By McPherse Thompson, Assistant News Editor JAMAICA WILL be contributing just under 30 per cent or the second largest portion of the funds required to establish and operate the controversial Caribbean Court of Justice, according to data released by the Caribbean Development Bank.
The island's US$28.7 million contribution is only less than the US$31.6 million to be made by Trinidad & Tobago, which will house the headquarters of the Court.
In its latest newsletter, the CDB said Barbados would be contributing US$13.5 million to the start up of the regional body, Guyana would contribute $8.8 million, Belize $3.7 million, while the smaller island nations of Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & The Grenadines would each contribute US$2.2 million.
The CDB said it would be providing US$100 million for the CCJ, but would borrow US$96 million of the amount for on-lending to the borrowing member countries. An additional US$4.4 million would be provided from CDB's special development fund.
COMMERCIAL MARKET FUNDS
According to the Development Bank, that method of accessing commercial market funds with which to finance the Court has been facilitated by CDB's AAA rating. It said that if the countries were to approach the market individually, the process would be cumbersome, time-consuming and costly, "and indeed, some of the smaller territories do not themselves have direct access to the international capital markets."
Each borrowing member country will be given 10 years in which to repay the special loans, at an interest rate currently at 5.5 per cent, but variable. In the case of Guyana, half of what it will be borrowing will come from CDB's special funds for which it will be given 20 years to repay and at an interest rate of two per cent.
The CDB said the funds being borrowed would be transferred into a new independent trust fund, the mechanisms for the establishment and operation of which were already in place. Income from the investments of the fund would be used to finance the capital and recurrent budget of the Court in perpetuity, the Bank said.
CRUCIAL
The CCJ is expected to be inaugurated before the end of this year and is said to be crucial to the success of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), which is expected to become a reality within 18 months.
According to the CDB, the CCJ is expected to be a hybrid institution - a municipal court of last resort and an international court with compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction with respect to the interpretation and application of the treaty under which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) functions.
"In the exercise of both jurisdictions," the CDB said, "the Court is expected to play a critical role in ensuring legal certainty in the Community and Single Market, in the absence of which there is unlikely to be the stability of expectations which investors require."
