Douglas said “when you think of how tiny we are, our population cannot even fill many large sports stadia overseas. I think we have a great deal to be proud of and a great deal to be grateful for and there is no question this country has conducted itself with its sense of vision, responsibility and competence that is second to none.”

He went  to deliberate  on the reputation of the government, he said “My government came to office in 1995, we have had a range of debt instruments via which we’ve financed a number of projects ,however ,we have never ever in 16 years defaulted on our debt obligations. Our reputation as far as I’m concerned is sturdy in regards to our debt repayment. This is indeed an outstanding reflection to each and every one of us.”

“The entire world is being badgered and pummelled by an economic crisis the like of which none of us has seen, unless they are very old and can remember the great depression of the 1920s.  My government very astutely and very responsibly entered into debt restructuring negotiations with our creditors in June of this year, these have been proceeding well and are now at an advanced stage. As a result, the government expects to launch shortly a new bond which creditors would exchange for their own holdings of government debt, “Prime Minister Douglas added.

“The Caribbean Development Bank will guarantee interest payments on that new bond thereby providing an additional measure of comfort to our creditors. This will simplify the debt profile of the government and will enhance our debt management and will reduce the government’s debt service obligations,” the Minister of finance assured the creditors.

Douglas’ comments came at a time when local and international news sources have been indicating, with some measure of authority surrounding the facts and source of their information that St. Kitts & Nevis has in fact ran afoul with its debt repayments and has certainly defaulted on some payments.