tion rapid­ly of jobs, the prob­lem though is on the one hand the Gov­ern­ment is talk­ing about spend­ing the peo­ple’s mon­ey which would go up­front to the Chi­nese firm, Bei­jing Con­struc­tion and En­gi­neer­ing Group (BCEG),” he said.

El­lis said that there was a pre­sump­tion of con­fi­dence on the promis­es made in the agree­ment, that BCEG will bring in 60 oth­er com­pa­nies and pro­duce thou­sands of jobs.

“The Gov­ern­ment needs to make sure those promised jobs come,” he said.

El­lis said he worked with com­pa­nies in El Sal­vador and Pana­ma where the con­tracts and agree­ments were not scru­ti­nised enough and it left those two na­tions fi­nan­cial­ly ex­posed.

“It is par­tic­u­lar­ly im­por­tant that be­fore the Gov­ern­ment spends $1 bil­lion of the peo­ple’s mon­ey they need to make sure those com­pa­nies are com­ing in and what would be the con­di­tions that they ex­pect from the Gov­ern­ment to make that at­trac­tive,” he said.

Guardian Me­dia con­tact­ed the Chi­nese em­bassy for clar­i­fi­ca­tion on the range and scope of the in­vest­ment in the coun­try but was told that the em­bassy had not re­ceived au­tho­ri­sa­tion from its head of­fice to give out that da­ta.

This was the same re­sponse the Em­bassy gave sev­er­al times when Guardian Me­dia sought more in­for­ma­tion.

On March 13, Guardian Me­dia con­tact­ed Trade Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon re­quest­ing a meet­ing and more in­for­ma­tion on the Chi­nese in­vest­ments. She asked for a meet­ing to be set up for March 19. She al­so di­rect­ed Guardian Me­dia to set up the meet­ing with her as­sis­tant. Guardian Me­dia al­so sent ques­tions to the as­sis­tant but re­ceived no re­sponse. On Tues­day, Guardian Me­dia con­tact­ed the Min­is­ter and her as­sis­tant to fol­low-up and was once again di­rect­ed to put off the meet­ing un­til March 26. Gopee-Scoon is ex­pect­ed to re­spond to ques­tions then.

March - 2019

[Flex]

Govt, China sign loan for US$104m
JOAN RAMPERSAD (NEWSDAY)

Chinese ambassador Song Yumin and Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Dennis Moses have signed a framework agreement for a concessional loan between the governments for the development of Phoenix Park Industrial Estate.

The agreement was signed yesterday at the ministry at the International Waterfront Complex.

Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon gave the value of the loan as USD104 million.

On the time frame for repayment, interest rate, and terms and conditions of the loan, Gopee-Scoon said: “That is still amateur for the Ministry of Finance in their negotiations with the China Exim Bank.”

She added: “It’s a concessional loan, so I’m sure it’s at a very low interest rate, but it is a matter for the Ministry of Finance in their negotiations.”

She said at least 1,000 people will be employed in the construction stage, and when the entire park is filled, some 5,000 people will get jobs there.

“There are already interested parties from China, T&T, and we do have an anchor tenant from Latin America,” said Gopee-Scoon. “We have completed our prospectus and InvesTT, (an arm of her ministry) will be going to China to meet with Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) and our mission in China, where they will further market the park.”

This visit takes place in the third week in November.

Moses commended the Chinese for their continued assistance and support for T&T’s development goals. He said: “To date, over 65 agreements have been concluded between our nations, and is a testament to our long-standing friendly relations.”

Moses added all such agreements signed in the past represented significant milestones, such as those for the National Academy for the Performing Arts, north and south, the national sporting facilities, the Couva Hospital and the acquisition of the multi-purpose patrol vessel used by the Coast Guard.

In the case of the industrial park, he said several tenants from central America have already been identified to start business operation in air-conditioning, automotive, heavy machinery, building transmutation and furniture.

He said, “This type of project truly embodies the spirit of the Belt and Road.” The Belt and Road a global development strategy followed by the Chinese government.

Yumin said the occasion was another highlight moment in economic co-operation between the two countries, and there will be many more projects to come, geared towards economic diversity and economic transformation in T&T.

He said since the Prime Minister’s visit to China last year, relations have taken on a new level, and thanked the PM for his care and attention to co-operation between the two countries.

Minister of Finance Colm Imbert said of the project: “We always talk of diversification. This is diversification in its purest sense, and I think it will be a huge success that will generate exports and much-needed foreign exchange for T&T.”

[Flex]

Trapped in the valley of debt.
T&T Guardian Reports.

Some­where in the late 1970s, speak­ing in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, the late Dr Er­ic Williams made a com­ment for which he is wide­ly, but in­cor­rect­ly, quot­ed to this day.

What he ac­tu­al­ly said was, “Mon­ey is not an is­sue” al­though it was wide­ly re­port­ed as, “Mon­ey is no prob­lem.”

Ac­tu­al words aside, it was an ac­cu­rate de­pic­tion of the coun­try’s eco­nom­ic health at the time. When the man revered as the fa­ther of this na­tion made that re­mark, T&T was in a very healthy eco­nom­ic po­si­tion. In­come from oil was at about US$920.8 mil­lion af­ter a decade of steady ex­pan­sion, pro­vid­ing this coun­try with al­most two-thirds of its in­come.

Those days are long gone. When Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert presents the 2019/2020 Bud­get to­mor­row, it will be against a back­drop of eco­nom­ic stag­na­tion and a con­tin­ued re­liance on an oil in­dus­try that no longer yields the rev­enue that once made this the rich­est na­tion in the Caribbean.

While there is ex­pect­ed to be some mar­gin­al im­prove­ment in the bud­get deficit, which had been in the range of 3.40 per cent of T&T’s gross do­mes­tic prod­uct in 2018, the re­al­i­ty is that the coun­try is still mired in debt. Suc­ces­sive po­lit­i­cal ad­min­is­tra­tions have been spend­ing much more than the coun­try earns, so re­cent fis­cal pack­ages have had to mea­sures to in­crease tax­es and cut spend­ing.

Al­though Mr Im­bert may seek to put a pos­i­tive spin on T&T’s eco­nom­ic po­si­tion—af­ter all this is a Bud­get be­ing pre­sent­ed just be­fore the coun­try shifts in­to elec­tion mode—it will be hard to shake off the spec­tre of fis­cal deficits which will con­tin­ue to put pres­sure on our in­ter­na­tion­al re­serves lev­els and the cur­ren­cy.

The most re­cent fore­casts from rat­ing agen­cies Moody’s and S&P are that T&T will con­tin­ue to bor­row just to pay the in­ter­est on cur­rent debt sev­er­al years in­to the fu­ture.

The ex­pec­ta­tion is that a re­stric­tive fis­cal pol­i­cy will have to be main­tained be­cause the State is bur­dened with a high pub­lic ser­vant salaries and wages bill, as well as high trans­fers and sub­si­dies.

Over the last decade, eco­nom­ic growth av­er­aged -0.5 per cent. The coun­try is far from a po­si­tion of fis­cal strength, due in no small part to mixed per­for­mances in the en­er­gy and non-en­er­gy sec­tors. De­clines in gas pro­duc­tion and prices on one hand and a nine per cent in­crease in oil prices plus a mar­gin­al im­prove­ment in out­put.

A fis­cal deficit in the range of $2,968.1 mil­lion and a re­duc­tion in the stock of for­eign ex­change, down to US$9,760.3 mil­lion or 7.9 months of im­port cov­er in the first half of this year are not mat­ters to be tri­fled with.

The bot­tom line is that mon­ey is an is­sue for this coun­try. If and how Mr Im­bert ad­dress­es this un­sus­tain­able debt bur­den will be­come clear to­mor­row.

[Flex]

IDB lends T&T US$50 million for housing and urban renewal
T&T Guardian Reports.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$50 million (TT$338 million) loan to improve the living conditions of low-income households and invest in urban spaces.

A statement from the Planning Ministry said this initiative will result in sites being upgraded from Sangre Grande to Diego Martin, urban regeneration in both Port-of-Spain and Scarborough and the strengthening of the housing sector.

The initiative will also directly support more than 3,500 households to affordably improve their housing conditions with a special focus on assisting low-income families, the ministry added.

The Urban Upgrading and Revitalisation Program is part of the Government’s strategy to foster more sustainable development and is directly aligned with the Vision 2030 National Development Strategy for Trinidad and Tobago under Theme III, Putting People First; Nurturing our Greatest Asset.

The programme is the fourth successive IDB-financed housing and urban development operation in T&T and it includes several elements among them the incorporation of green-building and infrastructure technologies, which will see climate change adaptation and mitigation features included.

An urban regeneration element will also promote the transformation of urban spaces with an emphasis on encouraging sustainable use and increasing their aesthetic attractiveness and resilience, the ministry said.

Another element, it added, will result in households being linked with potential private finance opportunities to better their housing conditions.

The IDB’s very first housing project in T&T was in 1968 and from the 1990s onwards support to this sector has seen over 18,000 families benefit from our work with the Government, said Rocío Medina-Bolívar, Country Representative for the IDB Group in T&T.

“We are committed to supporting the Government’s ongoing efforts to improve the lives of its citizens and transform its urban spaces to enhance their physical quality and improve economic performance,” she added.

Similar to the most recent IDB-financed housing operation completed in 2017, the programme will be executed by the Ministry of Housing and will be done over a period of six years.

The repayment term will be 24 years with a grace period of six and a half years and an interest rate based on LIBOR (the London Inter-bank Offered Rate).