by Mindy Aguon

Guam - While the Calvo Administration looks to cut costs and reduce the deficit, the government can expect a large infusion of cash this week. Officials were recently able to successfully sell the $108.7 million Series ‘B' bond at an interest rate of 4.6%.

While Governor Eddie Calvo himself congratulated his team for achieving the record low interest rate, he says it actually could have been dropped lower, to 4.3%. He explained, "There was a little bit of a complication Senator [Ben] Pangelinan put the provision for paying out the past due amounts for retirement obligations. Unfortunately from the opinion of our counsel that deals with bond indenture, that was a taxable event, so it caused to actually pay an interest that would have been lower if it was all strictly for tax refunds."

The bond will fully satisfy the Government of Guam's obligations to the GovGuam Retirement Fund estimated at $25.1 million, and pay over $60 million for 2011 tax refunds and approximately $18 million in health insurance payments.