World Bank and CDB may not lend much to help Barbuda

Prime Minister Gaston Browne says he is not optimistic about receiving any significant financial assistance from two major lending institutions to help the Barbuda recovery process.
Browne said he arrived at this conclusion after a meeting with the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank over the weekend.
He said he’s only expecting an estimated $25 million total from the two. According to PM Browne, “The problem we are faced with, is that Antigua and Barbuda has graduated to high income status” and therefore it is not eligible for concessional funding.
He said this rule is not even accommodating of grave circumstances such as the damage and destruction to over 90 per cent of the properties in Barbuda in early September.
Hurricane Irma passed directly over the sister isle, and the damage was so severe that all 1,600 plus residents had to be evacuated to Antigua.
A state of emergency was declared and the clean-up process began over the weekend.