From Antigua Observer

A senior economist at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has confirmed that the bank has completed a report that would address any possible fallout for members of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) in the event that the PetroCaribe Agreement was dismantled.

The PetroCaribe programme is an agreement between Venezuela and some Caribbean territories to purchase oil on preferential terms. This arrangement was conceptualised in June 2005 after the Energy Cooperation Agreement signed by 14 Caribbean nations during the First Energy Meeting of Caribbean Heads of State/Government on PetroCaribe.

“If that was to happen how would it affect the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union? You know that a number of members of the ECCU receive their petroleum products from Petro Caribe,” said Beverley Labadie, who has worked at the ECCB for the past nine years.

“There is also this debt section because they pay a part upfront and the balance of it is accumulated as debt, so we looked at how this debt will impact the members that are involved in the PetroCaribe. Based on what’s happening in Venezuela now with the economic situation, if they were to request the monies owed to them upfront right now, how would that impact the debt in the ECCU and how would it affect them, what are the implications going forward for acquiring the 60 per cent debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio by 2030.”

Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia are just some of the countries that are part of the PetroCaribe arrangement.

IMAGE: ECCB Senior Economist Beverley Labadie (photo courtesy ECCB)

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