(Barbados Nation) How the CLICO issue will impact on Barbados’ treasury has Standard & Poor’s (S&P) worried.
The Wall Street credit rating giant says that as the CLICO drama unfolds and the Government and Opposition focus attention on a possible solution to the crisis, they are keeping a keen eye not only on Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, but the rest of the Eastern Caribbean as well.
Richard Francis, director of S&P’s Sovereign Ratings Group, told the WEEKEND NATION in New York that whether it was the Barbados Government’s plans for the policyholders, or the Opposition Barbados Labour Party’s recent proposal about the use of the tax system to aid individual investors, the issue the Wall Street credit rating giant is very concerned about is the “contingent liability” a resolution would impose on Barbados’ Treasury.
“When the revelation about CLICO first came out, obviously we contacted the governments in the region, including Trinidad and Tobago,” Francis said. We actually had a credit watch on Trinidad and Tobago because of the possible contingent liability. Once that was quantified and given the solid standing of the government of Trinidad we actually moved back to stable for Trinidad”.
