US$417m rescue package for TCI

Governor Gordon Wetherell last week announced a US$417 million financial package for the British Overseas Territory even as local politicians continue to demand a return to democratic rule.

Wetherell said that the money would be used to refinance the Turks and Caicos Islands' (TCI) high level of debt and fund monthly deficits for two more years.

He said the bailout, approved in Britain last month, will not fund significant new expenditures or reverse spending cuts, but will only allow the island to bring spending and revenue in line.

Wetherell said it "buys us the time we need to tackle the dire fiscal legacy" the interim administration inherited after Britain imposed direct rule in August 2009.

London took the decision after a government probe found that the local administration misused public money and profited from the sale of government-owned land.

London also suspended legislature and last week islanders took to the streets demanding an end to British rule.

But the governor said that London would keep to its timetable and hold general elections in the British dependency territory next year.

- CMC