PM Skerrit believes international organizations are imposing their will on people

Dominica Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, is of the view that the country could be at a disadvantage if amendments were not made to the Offshore Banking Act.

The Amendments were approved in Parliament on Monday.

“The failure of the Parliament to bring these Amendments to Parliament could have serious repercussions for the way we do business in Dominica,” he said.

According to Skerrit, this affects the country’s ability to trade with the world, to be part of the financial system and to be part of the monetary systems of the world.

“They can stop you from transacting with US currency; they can strike you from dealing with the Euros and the pound sterling and Canadian dollar and therefore your country would be a credit union,” he said.

He explained that one opposition member spoke about the CBI [Citizenship By Investment], “but I will say to her in the process of educating her that this is not about CBI, because Barbados does not have CBI, St Vincent and the Grenadines does not have CBI, Jamaica does not have CBI and all of us must comply,” Skerrit remarked. “So it’s not about CBI my friend.”

Meantime, Skerrit said he believes that the international organizations are imposing their will on people, even to the point that it impinges on the constitutions in the region.

“And I have said in the region, that we in the Caribbean, must not see this as a partisan issue,” he stated. “This is not a partisan issue. This is about our countries and impositions that are placed on every Caribbean country.”

Skerrit explained that in discussions with a representative of the IMF he mentioned that this world is imposing on, “poor, small jurisdiction like ours” and will have a serious repercussion on the country’s ability to create better opportunities for its people.

“We must not be so myopic, we must not be so closed minded about our duty and responsibility to our country,” Skerrit said.

The amended Act was unanimously passed in parliament on Monday.