CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister,
Gaston Browne said it would be “consequentially
economically” to restrict
travel from the United States and the
United Kingdom.
The Caribbean
island recently recorded
the first confirmed
case of the dreaded
coronavirus and during
a radio interview last week, Browne
said, “if you close these two windows
then clearly, it would have a significant
amount of dislocation.
“If we stop the flights from outside
of the UK and US, I would believe that
practically all the hotels would have to
close. It would mean sending home all
the hotel workers; government’s revenue
would reduce significantly; we
would not be able to manage our payroll
and other obligations,” he said.
He said there is also the concern that
restricting travel would significantly
affect food and security.
Browne suggested that the practical
thing to do, at this point, was to manage
the risk by strengthening capabilities at
all ports of entry for these particular
visitors, as well as returning nationals
and purchasing specialized equipment
to ensure that local authorities could
test for the virus, thereby eliminating
the need to send samples to Trinidad
and Tobago.
Barbados
The Barbados-based Caribbean Institute
for Meteorology and Hydrology
(CIMH) says that while some parts of
the Caribbean, such as the Leeward
Islands, experiences above normal rainfall
in January, there are concerns over
short and long term drought by the end
of the dry season in May over much of
the region.
In its latest Caribbean
Drought Bulletin,
CIMH said that of
particular concern is
the southern portion
of the eastern chain into Guyana, where
both short and long-term drought are
likely to evolve.
It said monitoring water reserves and
enhancing water conservation measures
are recommended, noting that
long-term drought is evolving in Antigua,
Barbados, north-western half of
Belize, Cayman Islands, parts of coastal
and interior Guyana, St. Kitts, the
Windward Islands – Dominica, Grenada,
St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.
Caribbean
Heads of government in the Organization
of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS) and officials from the Eastern
Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU)
Caribbean Life, M 4 arch 27-April 2, 2020
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
From left: Professor Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank (AfDB); Christine
Hogan, Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change; Timothy Antoine, Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
(ECCB); Nezha Hayat, Chairperson and CEO of the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC); and Babak Abbaszadeh, President
and CEO of the Toronto Centre for Global Leadership in Financial Supervision Toronto Centre
recently convened a meeting to review
the possible effects of the spread of
coronavirus (COVID-19).
According to the
Governor of the Eastern
Central Bank
(ECCB) Timothy Antoine,
growth in the
region could slow to 1.4 percent for
the year. “Under the best-case scenario
(containment) real GDP growth for the
ECCU for 2020 will slow to 2.1 percent-
down from an initial estimate of 3.3
percent; under a moderate case scenario
(containment by end of summer), ECCU
real GDP growth is projected to decelerate
to 1.5 percent, and in the worst-case
scenario of 1.9 percent is projected,” a
statement from the IECS said.
It added the decline in economic
growth is consistent with the projections
of a 20 percent decline in tourism
in the region- if a total shutdown of the
economies is avoided.
The OECS noted that it could consider
a shutdown of the industry since
international flights and cruise ships,
based on reports, were the original
sources of infections.
The heads of government agreed to
keep airports and seaports open to
enable trade, especially goods and the
movement of OECS nationals.
Grenada
Grenada has added the United States
to a list of countries on the country’s
travel advisory which seeks to stop the
coronavirus from entering the Spice
Island.
There is presently one coronavirus as
up to last week in Grenada.
In its updated Travel
Advisory, the government
says Grenadian
nationals and residents
will be allowed
to enter the country but must be selfquarantined
for 14 days upon arrival in
Grenada.
A statement from the government
said effective March 20, at midnight,
“if you not a Grenadian national and
the last 14 days you have been to Iran,
South Korea, China or anywhere in
Europe (including the United Kingdom),
you will be refused entry into the
country.”
“Effective midnight on March 21, the
USA is added to this advisory as per all
the stipulations outlined,” it added.
The government says the action is
necessary as widespread respiratory illness
caused by the COVID-19 have been
reported in Iran, South Korea, China
and USA and Europe.
Several Caribbean countries have
tightened up on visitor arrivals with
travel restrictions in a bid to combat the
spread of COVID-19.
Jamaica
Jamaica’s Carnival celebrations
have been postponed by six months to
October as a safety measure against
the spread of the novel Coronavirus
(COVID-19) in the island.
Chairman of the
Carnival In Jamaica
Stakeholders Committee,
Kamal Bankay
made the announcement
after the numbers of COVID-19
cases in the island are increasing.
Bankay said the road parade, originally
scheduled for Sunday, April, 19
has been moved to Sunday, Oct. 25.
Carnival In Jamaica organizers
recently expressed optimism that the
event would still go on as scheduled
despite a case being confirmed in
Jamaica, but appear to have a change
of heart with the number of confirmed
cases having soared in the norther part
of the country and one death so far.
Trinidad
The shortfall of revenue could be as
high as TT$5 billion from the collapse
in international commodity prices, as
well as he possible economic fallout
from the precautions taken to mitigate
the COVID-19 pandemic.
This was revealed
by Trinidad and Tobago
Finance Minister
Colm Imbert at a
recent media briefing
following an emergency meeting at the
Diplomatic Center, Port of Spain
Continued on Page 14
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
OECS, ECCB officials discuss covid-19
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