He announced that he favours liquidating CLICO Guyana and restated assurances of a government guarantee on investments by policy holders of the company.

Referring to reported claims of a deep financial crisis in Guyana by Mr. Raphael Trotman, leader of the small Alliance For Change (AFC) party, the President said, “I wonder if he just woke up or if he’s confusing Guyana with the United States of America.”

“We don’t have a financial crisis. We have a sound banking system; we had a problem with one institution which the state took over and the state will manage it in such a way that it doesn’t affect our standing, doesn’t cause a deterioration of the macro fundamentals”, he said.

He added that Guyana luckily has not seen the layoffs of tens of millions of people associated with the global financial crisis in other countries, noting that the government here is taking steps to create more jobs in the state sector.

He acknowledged that around 50 to 100 people in different sectors may lose jobs here because of the impact from the global crisis but assured that subventions similar to that granted the City Council this year will be extended across the board to make more people employed.

“If there is one thing that we are clear about, it’s on how we plan to move the economy forward and to secure Guyana’s interests”, Mr. Jagdeo declared.

He pointed out that CLICO Guyana last week secured an injunction against the Trinidad-based parent company, CL Financial, and some of its subsidiaries from receiving payments from Guyana.

He noted too that the Chinese BOSAI bauxite company operating in Linden has a US$15M loan from a CL subsidiary which has been transferred to First Citizens in Trinidad.

According to the President, with the inter-related nature of the companies and the guarantees CL Financial had issued to both Guyana and CLICO Bahamas, the US$15M receivables from BOSAI should go towards settling some of the liabilities that CLICO Guyana has.

CLICO Guyana is trying to recover about US$34M invested with CLICO Bahamas which has also been hit by the global financial crisis.

“If we were to succeed in securing those resources, our exposure will be cut significantly”, the President said.

He also indicated that the disposal of some of the firm’s local assets may go to pay back most of the small policyholders and this will allow the larger policyholders to remain with CLICO Guyana.

With the guarantee already given, the government may discuss with these policyholders the possibility of returning their investment over a period and how much they can earn on the return from their money, he said. “It will still be like a form of investment that they have”, he added.

The President was also surprised that the AFC and the main Opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), which endorsed the government CLICO Guyana guarantee in the National Assembly, have asked where the money will come from.

“The money has to come from the Treasury but we will do so in such a fashion that it could be US$34M phased out over a 10-year period so it does not become a burden on the Treasury — and that is if we do not get back anything and we are taking steps to get back some of the money from abroad”, the President explained.

“It’s not a big liability which the Treasury cannot handle. In fact we can handle that and still continue to spend significantly, without cutting our spending this year”, he said.