HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC - Cash-strapped Bermuda has received a fresh warning its credit rating may be downgraded as the island's debts mount in the midst of a four-year recession. International ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service, on Wednesday placed Bermuda’s Aa2 rating on rev...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - An official of one of the United Nations agencies has expressed concern about the dearth of social data in the Caribbean region. UNICEF’s Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Khin-Sandi Lwin, made the point yesterday morning while addressing those gath...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Caribbean will likely see a surge in drug-trafficking activity by 2015 as operations move slowly out of Central America due to an international crackdown, a top U.S. State Department official said Wednesday. William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for internation...

NEW YORK, USA — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is now "looking to finalise a few pending issues", before submitting Jamaica's request for support under the Extended Fund Facility to its executive board. The submission is to be done as soon as possible, according to a spokes...

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaicans will know today just how much the Government plans to spend during this fiscal year but already some financial analysts are warning the country to brace for a tight budget. "It is not going to be a budget of goodies," financial analyst Colin Bullock told The Gleaner. ...

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas will host a one-day Regional Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) workshop next week as Caribbean countries seek to comply with new regulations outlined by the United States. Financial Services Minister L. Ryan Pinder said that the workshop is being f...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Two private sector organisations are warning that the Jamaican economy is nearing crisis level amid concerns of a rapid slide in the local currency. At the end of trading on Tuesday, the US dollar was being sold at a record J$99.08. At the start of the year, the US do...

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Paediatrician Dr David Bratt said in a telephone interview yesterday he is not surprised that T&T is ranked as the third fattest country in the world. While Bratt questioned the validity of the UK Daily Mail’s report, he also said he was not surprised by the repor...

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it intends to significantly reduce the island’s food import bill, which stands at a staggering one billion (US) dollars. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said the intention is to reduce the bill to US$700 in the short t...

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - An expert with respect to disaster management in the Caribbean is suggesting that Haiti is an excellent example of how a disasters can create an opportunity for enhancing coping capacity. Retired head of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Jeremy Colly...