Govt heads approve LIAT loan from oil fund

Caricom Heads of Government have formally approved the TT$150 million LIAT bailout to come out of the Caricom Petroleum Stabilisation Fund Accordingly, some TT$150 million (EC $44 million) will be released from the Fund to assist in the implementation of the airline’s restructuring plan. In a letter to Prime Minister Patrick Manning, Lolita Applewaite, Deputy Secretary General of Caricom, reported that the “required approval has been received from all Heads of Government” to utilise the amount sought from the Stabilisation Fund for the specific purpose of implementing LIAT’s restructuring plan.”

At a meeting in Barbados earlier this month, prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and St Vincent and the Grenadines considered the financial position of LIAT. They decided the TT$150 million being requested should be sourced from the Caricom Oil Facility Fund, subject to the agreement of the Trinidad and Tobago Cabinet and the approval of the Heads of Government.  The Trinidad and Tobago Cabinet approved the agreement on January 17. However in the note for Cabinet, it was stated the mechanism to give effect to the Caricom Petroleum Stabilisation Fund had not been established under Section 43 of the Exchequer and Audit Act.

It stated that pending the establishment of the fund, the $300 million was appropriated by Parliament in the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries as part of its overall allocation. Consequently the Ministry of Energy would be required to make the necessary release to effect the payment to LIAT. It was also agreed the Government of Trinidad and Tobago would retain its existing shareholding in LIAT as distinct from that of BWIA. The Cabinet note pointed out that at the meeting in Barbados, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, in dealing with the issue of a regional carrier, stressed the Government was not prepared to support either BWIA or LIAT in their present form and that the member states should move with dispatch to ensure the establishment of the regional carrier.