(Trinidad Express) The Government intends to sell its 49% shareholding in Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO), Minister of Finance Colm Imbert has announced, revealing that approximately TT$13 billion is still owed for the bailout of CL Financial.
Imbert made the statement while announcing five “special projects” during his presentation of the 2025 national budget titled “Steadfast and Resolute: Forging Pathways to Prosperity” in the Parliament on Monday.
“The Government intends to sell its 49% shareholding in Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO). CLICO is no longer considered to be of strategic importance to the Government and its divestment will earn several billion dollars in revenue for the Government, to see us through the financial difficulties of the next few years,” Imbert said.
“In this regard, I have noted a false narrative circulating that the Government has been repaid all that it is due for the 2009/2010 CLICO bailout. This is entirely untrue, since the CLICO bailout involved not only the insurance company, but it also involved the bailout of CL Financial and its subsidiaries, as well as companies like CLICO Investment Bank, British American Insurance and so on. Far from being fully repaid, the Government is still owed over at least a further (TT)$13 billion in taxpayers’ funds injected into CL Financial and the other related companies. I wanted to make that clear, because I have seen a narrative that we have been fully repaid for the CLICO bailout; it is not true. We are still owed $13 billion for the bailout of CL Financial,” he said.