The Central Bank of Barbados advises that there has been a delay in making interest payments due on December 31, 2018 to some holders of Government Securities. The Bank anticipates that all payments should be received by Friday, January 11, 2019.

“We apologise for the delay that persons have been experiencing in receiving their interest,” said Julia Weekes, Director of Banking and Investments at the Central Bank. “As we mentioned previously, because of the new structure of Government securities, we have had to change our computerised system, and we are still experiencing some challenges with implementation. As a result, where previously interest payments would have been made through an automated system, this set of payments has to be done manually. Nevertheless, we anticipate that the payments will be made within a week.”

She further assured investors that the Bank is working assiduously with the external providers to iron out the systems-related difficulties.

Weekes also explained that, with the assumption of responsibility for investors who previously held treasury bills and SOE (State-owned Enterprises) debt, part of the delay for some bondholders is attributable to the absence of banking details for some of the persons who were to receive interest payments at the end of last year.

“We will reach out to these persons so they can also be paid their interest,” Weekes stated.