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Government names date for by-election

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar Thursday announced July 29 as the date for the by-election in Chaguanas West, almost two months after her embattled national security minister Austin “Jack” Warner resigned on April 26. Warner, who had also submitted his resignation as the chairman of the United National Congress (UNC), the biggest member in the four-party coalition People’s Partnership government, is however not a certainty to contest the election on behalf of the party.

St. Lucia PM says Cuba cutting back on assistance to region

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government says several policy changes taking place in Cuba will severely affect Havana’s contribution to the health sector of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries. Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, who recently ended a week long official visit to Cuba where he held talks with President Raul Castro and other senior government officials, said the changes have been brought about as a result of the worsening global economic climate. He said the changes will bring to an end to Cuba's traditional support for the regional health sector.

Government defends take over of merchant registries

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Prime Minister Dean Barrow is defending the decision of his government to take over the International Business Companies Registry and the International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize even as the Belize International Services Limited (BISL), the private company managing the two companies, has warned of legal action. BISL insists that it has a contract with the government that is valid until 2020, but Prime Minister Barrow told reporters that the agreement is illegal and invalid.

‘Don’t even think about it’ - King warns against int’l debt default

KINGSTON, Jamaica - After a couple of highly successful debt-swap programmes in the last three years, two economists have warned that Jamaica should not even contemplate a similar move for its foreign obligations. Such a move, warned Dr Damien King, head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, would have devastating consequences for the country on two fronts. The Portia Simpson Miller administration, which carried out the last debt exchange in February, has given no indication that a similar move is being considered for the country's foreign debt.

Multinational loans won’t stabilise dollar - IMF rep

KINGSTON, Jamaica - DR GENE LEON, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) senior resident representative to Jamaica, has branded as illusionary, the view that an inflow of hard currency from the multinationals will bring stability to the country's foreign exchange market. Leon, who was a guest at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum on Wednesday, said stability results from earning enough foreign exchange relative to demand for hard currency. "When you say the exchange rate is stable, the question is how.

Import duty hike will punish J’can consumers – economists

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A LEADING economist says Jamaicans would be punished with higher prices if the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) is able to successfully lobby the Government to increase import duties to protect local markets. "You have to realise that the JMA sector and ... consuming Jamaicans have diametrically opposed interests. If the JMA gets its way, you pay more to live," Dr Damien King said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Wednesday.

Government gets support for multi-billion dollar supplemental budget

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government Thursday received parliamentary approval for a TT$2.8 billion (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cents) supplemental budget that Finance Minister Larry Howi said would be use mainly to meet outstanding payments to public workers.

IACHR condemns the death of Haitian national by Dominican Republic authorities

WASHINGTON, CMC – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is condemning the death of Jean Robert Lors, a 31-year-old Haitian national, who reportedly died last month after being beaten by agents of the General Directorate of Migration and of the police in the Dominican Republic. IACHR said Lors was among people picked up during a massive repatriation roundup carried out in the neighbourhood of El Tanque.

LIAT takes to the skies with new planes

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – The financially strapped regional airline, LIAT, Thursday announced it had taken possession of an ATR 72-600 aircraft as it upgrades its aging fleet. The airline said the French-manufactured ATR is being leased from the lessor GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services) and “is the first of a total of eight ATRs -four 68-seat ATR 72-600 and four 48-seat ATR 42-600s- that will be introduced into LIAT’s fleet.

Questions for CARICOM after Biden, Xi visits

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - NOW THAT United States Vice-president Joseph Biden and China’s President Xi Linping have completed their respective missions to engage Caribbean Community (CARICOM) partner states – via separate meetings in Port of Spain, Trinidad – it is of relevance to raise questions on two important issues not publicly mentioned. In contrast to their various statements on trade and aid matters, CARICOM leaders were quite silent on, for instance, the current controversial issues of hemispheric and global interest as they pertain to this region’s relations with the United States.

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