BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Wednesday February 1, 2012 – Barbados has been warned that it cannot afford to dig deep to bail out CLICO.

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Dr Warren Smith is warning that the country cannot afford to bail out is own operations much less those in the Eastern Caribbean. “I don’t think that the Government of Barbados is in any position to be able to dig deep to come up with resources to bail out either their own or the Eastern Caribbean countries, and the Eastern Caribbean countries can’t afford to do that.”

In fact, he went as far as to say that he did not see any solutions to the CLICO situation that were either practical or affordable.

The CDB is a part of a committee trying to seek a solution to the situation which unfolded when CL Financial in Trinidad collapsed in 2009, and has tabled numerous solutions to resolve the British American Insurance problem.

But, Dr Smith warned, the solution to the problem will be a very expensive one, and the committee is recommending a burden-sharing approach between Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean countries.

However, he also made it clear that any attempt by countries to bail out all CLICO and British American policyholders and investors using state funds will be a dangerous undertaking.