KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, March 3, IWN — Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace says he will ask in Parliament on Thursday if the Government has borrowed recently from the National Insurance Services (NIS), the nation’s social security protection agency.
He will also ask how much money the Government owes the University of the West Indies, Eustace said during his radio programme last week.
Regarding the NIS, Eustace, a former prime minister and minister of finance, said:
“I am also trying to confirm whether there are any recent borrowings from the NIS. Because I am hearing something which I don’t understand. But, I will find out. I will ask the Minister of Finance to explain that, if there were any recent borrowings from the NIS and what it is for.”
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is also Minister of Finance.
Eustace noted that after the most recent actuarial review of the NIS, the Government agreed to increase contribution rates and the retirement age — “reform that are necessary to ensure that the NIS continues to be viable institution.
“Therefore, the investment of any NIS funds must be for projects and activities which [are] going to make money, that can pay back the interest. That is what it is for, because that same income has to pay people’s income for generations yet unborn. So, I will be asking some questions on that,” Eustace said.