Antigua To Borrow Over $100 Million From IMF
March 18, 2010
CaribWorldNews, ST JOHN`S, Antigua, Thurs. Mar. 18, 2010: Antigua and Barbuda is set to take on an International Monetary Fund loan even as the country is being sued by investors of accused Ponzi schemer, R. Allen Stanford.
Antiguan Finance Minister Harold Lovell said this week the IMF will lend the country a $124 million loan over a three year period. The minister said this means the country must reduce spending on government salaries by 20 percent by 2012 and also increase taxes and improve tax collection.
The twin-island Caribbean nation has been struggling with a budget gap since a drop in tourism and the collapse of Stanford`s Antigua-based financial empire.
A civil lawsuit is currently pending against Antigua and Barbuda by angry investors of the Stanford International Bank. Stanford, who is sitting in a Texas jail awaiting a trial, was the largest private sector employer on the island.
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