As chair of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has put forward a creative funding plan to advance a long-discussed goal of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS): the launch of a homegrown regional airline. In an interview with local outlet Pointe FM, Browne outlined that unclaimed, dormant deposits currently held by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank could provide a substantial portion of the startup capital required for the new carrier.
According to Browne, the total pool of unclaimed funds held in the regional banking system amounts to roughly 50 million U.S. dollars, a significant share of which would be allocated to the airline project. To address concerns over depositor rights, the prime minister emphasized that the proposal does not permanently seize funds from rightful owners or their heirs. Under the planned framework, approximately 10 percent of the unclaimed deposits will remain reserved at the central bank at all times, and the government will retain full responsibility for honoring any future claims submitted by depositors or their beneficiaries. “It doesn’t take away the right for somebody to come subsequently say they want the money,” Browne explained in his remarks.
The proposed regional airline is far more than an isolated infrastructure project, Browne noted. It is a core component of the OECS’s broader agenda to deepen economic integration, strengthen cross-border collaboration, and improve intra-regional connectivity across the Eastern Caribbean subregion. OECS leaders have been holding ongoing discussions to refine the initiative, which aligns with wider cooperation efforts across multiple critical sectors including transportation, cross-border trade, energy development, and public procurement. Browne added that regional governments are actively exploring additional mechanisms to pool collective resources, cut overlapping administrative costs, and unlock greater efficiency through expanded collaboration across all member states of the bloc. For his part, the prime minister expressed clear optimism about the project’s path forward, stating, “I’m hoping that we can get that effected.”