Dominica’s current external debt stands at $651.5 million dollars, according to figures revealed in the country’s parliament.
The House has been told that Dominica’s total disbursed outstanding debt at the end of the financial year 2011/12 amounted to EC$896.3 million.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that that figure was 3.4 per cent more than the previous year, when the debt stood at $866.2 million.
The 2011/2012 figure’s said to consist of external debt “of which $541.9 million is held by central government and $109.6 million is debt guaranteed for public corporations”.
That totals $651.5 million.
According to the prime minister, domestic debt for the same period was $202.2 million for central government, and debt guaranteed for public corporations was $42.6 million.
He said the increase in total disbursed outstanding debt is as a result of disbursements “on new and existing commitments”.
The government said during the financial year it contracted five external loans amounting to $75.9 million from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Agence Française de Dévelopement (AFD).
“The loans from CDB and IMF were contracted to repair damages caused by the Layou floods and Tropical Storm Ophelia, while the loan from AFD was contracted for the completion of the Roseau to Melville Hall Road project,” Prime Minister Skerrit told the House.
He also indicated that in December 2011 “a loan of $20 million was obtained to provide bridging finance, particularly for project implementation”.
Parliament’s been told that a three year medium term debt management strategy for the period 2010/11 to 2013/14 was developed to guide the management of Government’s debt.
