KINGSTON, Jamaica - DESCRIBING PRAISES being heaped on deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez as Damascus-like, Government Senator K.D. Knight, last Friday, chided members of the Opposition who spoke in the Senate during a tribute to the fallen solider.
Knight argued that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which now forms the Opposition, had never endorsed Jamaica's relationship with Chávez.
The JLP had called for a national demonstration in 2005 on the day Chávez and regional heads of government visited the island for a signing of the PetroCaribe agreement.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - The national airline, Bahamasair, recorded a loss of US$11.7 million last year compared with US$9.8 million in 2011, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Development, Philip Davis, has announced.
He said that for the period July-December 2012, the airlines revenue amounted to US$37.4 million, while expenses totalled US$49.1 million.
The increase in net loss has been attributed mainly to challenges associated with an aged fleet of aircraft along with increases in airport and fuel charges, Davis told legislators.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has told his party’s convention that with or without him, the United Progress Party (UPP) remains the best option for leadership of the country. He was speaking as the UPP gets set to choose the leaders that will pilot it through the coming general election. Spencer is unopposed as leader of the UPP. His one-time rival for the post, Harold Lovell, has fully endorsed him, saying he is the only man who can lead Antigua and Barbuda at this time.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC - Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace has accused Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of bringing the Vincentian economy to its worst state since the country gained independence in 1979. In an address to the New York chapter of the New Democratic Party (NDP), on Saturday, Eustace accused the current administration of mismanaging the economy. “Let him (Gonsalves) dispute that. In 2012, to our eternal shame, St. Vincent and the Grenadines exported EC$1.1 million in bananas.
CASTRIES, St. Lucia CMC - A St. Lucia owned company Cellestial has been awarded an EC$1.3 million (US$500,000) grant to pursue innovative projects in the region. The company was selected from among thousands of applicants that were shortlisted to 7 finalists and then finally to winner status following months of investigation, heavy competition and deliberation. Regional Communications Ltd., Cellestial’s parent company, entered a Compete Caribbean competition called the Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund (ECIF) 6 months ago through its innovation window.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - GEORGE Maxwell Richards completed his decade-long tour of duty as the country's Commander-in-Chief with a final walk in front of his troops in a public ceremony held around the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain yesterday. Richards, 81, a former principal of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, became the country's fourth president on March 17, 2001. He held the post for two five-year terms and will today be replaced by former High Court judge Anthony Carmona.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - HAS anybody noticed how unelected bodies like the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the United Nations, World Bank and others are encroaching on the Legislative Agenda of some nations of the world? These organisations are able to determine what legislations are established, by tying their support, grants and loans to us, passing certain laws whether we the electorate know about them or not.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC - Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh will on Monday March 25 present the national budget to the National Assembly. Singh said that the focus of the Donald Ramotar government will be to continue with the acceleration of economic growth and social development, with emphasis on macroeconomic stability and preserving the conditions that are conducive to attracting investment, expanding and upgrading physical infrastructure, expanding access and improving the quality of social services, and strengthening the institutional and regulatory environment.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - ON the eve of tonight’s discussion on a strategy for growing the Barbados economy, it is necessary to refer to a paper which the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr. Delisle Worrell, penned last year.
In the paper published in Washington D.C. by the Group of 30, Dr. Worrell reiterated that economic expansion in this country and, similarly, small economies, must be led by the foreign exchange-earning sectors of the economy.
NEW YORK, CMC - A major international credit rating agency says the liquidity crisis leading to Grenada’ default on its US and Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollar bonds is “credit negative” for the country and elevates the risk of distress spilling over to member countries in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
The newly-elected Dr. Keith Mitchell administration in Grenada said it would default on the bonds due 2025 because it is unable to secure financing to make a coupon payment on Friday.