Prime Minister of Barbados Fruendel Stuart says his administration is working to ensure that policyholders of the troubled local operations of Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) get back their principal investments.
Stuart said on the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation that his government was “quietly and unobtrusively” pursuing its own CLICO initiatives with a view to having “a fair and rational resolution” of the problem.
The local operations of CLICO have been affected by the financial problems plaguing the parent company, the cash-strapped regional conglomerate CL Financial, with the Trinidad and Tobago government pumping billions of dollars in a bid to keep the insurance company viable.
“We have had meetings with interesting parties on the CLICO issue and it is my view that the clouds are not nearly as dark as they might be thought to be,” Stuart said last week.
The prime minister, who brushed aside critics of his style of leadership, also assured Barbadians that the high cost of living is being addressed by his administration, including plans to zero-rate some food items now subject to value added tax.
– CMC
