CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
Barbados
The Barbados government
says it will
allow residents to
hold foreign currency
accounts of up to
US$10,000 as of Aug. 2, 2019.
Minister of Finance, Ryan Straughn
said the funds deposited into the foreign
currency accounts cannot be purchased
from the local domestic access to foreign
exchange.
He said while previously foreign
exchange accounts had a 70 percent
surrender value, government was in
the process of putting a framework in
place to eliminate that as a signal to
the country that it wanted persons to
utilize the accounts to conduct their
business.
Straughn said the Mia Mottley administration
has also sought to increase the
personal allowance with respect to travel
facilities for individuals, which was
previously at Bds$7,500 annually.
That, he said, is going to be increased
to Bds $20,000 with respect to persons
wishing to travel.
Caribbean
The unprecedented
levels of sargassum
seaweed that
washed up on Caribbean
beaches in 2018
resulted in an estimated cleanup cost of
US$120 million.
This was revealed by Jamaica’s Minister
of Tourism and co-Chair of the Global
Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management
Center (GTRCM) Edmund Bartlett,
while delivering opening remarks
at the Roundtable on Sargassum at the
Mona Campus of the University of the
West Indies recently.
He said that in addition to costly
removal “tourism stakeholders have
come increasingly concerned about the
seaweed’s unsightly appearance, visitor
complaints and the possibility of reputational
damage.”
Bartlett said tourism remains the
single most important catalyst of sustained
economic livelihood in the
region, noting that the Caribbean is the
“most tourism-dependent region in the
world, where it is the main economic
sector in 16 out of the 18 Caribbean
states and support close to three million
jobs.”
Guyana
Guyana has become
the first country in
the Commonwealth to
sign up to the Maritime
Economy Plan
which aims to develop the country’s
potential in the
The government is receiving support
from the Commonwealth Maritime
Updated daily at www.caribbeanlifenews.com
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles (seated left), vice-chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Dr. David Duncan,
chief operating offi cer & university secretary, University of Glasgow, sign the Memorandum of Understanding at The UWI Regional
Headquarters, Kingston, Jamaica on July 31, 2019, to partner in a reparations strategy including the establishment of the Glasgow-
Caribbean Centre for Development Research. Witnessing the milestone are (at back) C. William Iton (left), university registrar, The
UWI, Laleta Davis-Mattis, university counsel, The UWI, and Peter Aitchison, director of communications & public affairs, University
of Glasgow. See story on Page 22. The University of the West Indies
Economics Program in the crafting of
the plan.
At the opening ceremony for the consultations,
British High Commissioner
to Guyana, Greg Quinn commended the
government’s forward-thinking.
He said plan aims to identify sectors
of the maritime industries that foster
sustainable development and to prepare
a tailored action plan to address gaps,
overcome obstacles and build capacity
to grow those sectors adding that in
the process, it will consider the government’s
short, medium and long-term
priorities.
Quinn said the plan will be tailored
to meet Guyana’s specific needs and
priorities, which will be also be aligned
with Sustainable Development Goal
— Conserve and sustainably use the
oceans, sea and marine resources.
Commissioner of the Guyana Lands
and Surveys Commission, Trevor Benn
noted that the plan will develop the
potential of Guyana’s marine economy
in a sustainable, resilient and integrated
way.
Grenada
The Grenada government
said it had
recorded nearly five
percent increase in
revenue for the first
half of this year when compared to the
Caribbean L 4 ife, Aug. 16-23, 2019 BQ
same period last year.
Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell
told reporters at the weekly post-Cabinet
news conference that total revenue
for the first half of the year is almost
EC$390 million which is 3.4 percent
more than what was collected for the
first half of 2018.
He said that if the revenue is showing
increase it means that the economic
activities have increased.
The government said that the positive
results came despite data from the
Ministry of Finance through its fiscal
summary reports indicating that during
the months of March and June
government received less than expected
revenue.
The report shows that current revenue
for January 2019 was EC$65 million,
which was EC$1.5 million above
the target, while the figure for February
was EC$59.3 million, an increase of
EC$1.8 million.
Jamaica
The Jamaica Senate
has approved a 90-day
extension of the State
of Public Emergency
(SOE) in the western
parishes of St. James, Westmoreland
and Hanover until Oct. 28, 2019.
Minister without Portfolio in the
Ministry of Economic Growth and
Job Creation, Senator Pearnel Charles
Jnr, who piloted the legislation recently
noted that the enhanced security
measures have been yielding positive
outcomes across the parishes, while
emphasizing the importance of extending
their duration.
He said while St. James recorded a 70
percent reduction in murders between
Jan. 18, 2018 and Jan. 31, 2019, when
the SOE was in place, its discontinuation
had a negative impact which
reflected in a resurgence of violent
crimes and gang activity in the parish.
This, the Minister said, prompted
the SOEs reintroduction in St James
and declaration in neighboring Hanover
and Westmoreland on April 30, 2019
for 90 days.
Senator Charles noted that between
April 20 and July, 21, 2019 murders and
shootings in St. James fell by 40 percent
and 27 percent respectively, compared
to the period February 5 to April 29,
2019 prior to the SOEs reintroduction.
Additionally, he said, murder and
shootings in Westmoreland declined by
74 percent and 70 percent respectively
for the SOEs duration, when compared
to the previous period between Feb. 5
and April 29, 2019.
The minister further said that the
SOEs introduction in Hanover resulted
in murders and shootings falling by 33
THE NEWS FROM BACK HOME
Reparations deal
Continued on Page 14
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