Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne
The country’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne said he could finalise a list of recommendations by today on new ways to tackle financing for climate change and global warming.
Browne was asked by the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to submit proposals when they met in Washington DC on Saturday during the Small States Forum.
“I am working on it and I could submit it tomorrow,” Prime Minister Browne told OBSERVER media last night.
Calling it a “novel idea”, the prime minister said one of the recommendations is “climate swaps” for investment in green energy.
“Antigua and Barbuda invested about $60 million dollars in green energy applications with another 40 million to be invested. So, within the next six months, we would have invested over one hundred million dollars,” he said.
Browne is now proposing that Antigua and Barbuda should be able to swap the amount that we spent against existing debts.
“Because these large countries are the ones warming up the seas and we are the ones suffering,” he said.
Another recommendation is longer payment periods and lower interest rates on loans following natural disasters.
“Perhaps up to 30 to 40 years and with repayment moratorium perhaps with 0 or 1 percent interests,” he said.
The prime minister said there are about seven recommendations in all, including eligibility for grant money to build greater climate resilience,” Browne explained.
“So that when we get hit by Hurricanes in the future that the damage would not be that extensive like what happened with Irma and Maria,” he added.