UPDATE: VI now eligible for UK Official Development Aid
Meanwhile, Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL), Premier and Minister of Finance, who is currently in the United Kingdom with Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert said, "This is a huge step forward for us and we thank the British government for assisting the BVI government in this very important way."
The Premier urged the residents that it is up to them to continue moving forward with the rebuilding of the territory.
Another option that will be discussed is an "emergency waiver".
This would allow a country to be included on the list of eligible Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients for a short period after a crisis.
“But this proposal is expected to face opposition from some members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) development assistance committee when it meets on Monday in Paris,” the BBC reported on October 28, 2017.
Last month, the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Turks and Caicos and the [British] Virgin Islands were badly damaged by Hurricane Irma.
But there was controversy after the BBC revealed that Britain’s £13bn aid budget could not be used to help repair the islands.
All three had gross national incomes higher than the benchmark set by the World Bank for countries to be eligible for ODA.
‘High level meeting’
The BBC further reported that International Development Secretary Priti S. Patel, who had visited the Virgin Islands following Hurricane Irma and will attend Monday's meeting, has been pushing for the international rules to be changed to reflect the vulnerabilities of small island states.
She has discussed the options with Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the OECD, and this week she told MPs that he had been "broadly supportive" of her ideas.
The development assistance committee is made up of 30 countries, and changes to the rules have to be agreed by consensus.
Aid list
At the moment countries eligible for ODA must have a gross national income of less than $12,235 per capita.
That currently includes Antigua and Barbuda, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba.
But Anguilla and St Kitts & Nevis were taken off the ODA list in 2014, the British Virgin Islands in 2000, and the Turks and Caicos in 2008.
Under the new proposal, there would now be a process whereby these countries could be restored to the ODA list, the BBC reported.
This would be good news for the Virgin Islands, which has been struggling to pay its civil servants amid reports that it's treasury was long drained before Hurricane Irma ravaged the Territory.
13 Responses to “UPDATE: VI now eligible for UK Official Development Aid”
The entire ndp party must go. They are all jack@#&*s.