Airport loan in trouble, sources report, with China leaning hard on Browne Administration for payment

The Gaston Browne Administration has missed payment due on the Chinese
loan for the V.C. Bird International Airport, impeccable sources tell REAL
News.

Accordingly, the sources allege the Chinese have been applying pressure on
the Government, as two extensions already have been missed.
Meanwhile, they say, the Administration is trying desperately to come up with
the funds to save the airport.

Other persons have been questioned for confirmation of this situation – which
implies that the Government is in a financial crisis. However, those persons
would neither confirm nor deny the report, given their positions as civil
servants.

What is known, however, is that the Administration is struggling to pay the
interest on the Chinese loan for the expansion of the cargo port and its
facilities.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who holds the portfolio of finance, has
admitted this in Parliament.

As recently as January, sources confirmed to REAL News that the quarterly
payment that became due in late 2023 had been culled together by “raiding”
the statutory corporations. Among these, they claimed, were the Medical
Benefits Scheme and the State Insurance Corporation.

Now, with the airport loan apparently in trouble, the whistle-blowers are
afraid that both the airport and seaport could fall under the control of the
Government of China.

Only last week, a Newsweek article raised questions about China’s growing
influence in Antigua and the Administration’s financial over-dependence on
that country – which the Browne Administration denied.