St. George’s, Grenada – July 28, 2011 – St. George’s, Grenada: Former Minister of Finance Sen. the Hon. Anthony Boatswain says there is only one reason why the Government of Grenada would postpone the second review of the country’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF); and that is because it has failed to meet the benchmarks set out by the IMF and is concerned that the pending review will expose the incompetence of the NDC administration.

According to Boatswain the Government has failed miserably in the management of the country’s finances and any review will highlight its failure.  The former Finance Minister says that the decision of the Government to postpone the review rather than accept the weaknesses is similar to someone in a game who refuses to continue the game because they lost the first round.  He went on to say this kind of behavior is clearly another revelation that the words accountability, transparency and good governance are merely words used by the NDC to bamboozle the Grenadian population. 

“What is even more laughable is the fact that the Government was bold enough to use Hurricane Ivan as a reason for the postponement, when according to the NDC since Hurricane Ivan Grenada has had five successful reviews under the PRGF and one successful review under ECF.” 

The Opposition is therefore calling on the Government to proceed with the review so that as a nation we can confirm what our real economic situation is and get recommendations and solutions to deal with the problems we face. 

Sen. Boatswains warns that it will be better to deal with the facts rather than hide them from the people who have a right to know.  He said if the Government’s claim that the country is well is true then it should be anxious to proceed with the review so Grenada can know the true situation.

Is it true that the Government had to agree with the IMF to announce the removal of the $8.0 million per month increase in the payroll to unproductive advisors and other personnel before the next review? Has the Government defaulted on more than one promise to the IMF and is seeking to correct them before the review so as to avoid the negative comments from the IMF? What is certain, the poor management of the economy by Hon. Nazim Burke is about to collapse the country economically and financially.