Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to put measures in place to determine grant and concessional financing to Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
He was speaking at the IMF annual meeting held virtually on Tuesday.
“We need the international community to throw their collective weight and resources behind our efforts by adopting the vulnerability index as the measure for determining grant and concessional financing to SIDS,” he said. “And this index I must add should be designed with the involvement of our best expertise and should not be a unilateral imposition…”
The prime minister also urged the IMF to provide additional grant financing to support Covid-19 management, vaccines, social programmes as well as support to micro, small and medium size firms.
He also identified additional concessional financing for budget support and relaxing fiscal roles “in an appropriate, limited and temporary way to get us through this period of crisis,” as other forms of assistance which can be provided by the IMF.
Skerrit said the creation of a growth and resilience fund that can provide easy access to grant financing for resilience projects, that will pay for itself by reducing vulnerability, loss and damage, more flexible obligations for debt contracted to respond to shocks and an extension, is also important.
The theme for the meeting was: “Navigating the Crisis towards Thriving Caribbean Economies – Building Resilience to Climate Change.”
The one thing I know about the IMF is that the organization hates being dictated to by thieves, rouges and vagabonds. The sad thing is the country’ people are in dire need but they brought this on themselves by not kicking out the dictator who continue to believe he Lord Supreme.
How can the prime minister beg for money when he has not given an audit of the CBI money. He really think the IMF does not know what it going on with the CBI money.
We are having our sovereignty sold to finance CBI projects which are all being constructed and operated by foreign entities, while the PM has to beg to get assistance for the people of the country…! this is the definition of poverty, corruption and mismanagement. if we can’t see something wrong with this, then the problem is with us as a society!
What did your royal highness do with all the money given by the IMF over the years? There should be full accounting by an outside independent team of auditors from the IMF of his highness before any more money is given to him. Foreign bank accounts should be checked for large deposits from Dominican politicians in high places from the last 18 years.
Today’s Dominica is a failed State and failed states are vulnerable. China is today’s most opportunistic predator. Skerrit knows that but as long as they pay he is cool with it. Each and every patriotic Dominican should not be cool with it. Believe me, there is nothing in it for Dominica in the long run. Just poverty, potentially even worse!!
I support your request to the IMF. After all , our people are in bad economic conditions. I would like to alert you to please prepare to provide an accurate financial report for the past 3 to 5 years to include an honest audit of passport sales, tariffs, size of big government as it relates to population size, recent election expenses, RED CLINIC, etc. Please be transparent as we continue to encourage our people to be self-sufficient.
In addition to an account of all financial aid received from TS Erica & Hurricane Maria disasters as well as how much of that was spent and on what, with ORIGINAL authentic invoices and receipts to match. .
@ Rickmartins, he has to continue to beg to develop the country. Instead of you putting your money in the development of the country, you putting your money in a radiothon for Lennox, the world’s biggest looser in court cases and appeals. When will you learn?
You and the like minded are the real losers..The Cancer must be cut out before there is progress or healing.simply put,as along as the atrocities,blatant squandering and mismanagement of the countrys resources continues under this man ,no amount of money put into the development of this land will make any impact! more than enuff has already been gifted and then stolen/wasted by this man and people like you.. so yes, I will continue to donate to those that are brave enuff to stand up and expose the corruption..
People have a right to put their money where they want as long as it is legal. They can burn it if they want, is nobody’s business but their own. Is not government money, tax payers money they using.
@ Curly, dirt poor and you all raising $100,000.00 in two hours for stupid, loco Lennox? Who you all fooling with your nonsense talk? Lennox will never be the Prime Minister of Dominica, not on this earth.
Apparently Dominica’s vulnerability hasn’t prevented you from acquiring wealth way beyond your legal salary as a prime minister.
You showing off your wealth…hiding $1.2 billion in a fake housing option for CBI…..run de country broke and you want IMF to help our economy
The imf role is to give money to developing countries while the poor people pay for it in taxes.. your tax does not develop your country but it goes in the pocket of the IMF… When will Dominicans learn that these currupt politicians is the reason why their countrily remains dirt poor .. wake up
The Prime Minister will receive the money from the IMF because the IMF loves the fiscal and economic control that it gives them of those poor countries like Dominica! It gives the shareholder countries of the IMF leverage over us. Yes, there are shareholder countries of the IMF just as their are shareholder countries of LIAT! So we will be told what to do and what not to do by the IMF!
Interestingly, this Prime Minister and his Labour Party Government destroyed every functioning industry that they met in Dominica, and now we make nothing and export nothing. Unemployment keeps rising, we cannot create sustainable or resilient employment. Taxes and duties keep rising. The main income earner is passport selling which is not a sustainable or resilient strategy for future development! We are doomed! Dominica is doomed under this Prime Minister and his Labour Party Government! But this is what we voted for, incompetence! No idea! A no idea Prime Minister and Government taking us to nowhere!
@Truth Be Told, the IMF is a good organization set up to assist countries which mismanage their economies. The IMF doesn’t go begging countries like Dominica to come and get assistance, no, so to imply that the IMF loves to take advantage of poor countries is ludicrous.
Lazy, incompetent and poverty of mind characterises Skerrit. Go with a begging bowl while you squander billions to stay in office!
The wheels of justice turns slow, but it turns all the same.
Mister always begg-in..what a shame..The image of this country is a bunch of dependent beggars..you have misappropriated and misused this country monies for years..The IMF should Ignore You and this country until there is accountability and leadership change..Hard Truth..
It is injudicious to put all your eggs in one basket especially a fickle industry as tourism. A diversified economy is much more preferable.
Here we go again. Skerrit is doing what he does best, BEGGING. He went to the UN just after Maria and solicited assistance from donor organizations and friendly countries. He got millions. The common man got little or nothing while some political diehards of the DLP got much under false pretenses. They posed as farmers when many of them never even planted a pumpkin seed. There is hardly anything to show from the millions donated.
When it comes to money nobody should trust Dr.² Skerrit not even with a Partner Hand.
Stop it Roosevelt stop embarrassing us and your self making us look like beggars all the time garçon. A man that can have his little country pay more than 60,000 dollars rent for his house every month does not need IMF. We have money, our own money just bring it home from off shore you hear.
Whenever I see Jim Jones be it in person, photo or hear his voice I am reminded of the warning the Apostle Paul gave below:
13″ These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 So it is no wonder that HIS SERVANTS also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve. 2 Cori. 11:13-15 New Living Bible
These are reasonable requests made by the Prime Minister of Dominica. I hope the IMF see these suggestions and other suggestions that may be presented as short term yet useful measures to help Small Island Developing States (SIDS) ride out the Covid 19 Pandemic.
The IMF must also put measures in place to mitigate future global/ world crises because the Bible tells you that China will continue to create deadly shocks in its pursuit to rule the world… The one China policy
These are totally unreasonable requests William, especially when the world is facing hardship caused by Covid while we are blessed with hardly any infection at all. We even were able to donate face masks to China. Secondly, we do have money, a billion dollars economy according to mr. Skerrit. You only have to ask MMC company that is building our housing and an extravagant villa for mr. Skerrit’s use, who is paying them if it is not our government. I think it is time we are more sensitive to the plight of the rest of the world this time. Yes, we do have plenty poor people ourselves but that is not the fault of IMF because at the same time we have Dominicans that are plenty rich.
I am reminded of the following words of Lennox Linton from his 2018 New Years message:
“For make absolutely no mistake about it, there will be no climate resilient Dominica in the absence of government of the people, by the people, for the people that is resilient to the destructive forces of corruption and incompetence.”
Link – https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/general/new-years-message-opposition-leader-lennox-linton/
Amen. why are we still asking the IMF to provide financing when we are supposed to have such a robust economy?
As usual he goes begging to the IMF. Without being funny, why should the IMF give him a cent because he got billions from selling passport. Where is all that money?? He had a some apartments built and the rest is in his offshore accounts. He hasn’t even got the decency to account for the CBI money! No, correction, he can not even be asked to perform his duties as finance minister and account for all those monies. The IMF should tell him to account for the CBI program before asking for any further money from them.
I don’t see the USA nor Canada nor any billion dollar economy going to the IMF begging for money. Skerritt just recently bragged that Dominica was a billion dollar economy with only 70,000 people. Billion dollar economies don’t brag about themselves and they are the ones who put up the money for the IMF to operate. Take that Skerritt you should be contributing money to the IMF to continue doing it’s good work. How about that?
Skerrit the imf know who is corrupt and know how to spend there money