Antigua and Barbuda’s OAS Ambassador Urges Flexibility in Lending for Drought-Prone Nations.

By Aabigayle McIntosh

Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, persistently advocates for Small Island States, seizing every available opportunity to underscore each territory’s significant challenges.

During the regular meeting of the Permanent Council on Wednesday, Ambassador Sanders emphasized the necessity for lending institutions to adopt more flexible terms, particularly directing attention to drought-prone countries like Antigua and Barbuda, which heavily depend on water from Reverse Osmosis Plants.

“Needs must be matched by resources and if the need is water and it is now critically a need and we have to buy Reverse Osmosis Plants we have got to invest in that. Surely, financial institutions should start gearing up their lending programs to take account of the need for the machinery that we are going to buy and to make the terms of loans more affordable,”

He explains that this will allow countries to invest in the infrastructure needed. He also addressed how the island’s food security is impacted due to the lack of adequate water supply.

“We incidentally cannot grow agricultural products in our country so we have an increasing food security because production in agriculture needs water. And our water is now so expensive, that we have just introduced a new tax on our people to pay for the machinery that we are bringing in, a tax they can hardly afford. 

Presently, approximately 70% of Antigua and Barbuda’s water supply is derived from seawater desalination.

However, the island’s reliance on groundwater sources during the dry season is dwindling annually due to pollution from wastewater and the effects of climate change.