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.
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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.
BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC - The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and the German Financial Cooperation (KfW) have signed a programme geared towards reducing the risks of climate change on the Caribbean’s coastal population.
The approximately six year Ecosystem-Based Approaches for Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Zones of Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean (EBACC) programme, which is slated to start later this year, will be implemented in St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Jamaica.
PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC- The Government of Suriname has embarked on a joint venture with the Kaloti Group of Dubai to establish the first gold refinery in the Caribbean.
The refinery that is being built near the village of Wit Santi, close to the country’s International Airport, is expected to start operating by next year and produce as much as US$2.77 billion worth of refined gold.
On the weekend, President Desi Bouterse joined Kaloti Chairman Munir Kaloti in expressing high expectations of the facility.
PANAMA CITY, Panama, CMC – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says world growth is likely to be suppressed below potential for several years to come, but Latin America and the Caribbean can escape this global outlook and boost growth significantly by adopting appropriate structural reforms.
Bridgetown—The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) recently hosted a strategic donor meeting at the offices of the CDB in Barbados to discuss ways to support CCRIF’s new excess rainfall product and to coordinate with donors’ disaster risk management initiatives in the region.