FINANCE DEPT. FRUSTRATED BY NALCOR'S FAILED HEDGES

Not surprisingly when politicians and public servants screw up, and their error is exposed, the excuse register gets pretty crowded. That was the case when this Blog revealed that Nalcor lost $66.9 million on a hedging scheme in which it speculated on $1.82 billion of the most recent $2.9 billion Federal Loan Guarantee - funding for the Muskrat Falls project.

On NTV, August 21, 2017 CEO Stan Marshall defended the loss - suggesting nothing would have been said had it been a win. 

Of course, Marshall was mute about Nalcor's expertise in this complex and risky field. He did not mention if he had given any guidelines (limitations) to his officials - now speculators with the public purse.

Nor did he comment on whether those decisions are given over to some investment advisor with no skin in the game. And he offered no data as to the frequency of the Corporation's hedges. And, which would have been nice, he didn't confirm if – over time - wins/losses had evened out.

Certainly, there was no mention of Nalcor’s $14.1 million loss (including fees) reported in its December 31, 2013 Financial Statement . The losses were recorded on nine hedge contracts worth $2 billion entered into between December 3-6, 2013.