In Regar August 8, 2008 issue, front page headline, “Bond default spells disaster” the SNP mouthpiece made a gross error in understanding the nature of the outstanding obligations SPPF has underwritten in our names.
In the article, Regar says SPPF has defaulted on the $230 Million Bond issued by Lehman Brothers. This is completely inaccurate. The Bonds that SPPF are in default over are the Euro 54.75 Million private bonds. SPPF has missed an interest and principal payment on July 1st, 2008. Hence, the lowered credit rating for Seychelles and the default status we are now in.
Regar misunderstood the Bond default by about $145Million. The $230 Million Junk Bond has a coupon payment due in October 2008, but that did not stop Standard and Poor’s from downgrading that Bond to “CCC-” status as well, since it is unlikely that SPPF will be able to meet that payment.
Regar also misunderstands what was due on July 1st, 2008. It was a $1Million payment, not US$85.3 Million as erroneously stated in their article. Because it is such a small amount the international finance houses hit Seychelles hard. But Regar’s mistake is no small amount on the front page; it is an $84.3Million error.
In total, Regar and SNP’s error on one single front page of their paper in only one week, is a total of $229 Million.
If they do not understand our debt obligation, how will they begin to solve the problems for us? Maybe Regar and SNP can refer to Weekly for advice, as usual. The least they could do is take a 50% salary cut in the National Assembly, since they are doing almost nothing for Seychelles.