East Kingstown MP Fitz Bramble has dismissed as untrue the statement by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves that St. Vincent and the Grenadines will have to repay, at once, the EC$800 million in loans to Taiwan if Kingstown breaks ties with Taipei.
“I have never seen a loan agreement debated in our Parliament and passed in our Parliament which says, under any condition, that you have to pay back all the money one time. Never! Never!” Bramble said at the New Democratic Party community meeting in Layou.
“But the most important issue with all of this is the fact that bold-face, bareface Ralph has no shame because he is the one who has this country in the level of debt in which we find ourselves,” Bramble said.
In April 2023, Gonsalves said that the EC$577.9 million that Kingstown owed to Taipei then, up from EC$100 million the previous September, “put a hook in the gill of anybody” in SVG who wants to break the diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
In 2016, the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in SVG announced that it would sever ties with Taiwan and establish links with China if elected to office.
On Oct. 7, at an event in Kingstown to mark Taiwan’s 114th National Day, Gonsalves accused people of lying about what he had said.
“I made the point in dealing with a bill regarding … borrowing of the money for the port … from the Export-Import Bank in Taiwan. And I pointed specifically to a clause in the bill,” Gonsalves said.
“I said, the opposition wants to change relations. But if they change relations to Taiwan, to China, I want to point out to them that this clause is like a hook in their gill, in the opposition gill, because if you are to make the mistake, all the moneys which we owe Taiwan will become due right away.”
The prime minister said the loan were in excess of EC$500 million, adding, “there are other monies which we have in the pipeline, which we have signed agreements on, but we have not drawn down, and those numbers would reach another 300 million.
“… anytime we draw down those, it’s about 800 million in all. And I said that’s a hook in your gill, because obviously, if Taiwan is having, if the banks in Taiwan having loans with us, a material issue which would cause for the monies to be paid one time, is if you break relations with them,” the prime minister said.
Speaking in Layou, Bramble said one of the reasons why the country is facing so much hard times is the high level of debt that Gonsalves and the ULP have incurred.
“Prime Minister Gonsalves had the gall, the dishonesty, to come and tell our people that if such and such and such, we going to have to pay back Taiwan $800 million one time. I was so offended and annoyed that this man believes that Vincentians are foolish,” the opposition MP said.
He said that there is always a loan agreement whenever any entity borrows money from another.
“Since I have been in the Parliament for five years, I have debated several bills which came to the Parliament asking to borrow money from different institutions and different countries, including Taiwan,” Bramble said.
“And every time the bills are presented, they attach what they call a schedule … to the loan agreement — all of the details, how much you have to pay back, what’s the interest rate, how long you have to pay it back and all of that.”
He said there was never a loan agreement from Taiwan saying all the money has to be repaid at once if Kingstown breaks ties with Taipei.
…and agreements cannot be changed unilaterally. Ralph is just doing his usual scaremongering tactics. Time for ULP TO GO!