Recent NewsSagres Energy, the parent of Canadian firm Rainville Energy, which has the rights to explore three blocks offshore Jamaica for oil, says it has identified a "seismic bump" that could have three billion barrels of oil.
And now, the firm has until next March to drill and verify or give up the licence, but won't drill unless it finds a partner.
This was the cry from hundreds of Barbados Labour Party (BLP) supporters who flocked to Haggatt Hall on Sunday night for the BLP’s mass meeting themed ‘Lashley Must Go’.
The meeting which was held after several controversial issues involving contract disputes with the National Housing Corporation and the awarding of construction contracts to 'a particular contractor' came to light over the past weeks.
Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur has accused members of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) of lacking racial and national pride.
Referring to statistics released by the Central Bank of Barbados, Arthur noted that last year Government revenue was down by $200 million and this year it was down by nine per cent.
Arthur further noted that Central Bank statistics had shown that last year construction fell by 20 per cent and during the first six months of this year it fell by 13 per cent.
Stating that the 103-acre Christ Church property had “effectively been given away for next kin to nothing”, Mottley told a Barbados Labour Party political meeting at Haggatt Hall, St Michael last night that a private entity, Housing Concepts SRL, could gain over $1 billion while the National Housing Corporation (NHC) would struggle to scrape $10 million from the project.
Hence, she added, the NHC was only likely to get the $3 per square foot less the expenses incurred on sale, probably legal, real estate and marketing.
Mottley also said that when the rent from the commercial buildings was included with what Housing Concepts would gain from the sale of the houses and the maintenance, the transaction could be worth over $1 billion to Housing Concepts.
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But the outspoken headmaster charged yesterday that the union was responsible for the latest controversy at the school and was only being “provocative and contentious”.
The new row centres on the union’s failure to gain access to the St Peter school compound on Sunday evening to hold a meeting with the parent-teacher association and the old scholars.
However, Redman faxed to the media what she said were copies of a letter from the board and of an entry from the school’s porters/guards’ logbook confirming that the union had permission to hold the meeting there.
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"This question is really about the vexed issue of term limits or no term limits. I would say it is not an easy question to be resolved, because on the one hand there is benefit for a society for the experience of age, and in some different political systems it has generated great benefits," Phillips said in response to last week's Sunday Observer lead story.
Three ministers in the current Cabinet are well into their 70s and several others are in their late 60s. Others across the political divide have been in the process for as long as 40 years, and political analysts say some of them have given very little in the form of far-reaching legislation with which to associate their names.
But Phillips said there are those who, although aged, could have served the process some more.
"The question is how does the political system generate the kind of balance between bringing in new persons, and yet benefiting from some of the experience," he said
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There is now incontrovertible evidence that at the very least Michael Lashley in his capacity of Minister of Housing and Lands willfully misled the Parliament of Barbados on 17 August 2010.
There is documentary evidence in the form of the Minutes of the Board of the National Housing Corporation of June 30. 2010 that the Board and the Acting General Manager were concerned that there was no contract in place with the contractor Clico Property Management for the project at Constant, St. George.
Mr. Lashley has indicated that he will not do the honourable thing and resign and therefore I am calling on Acting Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to dismiss him.
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Chief Medical Officer Dr Joy St John said that dengue fever was very much in the outbreak mode with 98 cases, 18 of which had been hospitalised.
“I really need Barbadians to help us keep this vector population under control. Because of the very warm temperatures, the mosquitoes over the years have become much hardier. They are loving the warmth and are breeding and maturing faster and we have quite a few numbers.”
Dengue fever, also called breakbone fever or bonecrusher disease, is associated with headache, vomiting, muscle and joint aches, usually with intense pain at the back of the eyes, but according to St John, some people have respiratory issues as well.
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“The same Government of Barbados will pay them a $100 000 a year for a post office; the same Government will pay them $150 000 or $200 000 a year for 99 years each for a community facility; [and] doctors will pay them $150 000 a year . . . .”
Mottley suggested that the National Housing Corporation could have called upon Housing Concepts to turn over 50 per cent of all revenue from the buildings constructed on the five acres of land.
“. . .Or give us 50 per cent of any buildings that you sell. Because this same lease agreement gives them the power to sell the buildings to somebody else with the permission of the National Housing Corporation. If there was ever free land, it is this.”
“But some big maguffy is now intervening and a marina that apparently has already been designed, a new contract, I am told, and I hope it is not true, is to be awarded to somebody else to do the work that has already been done before,” Arthur charged.
The Pierhead Development Project, estimated in 2003 as costing $400 million, was designed as a public/private partnership featuring Government, Barbados Shipping & Trading (BS&T) and international investors.
“This has nothing at all to do with the obligations of CLICO Property Development Inc. as the contractor at Constant,” she added.
Declaring once more that she was standing behind her previous statement that, as chairman, she never signed any contract for the housing project at Constant, St George, Rice-Bowen referred to the NHC minutes of June 30, 2010.
“I find it abhorrent that anyone would seek to divert the public and produce a term sheet from CLICO International General Insurance and label it as a contract, knowing full well that we were always concerned at the NHC about having a contract in place with the contractor,” the former NHC chairman said.
The Barbados Labour Party has been gravely concerned about the state of affairs at CLICO for some time. However, over the last two months the Government’s prolonged failure to take any action to protect the thousands of Barbadians who have invested in life insurance policies, pension plans and Executive Flexible Premium Annuities with the company has heightened our concern.
Your financial security has always been and continues to be paramount to us.
We know that recent revelations by the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) and a letter issued by CLICO admitting its inability to honour its financial obligations have been the cause of much worry to you.
What makes your plight more critical is that the life of the Oversight Committee appointed by Government to monitor Clico’s expenditure over the last year expired two months ago on June 12, 2010. It has not been reappointed.
After witnessing first hand some of the serious issues surrounding the residential structures at the Greens, St. George, a National Housing Corporation (NHC) housing project, on Thursday, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley is looking for the NHC to finally get their heads down and “get it right”.
“The NHC is not just a PR factory to say, ‘I built x houses,’ and even when Minister of Housing Michael Lashley says that, he is stretched to show that he has even built 400 houses having previously promised 2 000 a year, so he has failed on that ground”.
“The point is, if you are going to do something for people, do it properly.
“This is not a gift. People are paying money. There is no water meter, there is no driveway, there is no accommodation for the disabled . . . all of these things have been left undone but yet low-income workers who are purchasing these houses have now to move in and find the wherewithal to raise the money while they camp out in the houses,”
Yesterday, Mottley, accompanied by Deputy Opposition Leader Dale Marshall, Christ Church West Member of Parliament William Duguid, and former Cabinet ministers Noel Lynch and Trevor Prescod, toured the housing project and expressed concern over the construction work.
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AND WHEREAS the said former Chairman has stated categorically that the Minister of Housing bypassed the Board of the Corporation such that the Board was not afforded the opportunity to give any or any due consideration to and to make appropriate recommendations in respect of certain projects of the Corporation to the Minister.
BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House refer to the Public Accounts Committee for inquiry the award of contracts and projects by the Corporation during the period from 1st December 2008 and July 31st 2010 and to report to this Honourable House its findings on that question.
Addressing the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) St Lucy branch meeting at Selah Primary School, St Lucy, on Sunday night, Arthur said a two-bedroom house at “The Villages” on a mere 660 square feet of land was being sold for $281 000, while a three-bedroom house on 814 square feet was going for $333 000. He noted the houses were out of the reach of the average Barbadian.
Arthur recalled that under his administration a two-bedroom house and land for lower income earners at Lower Burney, St Michael, was sold for $106 000.
He noted that Bjorn Bjerkham’s JADA Company was now selling a similar property for almost three times that price. He said a three-bedroom house and land at Lower Burney went for $120 000.
There is an alarming sense that Barbados is dangerously adrift.
The country is facing very clear and difficult economic problems that in and of themselves are sufficient to occupy our full attention and energy.
That we should now be distracted to deal with a number of issues that affect the access to healthcare by Barbadians and the quality of our governance is disturbing.
I refer specifically to the decision by the QEH Board in respect of the dismissal of consultant physicians and the termination of the Chairman of National Housing Corporation.
There is a deafening silence from both of the Ministers responsible for these entities – the Minister of Health and the Minister of Housing.
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What the public needs now is full disclosure of the facts that led to the insurance for the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation being moved from ICBL to CLICO.
We all know that the Chairman of CBC, Leroy Parris was the Chairman of CLICO Holdings at the time.
“The buildings have been closed for over four years and have become something of an eyesore,” Eastmond told the DAILY NATION yesterday.
“It is high time that the Government issue a definitive statement on what it will do with the property.
“It also needs to clear the air on the health and safety of the buildings and the general area, given the concerns expressed by many and the scientific tests that were carried out because of those concerns.”
Eastmond was Minister of Labour and chairman of the Sub-Committee of the Social Partners that in 2006 called for – and achieved – the closure of the Whitepark Road complex.
Two years ago Minister of Education and Human Resource Development Ronald Jones announced that the Whitepark compound was no longer an option for education and he was handing the property over to the Ministry of Housing and Lands – Government’s property manager.
Fired National Housing Corporation (NHC) chairman Marilyn Rice-Bowen says the changing of the corporation’s insurance companies last year was fully endorsed by Minister of Housing Michael Lashley and the Cabinet.
She also said the move to change from Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) to CGI Consumers Guarantee Insurance Company Limited brought substantial savings to NHC and Barbadian taxpayers.
Leafing through several pages of minutes during her tenure as NHC chairman, she said there was nothing to hide or any wrongdoing, noting it was a board decision and “not Marilyn Rice-Bowen’s”.
“What we [NHC board] did was in keeping with the established rules and policies of the corporation,” she explained.
“Minutes of all board meetings go to the minister and then to Cabinet.
Yesterday [Tuesday] was the first time I knew there was a problem with it and this is since March 2009. Nobody has ever said anything to the board about this matter,” she added.
Such a characterisation is true for the United States, Britain and European economies based on the genesis of the recession in the housing and financial markets and its reflection in the unemployment rates, the negative growth rates and the size of the fiscal deficits.
In the case of Barbados, the current unemployment rate is just over ten per cent as compared to around 24 per cent in 1992 and 1993; the negative growth averaged 4.3 per cent between 1990 and 1992 compared to a projected average of less than two per cent for 2008 to 2010, if real growth in 2010 is “still expected to be marginal” and the import reserve cover is above 16 weeks as opposed to an average of just over five weeks for the period 1990 to 1992.
Furthermore the size and structure of our: (1) fiscal deficit; (2) the national debt and (3) the balance of payments deficit have to be analysed in relation to the two previous major recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s.
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“I want to know what was the situation in relation to Coverley also being built by the Jada group of companies.
I want to know whether those projects were recommended by the NHC board to the minister or if it was from the minister to the board.
“I want to know whether Jada or anyone affiliated with Jada has started consultancy work at Bushy Park which is another 1 000 houses.
I want to know who else has received more work from the NHC since January 2008 than the Jada group of companies.”
“You can behave like the Right Excellent Errol Barrow when he fired then Cabinet minister Joy Edwards.
He can behave like that, or he can let us follow the long route and investigate these contracts because the people of Barbados and the Public Accounts Committee, which I chair, ought to be able to see the contracts to determine whether Rice-Bowen is accurate in her description or she is lacking in her description as to what transpired.”
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Former Minister of Housing and Lands, Gline Clarke, made these charges in the House of Assembly, while urging Government to “modernise” all aspects of the housing sector.
The opposition spokesman also charged that the process of modernising land registration, conveyancing and other elements of the housing sector came to an end in 2008, when the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) was voted out of office.
“Nobody is looking after registration today,” he said.
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However, in her recent Media Conference - fired NHC Chairman Marilyn Rice-Bowen said: "Whereas some strides were made under my stewardship at the NHC, I leave somewhat disappointed that some issues were no adequately addressed, for example, the awarding of contracts to small contractors. I feel passionate about this issue given my direct dialogue with many small contractors, many of whom are at the brink of failure."
The Minister now says that the NHC will be building wood and wall houses, ranging in price from $75,000 - $100,000.
Given the new method of accounting for loans recently introduced by the DLP and the Governor of the Central Bank, Barbadians might well end up paying $187,000 for that $75,000 house and $250,000 for that alleged $100,000 house.
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As a consequence of the charges made by former Chairman of the National Housing Corporation, Marilyn Rice-Bowen that Minister Michael Lashley continues to bypass the Board on a number of NHC projects in contravention of the established rules and protocols, the Barbados Labour Party is calling on the Acting Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart to explain to the country why the Cabinet chose to revoke Mrs. Rice-Bowen's appointment rather than hold Minister of Housing, Michael Lashley accountable for his conduct.
Mrs. Rice-Bowen made it clear that in spite of all efforts to correct this impossible situation the Minister continued with his behaviour. The most recent example of which she gave was at Forde’s Road Clapham.
As a former chairman of the NHC and a former Attorney General, I can confirm that her understanding of the required standards of governance of the Corporation is absolutely correct.
Imagine!
Temporary workers in the public service cannot get paid but Senator Boyce could allow the Treasury to lose $12 million by taking over two years to bring the appropriate amendment to Parliament.
Barbadians cannot even get their Income Tax refunds for 2009, but the government could forego some $12 million in taxes because of laziness and incompetence.
How could the DLP wink at the lost of $12 million but in his recent Media Conference – the same Senator Boyce said that the DLP plan to reduce the deficit by being more efficient in the collection of revenue?
What explanation will Senator Boyce and the DLP now have for this $12 million error?
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This company had previously been described by Mr. Thompson as an attractive asset, that is sound, well managed and well regulated. In fact, it is so sound that both Mr. Thompson and the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Stuart have been at pains to assure Barbadians that they will get their money back.
Strange, but it gets stranger still. Senator Boyce is now insisting that CLICO’s assets can cover the life insurance policies written.
This opinion is at odds with that expressed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Chairman of the Oversight Committee, who in an interview published on 3 June this year clearly stated that there were only two options left for CLICO, wind up the company or put it under judicial management.
In his view the best option would be to restructure CLICO Life under judicial management and sell it to a strong company.
Then the present Central Bank Governor held his Review of the economy for the first six months of 2010 and said that the outlook for the rest of the year and into 2011 - is "uncertain."
Up stepped Senator Darcy Boyce on July 29th and at a Media Conference on the same Barbados economy - suggested that (in the absence of new policies and although the DLP made it clear that it was doing nothing but prefers to "wait and see") "the decline is some how reversing or that the Barbados economy is on the rebound." Really?!
Senator Boyce's false hope is scary: that by doing nothing the country can get where it needs to go and that having done nothing - the economy is on the rebound and the decline is reversing.
Is he hiding?
With Barbados in a recession, why has he left it up to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance to speak to the country? Is Senator Boyce being set up as the fall guy?
However, when he does decide to speak to the country, we need to know what plans are in the pipeline for the Offshore and Tourism Sectors, whether the Government is considering entering into an IMF programme which will allow it to access World Bank Funds, how much progress has been made on the CLICO Oversight Committee's recommendations and when can we expect CLICO to become the subject of judicial management.
He might be right but I rather think that Barbadians must first guard their pocket books by spending wisely, especially given the DLP’s high taxation; high cost of living and its propensity to grab money from the pockets of Barbadian taxpayers, without warning or provocation.
Even children now have to pay ‘A DLP $25 Bicycle Tax.’
I also say to Barbadians - be aware of the high and increasing crime rate in this society, which the DLP is creating, protect yourself and stay safe.
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Barbadians must ask why we are only now learning that the World Bank will not lend the country money unless we enter into an IMF programme.
We only learnt this by chance because of a question posed to Senator Boyce last night on the funding for the Government’s Medium Term Fiscal Strategy. What does this say about the World Bank’s view of our economy?
I am not sure if this was a national address on the economy or a political broadcast to defend the incompetence and lack of leadership of the DLP.
In either case, the Barbados Labour Party should be given equal time to address the real issues affecting the economy and Barbadians.
Imagine! Leaders all over the world opted to introduce progressive policies in their respective counties to achieve the above but here in Barbados - Thompson preferred to ‘wait and see,’ while Stuart now has a remarkable plan to wish the Barbados economy out of recession.
Having placed a gag order on Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition from even purchasing time on CBC - you know that something is definitely wrong and that Barbadians must therefore be very afraid when the DLP, which promised freedom of information legislation and good governance, would now seek to treat any criticism of and opposition to its horrible incompetence - as an attempt to destabilise the Government.
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“When a woman becomes a politician, she does not cease to be a woman. It is this womanhood, coupled with political commitment, which should be fully utilised since it brings with it different creative potentials and intellectual strength.” Persad-Bissessar urged women parliamentarians to make an impact not just on women’s issues but to give women’s perspectives on all issues.
The speech was on the theme, “The role of women parliamentarians in the modern Caribbean parliament.”
Persad-Bissessar said a 2009 United Nations Report on the Millennium Development Goals said the Caribbean and Latin America lead the developing world in women’s political representation.
THE CARIBBEAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (CBC) and the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) are on a collision course over the right of access to airtime that appears headed for the law courts.
Mottley said CBC’s refusal of broadcast time to the BLP was not only an attack on democracy, but was tantamount to a contravention of section 20 (1) of Barbados’ Constitution.
He added that he had seen nothing to shake his faith in Clico and that there are no persons who are going for their money and cannot get it.
Does he still feel that it is a laughing matter now that the President of the Barbados Association of Older Persons (BARP) has been forced to add his voice to the long and growing list or persons who are concerned about the inability of CLICO to honour its commitment to them?
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The statement by the President of the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) that his association is unable to collect over $100,000 from CLICO, which matured last June, is extremely worrying.
BARP members and indeed individual senior citizens who have invested money with CLICO and British American Insurance would have done so to secure their medical and living expenses at a time when they may no longer be able to earn a living.
They deserve to enjoy their golden years with as few stresses as possible. The questions we must now ask Acting Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart and Minister of State, Darcy Boyce is whether the life of the Oversight Committee has been extended beyond its June 12th tenure?
If not what measures have been put in place to oversee the operations of CLICO?
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Barbados needs a Budget like yesterday.
And the Budget must set out for the country a Short Term Economic Recovery Plan while laying the basis for restructuring in the Medium Term.
A cut here and a cut there will not help any household or business in this country see their way forward. We need to restructure both Government’s operations and the productive sectors urgently.
We face two problems – we cannot pay our bills as a Government and our productive sectors are not earning foreign exchange.
It is compounded by the fact that the Government has not put any credible plan in place to deal with either of these two problems.
That was the concern expressed by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur last Sunday as he questioned Boyce’s performance as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, especially in light of Barbados’ flagging economy.
Arthur said energy fell within the ambit of his responsibility and that sector was floundering. He added that the sugar also fell within Boyce’s responsibility and that was near collapse.
“Barbados needs a rescue package to rescue our enterprises. We need a direction for the economy. But you have a minister who is like an Arctic river, frozen at the mouth, while the country is looking for direction, a voice and a purpose,” Arthur stated.
He also called on Boyce to reveal why two serious-minded individuals such as Jerry Thorne (chairman) and Paul Bernstein (member) had resigned from the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) under his watch.
“Week by week all the fundamental things the public should be having a voice about that concerns their welfare are not being addressed.
FORMER PRIME MINISTER OWEN ARTHUR says Government has not given Barbadians the full facts on its mooted billion-dollar Pickering Town Centre project in St Lucy.
In fact, Arthur charged last night that Government had been feeding Barbadians a lot of propaganda, trying to create a “feel-good” effect, rather than trying to stem the slide into which the country had slipped.
“Developers had to borrow $600 000 to help pay pre-investment costs and they are now looking around to find an investor,” he stated.
When it was not imposing burdensome taxes on the people of Barbados, it was forcing Barbadians onto the bread-line and introducing inflationary policies and vote-catching entitlement programme, which it still does not know how it will pay for.
The DLP is also busy deporting people from Guyana and the OECS. It is one thing to deport--but inhumane to round up people in the dead of the night and threat them like cattle.
It bothered the DLP little that the same CARICOM accounted for 52% of our exports and one in every five tourist who came to Barbados.
When the DLP was not telling Barbadians to ‘stop bellyaching’ and to ‘be patient’ or ‘lower their expectations,’ it opted to complain, make promises, tell horrible lies, tour, talk, go on frequent trips overseas and hold fetes.
And while the DLP continues to complain and make excuses about a global financial crisis, faced with the same global conditions, the Guyana economy continues to grow.
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"The clear crisis with Government’s revenue and expenditure is now being compounded by the continued decline in our foreign reserves. This is not good and speaks to the inability of the real economy – tourism, international financial services, manufacturing, agriculture to recover.
The Government has not implemented any clear stabilization policy (as the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy is not that) for correcting the massive current account fiscal deficit. Nor has there been any strong leadership exhibited or a coherent growth policy being implemented for the productive sectors.
That is why we have continued to call for urgent Budgetary intervention to replace the void and inertia that is characterizing the Government’s behaviour with respect to the Barbados economy.
I will address his Six Month Report for 2010 fully in a Press Conference on Thursday once the Governor has answered the media’s questions in his Press Conference tomorrow Wednesday, as is customary."
Mottley said the media is one of the most important instruments to attaining this level of co-operation.
She therefore called for the establishment of a Caribbean News Network, where the issues and concerns of Caribbean states could be shared and examined on a regional level.
The Opposition Leader argued that open communication and broadcasting across the region would, in effect, improve the level of awareness and information among Caribbean states and help to create a greater level of collaboration.
We have to start from the values that mean something to us and then replicate these in our programming and policy framework.
Questions of compassion, empathy, respect, love, trust and tolerance must be reflected in our policy and programming framework.
We have to have a national covenant so that people will buy into it and be prepared to do what is necessary through a voluntary commitment versus a legislative prescription.
....we discovered later that the highly prestigious constitutional office of Attorney General had been conferred on Mr Adriel Brathwaithe. Leader of the House, Hon. Chris Sinckler stressed that it was a substantive and not an acting appointment, and that the new Attorney General had already been sworn in by the Governor General.
What then is the state of affairs as Mr Stuart arrives back in Barbados? If Mr Jones was appointed “Acting Prime Minister” in Mr Stuart’s absence abroad, then does Mr Stuart set foot again on Barbadian soil technically and constitutionally without the legal authority as a minister?
Further, if Mr Stuart’s acting appointment was “revoked” when Mr Jones was appointed “Acting Prime Minister”, then Stuart is no longer a minister which is a precondition to become an acting prime minister.
Last Sunday night (July 11, 2010) he confirmed why our suspicion was justified.
He seems to have convinced himself that it is not what the truth is, rather - what people are willing to believe, especially if you say it often enough.
Stephen Lashley told an alleged 300 young people and Barbadians who have lost their jobs under DLP rule or are unemployed and now frustrated and critical of the DLP government, not to judge the DLP harshly because according to his version of the facts) having come to government over two and a half years ago, the DLP found an economy in recession.
That is a “horrible lie.”
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In the Foreword of its 2008 Youth Manifesto, the DLP promised “change.”
It said that: “the cost of living rising on a daily basis makes it difficult to satisfy basic needs” and that: “there is inadequate access to employment opportunities by young person seeking their first job.”
Didn’t Stephen Lashley read his Party’s Youth Manifesto?
Had he done so, it is doubtful that he would now be telling the young people that their frustration and harsh criticism of the DLP government is unjustified.
She warned that while her administration was firmly committed to the fund, it could not be business as usual.
Referring to the Children's Life Fund established in Trinidad to provide money for surgeries for children, Persad-Bissessar questioned why a similar scheme could not be established across the Caribbean.
"Imagine what it means to a parent to be told their child is going to die because the medical attention required cannot be accessed due to lack of funds. I can think of no better way to utilise the resources of the petroleum fund. And, again, I urge that we explore this initiative."
She has also called for the 37-year-old regional Caricom movement to undergo critical self-examination before it takes a backward step.
Addressing guests, Persad-Bissessar said the conference was being hosted against the backdrop of change T&T, as well as within and outside the region.
“Mr Chairman, the change in government which occurred in T&T will lead to certain shifts in the policy direction of my country,” she said.
“However, I wish to assure you that T&T’s posture in relation to the Caribbean Community remains unchanged.
My Government stands committed to the ideals of widening and deepening of the regional integration process within the Caribbean Community.”
Similar divisions were evident in the recent Group of 20 meeting, between a Europe bent on deficit reduction and a United States still promoting stimulus spending, a friction that analysts say contributed to a shaky week in world financial markets.
Both President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany are weakened by the financial crisis and public unhappiness, and both are maneuvering for their economic conceptions of Europe.
Mrs. Merkel is demanding stability, fiscal rigor and a European Central Bank that focuses on keeping inflation low, while Mr. Sarkozy favors looser discipline, with room for stimulus spending and more concentration on promoting economic growth.
To complicate matters further, they are trying to thrash this out within a new European Union structure that is still confused and inchoate.
That’s the reprimand to CLICO International Life Insurance (CIL) from management consultant Hally Haynes, in response to the company’s letters informing clients of its inability to honour financial obligations to them.
Haynes, a CIL policyholder for several years, told the DAILY NATION the company should convene a meeting with its thousands of policyholders to inform them of the status of the company, rather than leave them to glean information from the news media.
Haynes added: “To issue letters to say sorry that it cannot meet its financial obligations based on agreed contractual obligations is far from good enough if not downright unjust.”
CIL is also faced with a $300 million demand in Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPAs) which become due in 2012.
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From 1933 to 1937, the United States economy expanded more than 40 percent, even surpassing its 1929 high. But the recovery was still not durable enough to survive Roosevelt’s spending cuts and new Social Security tax. In 1938, the economy shrank 3.4 percent, and unemployment spiked.
Given this history, why would policy makers want to put on another fiscal hair shirt today?
The reasons vary by country.
Greece has no choice. It is out of money, and the markets will not lend to it at a reasonable rate.
Several other countries are worried — not ludicrously — that financial markets may turn on them, too, if they delay deficit reduction. Spain falls into this category, and even Britain may.
The action at the Group of 20 summit meeting here signaled the determination of many of the wealthiest countries, after enacting spending programs to counter the worldwide financial crisis, to now emphasize debt reduction.
And it underscored the conviction of European nations in particular that deficits represented the biggest threat to their economic stability.
The joint statement acknowledged both sides of the debate. “There is a risk that synchronized fiscal adjustment across several major economies could adversely impact the recovery,” the statement said. “There is also a risk that the failure to implement consolidation where necessary would undermine confidence and hamper growth.”
That goal is the proposal of Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada and the host of the two-day summit talks here that will conclude on Sunday with a communiqué on global economic policy.
Mr. Harper has the support of European leaders, including David Cameron, the new prime minister of Britain, who has proposed the most ambitious austerity plan of spending cuts and tax increases in his country in a half-century.
Mr. Cameron and Mr. Obama, in their first private meeting since Mr. Cameron took office, acknowledged their different approaches Saturday in balancing the need to promote economic growth with government stimulus against the concern over accumulating debt. But they played down those differences.
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The Dems made it clear that the motion was “frivolous,” “vexatious” and that it should be “punished with laughter.”
Despite the easily foreseeable serious threat Clico poses to Barbados, no one associated with the DLP sees it as a matter of urgent public importance.
Isn’t it strange that no one in the DLP is now saying anything about Clico?
Why is the DLP not placing Clico under judicial management or ordering a forensic audit into that company?
Why such loyalty to a company that poses such a serious threat to Barbadians?
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The pain fell on shoppers, who will be paying higher sales taxes; wealthy people, who will be hit for higher capital gains taxes; and banks, targeted by a new levy. Even Queen Elizabeth II, who accepted a freeze in her support from taxpayers, will feel the pinch.
There was good news for business, which will benefit from a cut in corporation tax from 28 percent to 24 percent over four years, and for cider drinkers, who will be taxed less for their drinks.
Treasury chief George Osborne told the House of Commons his program would allow the country's new government to cut borrowing from about 10 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent within its five-year term of office.
CHBL’s executive chairman Leroy Parris has been the subject of recent public calls to return all monies paid to him by CIL and CLICO Mortgage & Financial Corporation, in the face of other policyholders and investors not being able to obtain theirs.
These demands have echoed those directed at CL Financial where a former corporate secretary, Gita Sakal, was made to return US$5 million paid to her by CLICO Energy Co Ltd.
Recently, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley called for an urgent Government response in the face of the end of the committee’s tenure.
She queried what steps Government would take to ensure that no further money was extracted from the company by any CLICO executive in the absence of the Oversight Committee.
Mr. Osborne said Britain’s welfare costs had risen over the last 10 years to £192 billion from £132 billion, an increase of 45 percent.
He announced a three-year freeze on benefits received by parents for raising children, limits on subsidies for public housing and a new way of screening people receiving state benefits for disabilities.
Promising accelerated efforts to raise the retirement age to 66, he said the measures would save £11 billion in welfare spending by 2015.
Mr. Osborne also announced an increase in value-added tax on a wide range of goods and services to 20 percent from 17.5 percent beginning January, saying the measure would raise £13 billion in revenue.
That doesn't make you a father," "What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - any fool can have a child.
That's doesn't make you father.
It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."
"I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle, that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my children; that if I could give them anything, I would give them that rock, that foundation, on which to build their lives."
"I mean we had already defeated ourselves before we even started. We didn't set high enough expectations for ourselves, we believed that somebody else can do it but we can't do it. And that filters down to our children."
- President Obama
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Therefore within six months, the Government would have to repay the loan and so the situation at June 15 is simply postponed until December 15, 2010. It is expected that by year-end, the Government would return to the market in search of the same loan that was rejected or delayed on grounds of the current turbulence in the international capital market.
There is gathering evidence of financial weakness not only in Greece but across other countries in Europe. It is very likely that the conditions which drove the Deutsche Bank’s advice in May may very well exist in December.
What a caring party, the 15 to 29 year olds must have expected great things. After all, the Barbados Labour Party only provided the solid foundation on which such glorious programmes could be implemented.
After being feted and wooed in grand style what did they get?
A first budget that plunged this country into a fiscal and economic morass.
Forget about lowering the cost of living, prices continue to rise at unprecedented rates and some items are disappearing off the shelves all together.
What a caring party, the 15 to 29 year olds must have expected great things. After all, the Barbados Labour Party only provided the solid foundation on which such glorious programmes could be implemented.
After being feted and wooed in grand style what did they get?
A first budget that plunged this country into a fiscal and economic morass.
Forget about lowering the cost of living, prices continue to rise at unprecedented rates and some items are disappearing off the shelves all together.
The group, comprising about five officials, would be guests of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and are colleagues of hers. Asked if members of Parliament would be able to bring their parent or children as well, Moonilal added: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, no.
“There has been an overwhelming interest in this Parliament for obvious reasons and we have had a lot of requests from citizens of T&T as well as from several Caribbean territories to attend, but this all depends on the availability of space.
He added: “It’s a moment when persons are not turning down invitations to attend so to speak. We’re working with the Parliament to ensure arrangements are in place for an elegant, successful launch.” He said, however, five prominent officials from Barbados and St Kitts were expected to be among those present tomorrow. These are persons whom the Prime Minister has worked with in the region, he said.
This suggestion was made by Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, who was speaking during a joint St. Michael Central and St. Michael North-East meeting in the Major Noot Hall at Combermere on Sunday evening.
The Opposition Leader also drew attention to the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited’s (BPWCCUL) intention to purchase CLICO Mortgage and Finance.
“I want them to assure their members that they are not exposing the Credit Union to buying an asset that has a portfolio value of less than one-third of what they are paying for. In other words, that the value of the actual portfolio, the thing that will actually earn the money for you, now has to earn 300 per cent more than what you paid for it.
“And I don’t want to say more because I am conscious that it is still at the sensitive stage, but I ask the members of the BPWCCUL the money is being made available to you, not on the basis of a commercial loan, but on a loan from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) of the people of Barbados.”
Speaking on Sunday evening during a BLP joint meeting, Smith said, “The thing that has happened in the industry over the past couple of decades is that it has moved away from offering protection against risk into more of trying to create high returns and high profits. The tried and proven core principles of insurance would be to provide that safety net.
“What we have seen in recent decades is where insurance [companies] now are competing with banks and competing with investment houses for that dollar. And they have been offering investment sensitive products, offering these very high returns.”
This, he said has led to a situation that can be seen now with CLICO. “CLICO moved away from its core life insurance business offering what they call executive flexible annuity products that were investment sensitive, with yields above market levels. Therefore forcing them to do things that they might not normally would have had to do if they had stuck to the core principles of offering insurance as a protection against some risk.”
Family members of Tyrone Estwick, including his wife Lisa, son Matthew, and daughter Ashley, joined with members of Cabinet as well as Opposition Parliamentarians, members of the legal fraternity, other distinguished guests and members of the local community to celebrate his life in an official funeral service held at the Christ Church Parish Church at 2:30 p.m.
Cedric Blackman, in delivering the eulogy, reflected on Estwick’s early days, noting that his desire was to be the “top cat” of the community – a nickname which later stuck.
“TC” – as he was also called – was “a very confident guy”, he stated, and as such, he excelled rapidly in all areas, during his school days at the Foundation School, later as a lawyer and also as Minister of Education and Culture in the early 90s under the Democratic Labour Party administration.
Speaking at a joint BLP meeting, he said: “I am here this evening because I don’t want to leave anybody in any doubt that my first responsibility is to Barbados and the BLP and, as I said in the case of Kensington Oval, if necessary I will move heaven and earth to make sure that the BLP is successfully returned to office.”
“ If I can make a contribution to the Caribbean people and they ask me to do so, I will do that. And if there are people who think I have a contribution to make in the Caribbean on matters that I can make a contribution about, I will do so,” he stated.
The former Prime Minister said that he has also accepted a consultancy from a major international institution to develop a plan to help two Caribbean countries to manage a debt in such a way as not to compromise their ability to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Arthur said there were indicators that other countries around the world were starting to emerge from the global economic crisis, but there was no sign that the current situation in Barbados was getting any better.
He said far from inheriting a mess, it was the strong economy and $2.1 billion in reserves left by the BLP that was now keeping a floundering DLP administration alive. He charged that in just two years in office, Government was now faced with a serious cash flow problem. He noted Government's complaints were just an excuse for ineptitude and inertia.
Arthur said rather than holding weekly constituency meetings telling people what they had not done, the DLP should hold one meeting where the populace was informed about a recovery plan.
That may happen because more jobs may be lost in the manufacturing and retail services sectors.
That bleak warning came from Standard & Poor's, the Wall Street credit rating firm, which said the Thompson Administration was seeking to boost employment at a time when it was also trying to achieve "fiscal consolidation" while satisfying "social demands in the midst of a difficult economic situation".
"The task will not be easy," S&P stated in a review of Barbados' economy.
The Times has learnt that Dr Cable — a former chief economist at Shell — is unwilling to draw up plans that would protect BP should an overseas group such as Gazprom try to seize control.
While the Business Secretary has argued that some companies may be so critical to Britain’s national interest that they should be protected, BP is not thought to be one of them.
Earlier this year, Dr Cable backed Labour plans to beef up Britain’s takeover rules, which included raising the shareholder voting thresholds and effectively blocking hedge funds from having a say in the future ownership of a company.
In the 1970s, the Government had a so-called golden share in BP, which meant that it had the power to veto an unwanted takeover.
No such golden share in BP exists now.
Within weeks of the June Budget, Justine Greening will tell Europe that Britain will not pay a penny more towards the Brussels budget and will fight for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The EU wants Britain to increase its contribution to the running costs of Brussels by £600 million to £9.3 billion for next year.
Ms Greening said Europe would not get a penny more and she would also try to extract better terms from Europe over reform of the CAP to try to keep Brussels to its word and to delivering deeper reform, which it promised as a quid pro quo for cutting Britain’s rebate in 2005.
“It is shocking what we have been left with. I have spent years auditing accounts for companies, and I have never seen a balance sheet that is as shot through as the national accounts that we have inherited.”
“If you are on the minimum wage, you pay around £800 a year in tax. How galling must that be to discover that the tax you are paying is not going to fund the police or the NHS, but just to fund the national debt.”
BP’s shares, which are widely held by pension funds here, dropped 7 percent in London on Thursday because of concerns about the costs for the oil cleanup.
Investors were particularly furious about the suggestions that BP should not pay a dividend until it cleaned up the oil spill. Most shareholders rejected concerns that the costs of a cleanup and possible damages could force BP into Chapter 11 and said the drop in the share price is not justified by the value of BP’s assets.
BP, which earned more than $16 billion last year and about $6 billion in the first quarter, said Thursday the cost of the clean-up and containment efforts was now $1.43 billion. Last year, the company paid about $10.5 billion in dividends.
In a report Thursday, the International Energy Agency said the ongoing oil spill could prove to be a “game changer” because it could restrict future undersea oil development and limit supply.
The country’s economy — currently on life-support after a $146 billion (£100 billion) bailout by the EU and IMF — contracted by 1 per cent compared with the previous quarter.
Greece has enacted massive cuts in public spending, tax rises and privatisation to correct public finances, having been last month by a joint EU-IMF support package.
Diego Iscaro, of IHS Global Insight, warned that the deepening recession would make the Government’s task in cutting the deficit even more difficult.
Germany outlined its own plans to save €80 billion (£66 billion) by 2014 and Hungary — outside the eurozone — fought to re-establish its financial reputation after a senior politician suggested on Friday that it was near-bankrupt, which dragged down the euro.
The sense of crisis was fuelled by the abrupt postponement of talks between President Sarkozy of France, who wants a eurozone governance unit to be set up, and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who is reluctant to cede national controls but has called for treaty change to bring in punitive measures, such as the power to expel a eurozone nation.
A letter dated June 1 urges the police to investigate the sale of 800-odd life policies by CIL this year, in contravention of an order by the Supervisor of Insurance in August 2009, which prohibited the CLICO subsidiary from selling new business.
Sources said that in addition to a recommendation that CIL be placed under judicial management, the Oversight Committee is expected to call for a forensic audit of the company's books.
It has also been reported that the Oversight Committee may also comment on the lack of cooperation over the period it was mandated to conduct its investigation.
“I personally, and on behalf of my family, want to thank you all, particularly those who called and I had an opportunity to talk to. In addition to that, I want to thank Barbadians who spontaneously offered and in fact did pray for me on that special day of prayer, far though I was away from the kinetic energy that that would have inspired, I must say that I did feel it and I want to again express my appreciation,” he said.
Joining also in wishing him well was Leader of the Opposition, Mia Mottley.
“I would like to say to the Prime Minister how good it is to see him with us today... He has indicated that the battle is not over and believe you me, he remains in our prayers and we wish him [and] his family all the best at this time,” she said.
Prime Minister Thompson disclosed last month that he has been seeking medical attention to ascertain the source of abdominal pain he has been experiencing since April.
Presented as a descriptive and analytical 210-page report, it involved six months of work across the OECS subregion and Belize by the former three-term prime minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur.
Mottley said that Symmonds “led by example how he treated to his public duty as a parliamentarian and how he treated to his political party as a member of the BLP”.
Last night Symmonds contested the seat against one time Minister of Public Works, Rommell Marshall. He ultimately received 79 votes while Marshall received 33. Mottley however commended Marshall’s long-standing in the BLP.
Fitch queried Spain’s forecasts for economic growth, highlighting that the inflexibility of the labour market and the restructuring of regional and local savings banks could act as a drag on growth.
This call came from Opposition leader, Mia Mottley, during a sitting of Parliament yesterday.
“I am responsible enough to know that we will have to conduct discussions in this country as to appropriately order what we can, as a Government, continue to give, how it must be given and where the costs come and where the returns come.
“I am overwhelmed by your love, I am humbled by your devotion, I am honoured by your trust. As Prime Minister-elect of our great republic of Trinidad and Tobago, let me say how grateful I am by your overwhelming response to the People’s Partnership,” Persad-Bissessar told a jubilant crowd of thousands.
KAMLA PERSAD-Bissessar, 58, will be sworn in as Trinidad and Tobago’s first woman Prime Minister after the UNC/COP-led coalition pulled off a landslide victory in yesterday’s historic General Election.
Persad-Bissessar and “the People’s Partnership” wrested power from the Patrick Manning-led PNM, taking home 29 seats to the PNM’s 12 seats, based on preliminary results.
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“What is there to stop a political party for argument’s sake from registering an arm or a new aspect of its operations as a charity and then accepting large contributions, $1 million or more, or $2 million or $3 million or whatever it may be, for the same purpose of gaining a political advantage in this country?” he added.
Duguid wants to know what measures are included in the legislation to stop that type of activity.
The suggestion is coming from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley.
“... The same transparency and accountability that we are holding Government as the largest public entity to, is equally applicable to those entities, who though now not in the governmental sphere are benefiting as a result of the decisions of Government to allow for the tax write-offs from persons making donations.
That has helped Members of Parliament be able to discharge their responsibilities, but there is a still a gap and I think the time has now come to visit these issues again,” the Opposition Leader said.
Mottley told the House the time was ripe for Government to consider an "an appropriate framework" on governance, taking into consideration such factors as the timing of elections as well as the financing of political parties and political campaigns.
She wanted a joint select committee established to look at parliamentary reform, campaign financing and political party financing, saying there was a need to secure democracy for future generations.
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He made the plea yesterday during debate in the House of Assembly on a resolution to compulsorily acquire two parcels of land at Brighton Plantation, St George to provide 500 lots under the Housing Every Last Person (HELP) programme.
The St George North MP said it was important to note that there was still a need to look at the large number of cases in which the courts have given people notice to quit.
Angela Merkel stunned EU capitals by warning that the euro was in danger and triggered fears of a fresh financial meltdown by announcing a ban on risky trading practices by speculators. The German Chancellor’s actions opened up new cracks in the single currency, drawing sharp criticism from France and prompting Brussels to issue an appeal for unity.
Fears are growing at the highest level in the European Commission over the size of Italy’s national debt and its ability to cope if markets turn on it. P>
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Mr Osborne said that he would be following the 80-20 rule, which would involve 80 per cent of cuts to be made through public spending restraint and 20 per cent through tax measures.
He said: “As it [the coalition agreement] said, deficit reduction and continuing to ensure the economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing Britain. We understand that and we need to get moving.
Chinese policy makers reached a consensus last month about breaking the dollar peg. But allowing the renminbi, which is also known as the yuan, to rise against the dollar now would mean a further increase in the renminbi’s level against the euro, creating even more problems for Chinese exporters to Europe.
The euro has plunged against the renminbi in recent weeks, at one point Monday reaching its lowest level since late 2002.
The steep rise of the renminbi prompted a Commerce Ministry official in Beijing to warn Monday that China’s exports could be threatened.
Even the world's fastest-growing major economy, and increasingly the engine of global growth, is not immune to the crisis that started in Greece and threatens to spread across much of Europe.
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The former welfare minister who became a fierce critic of his party’s immigration policy, will become a “poverty czar” under David Cameron.
In another surprise appointment, the prime minister has asked the left-wing commentator Will Hutton to lead the drive to cut public sector pay. He has been charged with drawing up a new pay system for civil servants.
The new appointments suggest that Cameron is keen to show that the coalition can command the support of elements in the Labour party.
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It has proposed replacing air passenger duty, an environmental charge paid by individual travellers on their tickets, with a per-plane tax. BA would pay more tax than its low-cost rivals because it carries fewer passengers per plane.
Some estimates — based on previous Labour plans for the change, which were abandoned — have suggested the airline would have to find an extra £150m a year to fund the tax. BA said yesterday that as there was no detail yet published on the tax change, it did not yet know how much it would cost.
The company also faces further disruption from Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud. Yesterday the Civil Aviation Authority said UK airspace could be closed from today until Tuesday.
Apart from having to meet millions of dollars of obligations, as at 30 June 2009, the balance sheet estimates the deficiency in BAICO assets to be in the region of US$287 Million (EC$776 million).
According to the Report, "it is anticipated that this deficiency may be much greater" since there is significant uncertainty in relation to several assets.
Again the magnitude of the rescue demands that the matter of CLICO and BAICO is of urgent public importance!
The two men's opening task as the leaders of the first coalition government since the Second World War was to name a Cabinet - and the share-out of seats appeared to confirm Mr Cameron's promise that this would be a "full and proper" coalition between the Tory and Liberal Democrat parties.
But it also means that a number of Tory shadows will find themselves relegated to the backbenches, or offered bag-carrying roles under Lib Dems, and one of Mr Cameron’s first tasks will be to placate the disappointed.
Mr Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, will be joined by four other Lib Dems at the Cabinet table - two of them in senior economic posts.
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He explained that they were not machine readable and there could be no online verification of photographs or biographical data when they were presented. He said they were open to photograph substitution and other forms of fraudulent reproduction.
"I am sure that with appropriate legislative provisions and framework for the issue of the new card, a secure smart card with biometrics will enhance security and will assist in the generation of an up-to-date and improved Register of Electors.
"This is because it will assist with the removal and deletion from the Register of Electors of persons absent from Barbados for over five years and deceased persons, as well as make correction in respect of the addresses of registered electors," he explained.
The uncertain political situation at a time when many investors and rating agencies are looking for a clear plan to tackle the country’s record budget deficit weighed on the pound and the stock market.
Some economists voiced concern that even if two parties agree on forming a government it would be weak and the chances of a new election high. It is the first time since 1974 that no single party had won enough seats in Parliament to govern alone.
A relatively weak pound had helped Britain’s exports and its economy to return to growth but the recovery remains fragile.
But a weaker pound also stoked inflation while consumers continued to hold back on spending.
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May he bless the mothers of these children. They now thank God for the gift of their children.
May they be one with them in thanking him for ever in heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Loving Father,as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church.
Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.
Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.
Grant this through Christ our Lord
The evidence in its annual report suggests that CLICO Holdings (Barbados) is highly exposed in the Eastern Caribbean, given the extent of its sale of annuities.
Certainly, the issues concerning CLICO in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean are of urgent public importance, especially since the Government is committing not just policy but taxpayers' money to a possible resolution of the problems.
There is one clear strategy, that is, to prevent the public from having the facts such that the matter appears to be one of politics rather than one of competence. If ever there was a need for a forensic audit, it is now.
Perhaps, the public is now fully aware of my deep concern that the Government of Barbados is committed to ensuring that there is no loss of principal by any investor in CLICO Holdings (Barbados) and its affiliates. This is a policy with tremendous reach that is as clear as mud!
That was the call by Opposition Leader Mia Mottley who has charged that the money was paid by cheque to Branlee Consulting Services on the same day that Government met with CLICO officials to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the future operations of the insurance company.
Mottley said Branlee Consulting Services was listed as providing management services and was incorporated in 2001 by Thompson and named its directors as CLICO's executive chairman Leroy Parris and his wife Faye Wharton-Parris.
She said the company controlled by Parris should repay CLICO "until such time as the other policyholders, shareholders and investors have been paid any outstanding monies owed to them".
He was reacting to statements made in Parliament last week on an outstanding loan of US$10.5 million by the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) from Scotiabank for the provision of passenger transport services by Carnival Destiny during Cricket World Cup.
"I think Barbadians need to be told the issues relating to this," Lynch stated. "They need to understand that providing supplementary accommodation was one of the conditions under which we became a host of Cricket World Cup.
"We felt we had a deficit of over 3 500 rooms. Thus the issue of cruise ship and home-stay accommodation came into play.
"During the World Cup visitor arrivals increased by 26 000, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation's (CTO) figures," the former minister added. "Barbados also netted US$75 million out of Cricket World Cup. So the island did relatively well amid many challenges."
Globalisation has increased flows of goods, commodities, services, money, investment and people. It makes sense for people to settle where they can use their skills best. This is as true for immigrants as for those moving within a country.
Not all immigrants stay long term — some leave after a few years or during recession. In good times, many countries see immigration as necessary, but when recession hits and unemployment rises, it can become a political issue.
Apart from the small number of asylum-seekers, economic factors drive immigration: looking for work, taking up a specific job, to accompany a partner and studying. Evidence shows that most migrants improve their living standards, establish their families and send money back home. These remittance flows can be a huge help to poor countries.
Some countries take the view that migrants do the dirty, dangerous or demeaning jobs. That is not the approach we take, nor should it be. We should focus on attracting the skilled and socially useful and encouraging students to remain after their degrees. Such an enlightened approach would work.
The payouts equate to an average of $1m each - almost twice as much as the average pay deal across the rest of the group.
The figures, detailed in accounts filed at Companies House late on Friday, come amid continuing criticism of high pay for bankers.
They also follow the revelation that the US attorney-general has launched an investigation into Goldman's sales of complex mortgage products in the run-up to the global financial collapse.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has already filed a civil lawsuit against the bank, alleging that it defrauded investors of $1billion.
A separate investigation has been launched into the bank by the Financial Services Authority, Britain's watchdog.
In all the debate, the question really is where did CLICO invest the funds of the policy-holders?
According to section 25 of the Insurance Act, "an amount equal to one hundred per cent of the funds set apart for meeting liabilities to policy-holders in Barbados" should be invested and kept invested.
Where did CLICO invest the funds received from the sale of the Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA)?
Why would CLICO be unable to pay Barbadians who invested in the EFPAs an estimated BDS$108 million. Were these EFPAs sold to Government institutions in the Eastern Caribbean?
If the answer is yes to the last question, is there any correlation between President Jagdeo's comment about Caribbean countries being broke and the investment of public pension funds in the EFPAs by some Eastern Caribbean countries?
And whereas the Supervisor of Insurance in August 2009, issued directions to Clico International Life (CIL) pursuant to Section 55 (1) that it was prohibited from writing any new business because the company had not complied with the provisions of the Insurance Act as far as the Statutory Fund was concerned
And whereas the Executive Chairman of Clico Holding Barbados admitted on April 7th 2010 to the public of Barbados that CIL sold 800 policies in the first two months of 2010
And whereas it is a criminal offense under Section 184 of the Insurance Act to act in contravention of any direction of the Supervisor of Insurance
And whereas the sale by CIL of over 800 new insurance policies to individuals in Barbados is in direct contravention of the aforementioned direction of the Supervisor of Insurance and is consequently in direct contravention of the Insurance Act, Cap 310 of the Laws of Barbados and reflects a blatant disregard by CIL for the rule of law.
Be it Resolved that the Minister of Finance take urgent action to ensure that the aforementioned policy holders and financial institutions suffer no loss or prejudice as a result of the policy holders buying these policies in good faith.
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What is worse, Arthur suggested last night, is that according to executive chairman of CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited, Leroy Parris, Prime Minister David Thompson was aware of it but did nothing.
Arthur stated Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, William Layne, had done Barbados a great service by blowing the whistle on what CLICO had done.
"What makes it so serious is that 800 people went ahead and entered into new insurance policies with CLICO when CLICO had no lawful authority to write insurance business," he said.
"A prime minister appoints people as ministers based on their preparation and their performance while in opposition," she added.
"I want to ask all the spokespersons who are not yet there in terms of their submissions to endure because, if it does not happen, I am going to get the progressive agenda team and my task force and pull professionals from other areas and do the work," she warned.
"If I do that, then you are going to be in trouble."
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, William Layne, told the SUNDAY SUN yesterday that two matured deposits withdrawn by Parris from the subsidiary company Clico Mortgage and Finance Corporation (CMFC) were worth over a quarter million dollars.
". . . He withdrew two deposits in CMFC in the sums of BDS$129 827.74 and $136 776.58, respectively, when they matured on December 3, 2009 and January 8, 2010," Layne said.
Layne explained that the Oversight Committee had written Parris on the matter since CMFC was in receipt of public funding from the Central Bank of Barbados and was not in a position to repay the money.
Layne also said CLICO International Life Insurance Limited (CIL) had contravened an order of the Supervisor of Insurance made in August 2009 prohibiting it from selling new business.
For the economy to be officially out of recession there must be two consecutive quarters of economic growth.
According to the Press release, "Overall gross domestic product declined very slightly, by less than one per cent, and there was no further loss of jobs."
This performance has to be compared with the corresponding first quarter of 2009 when the economy "fell by an estimated 2.8 per cent, making the first January to March decline since 2002".
This is the second consecutive first quarter economic decline which is unprecedented.
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We are alarmed that Dr. Estwick was allowed to make a statement to the Chamber on the matter, even though the matter has not yet been referred to the Committee of Privileges and moreover that Mr. Marshall was not present.
First, the implementation of a gun policy does not depend on the investigation of an incident.
Two, why should anyone have a gun in Parliament? This is clearly contrary to the laws of natural justice if nothing else.
Three, the Speaker now agrees that it is within his power to implement a firearms policy for Parliament and in fact thanked me for providing the information on what obtains in other Parliaments in the Commonwealth.
Four, if a Member of Parliament cannot make a request or a recommendation for the implementation of a firearms policy who can?
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We asked that guns should either be banned from the precincts of Parliament or surrendered and held in safekeeping.
There can be no reason for this kind of delaying tactic in our Parliament.
As a consequence of the failure of the Speaker of the House of Assembly to act decisively in this matter, the Opposition Barbados Labour Party will not be attending tomorrow’s sitting of Parliament.
A boycott of Parliament is not a matter which we treat lightly, it is an action taken only in the most serious of cases, where aspects of our democracy are threatened.
Speaking at the Christ Church East branch of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), Arthur likened Worrell to being the ultimate creature of the Minister of Finance.
He said Worrell had failed to let this country know of the implications of the revenue falling by 22 per cent in a quarter.
He also blasted Worrell and Prime Minister David Thompson for throwing around figures in relation to Dodds Prison, which will cost Government more than $700 million over the next 22 years.
Arthur said there was much talk about the prison but none about a new office for Thompson at the Warrens Complex, which would cost $60 million.
It was simply an estimate. This was before any detailed designs being done, or negotiations with any contractor.
It was never the cost of construction of Dodds.
This point has been made many times before.
The Costs of the contract for the construction of a new Prison at Dodds for 1 100 inmates between Government of Barbados and Veco was BDS$288.6 million.
We know that the actual costs of construction came in under the agreed contract price of BDS $288.6 million but the DLP Government has never publicly stated the actual costs of construction.
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According to the country assessment report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on the fluency of Guyana’s economy, the empirical evidence shows significant growth, especially consecutively over the past four years.
The report goes on to show that Government has embraced responsible macro-economic policy, giving Guyana the favourable assessment, according to the Article 4 consultation, which functions as a country review.
Formally, Guyana was recognized as having maintained an appropriate policy stance and weathered the storm of the global international crisis, with a governmental administration that is committed to achieving long term growth.
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We are accustomed to a Governor of the Central Bank giving us a fair and unvarnished report – letting the country know the true state of the economy and all of the sectors.
We heard much from Dr. Worrell but what we did not hear is the most important thing to Barbadians - the Barbados Economy is still in recession. It is the one thing that he did not say.
It is internationally accepted that a recession is 3 straight quarters of decline. We have now had 6 straight quarters. His only responsibility was to report the facts in an objective and unvarnished manner.
Instead, we received an interpretation and editorial comment mixed with the blurring of dates and events, all to say that the economy held its own – that it was steady. The only steadiness, I regret, is in its steady decline. What is worrisome and what ought to be addressed is why the Central Bank forecasts are now less accurate than they used to be.
In the last 18 months the forecast have invariably not been accurate. If there is good reason for this then tell us.
After almost two and a half years and a so-called restructuring of the Urban Development Commission, the non-performance of the UDC and the Rural Development Commission, two important social support agencies, is nothing short of a national disgrace.
These two government agencies were established as the final safety net for the poor and disadvantaged in our society, who old age, misfortune or illness had rendered vulnerable.
They also provided start-up financing for thousands of micro-business owners across urban and rural Barbados to either take or keep them out of poverty.
The work of these two agencies has virtually ground to a halt since January 2008 when the government changed and hundreds of Barbadians most in need remain exposed and left to their own devices at a time of economic hardship in the country.
Despite what you already know and can see, he says that the economy is holding strain. Really???
It was not long ago when he told Barbadians: "don't worry."
Note that what he is now saying about tourism is difference to what his advisor told Barbados earlier.
You have good reason be be concerned!!!
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Printed as a hardback pamphlet with a sober plain blue cover, the 130-page manifesto is entitled “Invitation to Join the Goverment of Britain.”
Mr Cameron said that it offered an “ambitious and optimistic” plan for economic recovery and growth underpinned by radical political reform.
“Government has an important role to play, but the people’s role is even bigger,” he told assembled supporters.
“Together we can get rid of our debts, get the economy moving, mend our broken society - even make politics and politicians work better. And if we can do that, we can do anything.”
“The Labour way assumes that only Big Government can solve our problems, but the alternative to Big Government is not no government: it’s good government, effective government,” Mr Cameron said.
“Labour measure everything by money and how much they spend. How much of your money they spend – though they never remember to put it like that.”
Mr Cameron also made a bold bid for traditionally Labour territory in saying that Tories will draw on the “collective strength” of the British people to transform the country.
The committee also reaffirmed its earlier announcement that the recession began in December 2007.
“It is obvious that the recession is over,” Mr. Gordon said, adding that real gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, had recovered strongly from a low point in the spring of 2009 and would soon reach, or nearly reach, its previous peak in late 2007.
Indicators of industrial production, manufacturing and other economic variables pointed to last June as the trough, he said.
Under the Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF, the Government agreed to cap its central government direct debt (excluding government guaranteed debt and IMF credits) at a ceiling of $1.26 trillion for end March 2010 -- a figure, which the Government has surpassed by over $17 billion.
The IMF has nine quantitative performance criteria by which the Government will be graded and which the State needs to meet in order to get future disbursements.
The first IMF test is scheduled for May, when the multilateral agency will look at March-end figures.
He continued, "There are various breaches of fiduciary duty so we will be going after directors and other persons or agents associated with CLICO - professional agents and that's part and parcel of the recovery process - there will be action for damages and so forth."
A fiduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interest of another party.
Michael Scott, the attorney representing liquidator Craig Gomez told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that they hope to finalize the sale before the end of the month.
"Right now our most important concern is to protect the more that 24,000 policyholders who held life products in one form or another," Scott said.
"We're proceeding feverishly to assign or to sell that portfolio so that the over 24,000 policyholders are protected."
DEPUTY POLITICAL LEADER, BARBADOS LABOUR PARTY
Following the statement yesterday by retiring Chairman of CLICO Life, Mr. Leroy Parris - existing Policyholders and annuity holders have been left none the wiser as to their fate in respect of the recovery of their policies or deposits.
His comments have come on the heels of the announcement by the Prime Minister that the Supervisor of Insurance had suspended CLICO Life from the sale of insurance policies and that there would probably have to be an application for judicial management for the company.
What is needed now from Mr. Parris is the clear explanation of the way forward. This is what Barbadians are interested in.
Instead Mr. Parris chose to go on the attack and ignore the real cause of CLICO’s demise. The submission of Part One of the forensic auditor’s Report on CL Financial in Trinidad, which has now been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions, must be known by him - as a former director of CL Financial.
In that context, his attacks appear as though he is looking for a scapegoat for CLICO’s misfortunes.
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It immediately dawned on me that innovation is not about regurgitating. It is about being creative. According to the dictionary, it has to do with bringing new methods, ideas and making changes. Hopefully, innovation brings improvement!
So if a political party runs a campaign for change then it has to innovate when it wins. But the basis of innovation is ideas and ideas come with thought. In a sense every idea is an intellectual pursuit because reasoning gives breath to an idea.
Most ideas are, however, pursued with making money in mind. Therefore, making money ought to call for innovation and everybody who makes money is an innovator. What is the sense in having an idea that does not enhance or improve the author's wealth or welfare?
There are times when the good of a people or the good of a country must take priority over all other matters or considerations. In such circumstances, our moral principles dictate our courses of action and shape our conduct and attitudes. This is the guiding principle that should be applied to all scenarios of a national nature. As ordinary citizens, we should always expect our leaders to adhere to this important principle.
How come, then, the situation with respect, to CLICO got so out-of-control, for want of a better expression? In this life, the truth alone is the truth! Wrong can never be right! Casting, aside for the moment the divisiveness that so clearly characterises our political landscape, I can now state with certainty that when it comes to CLICO, Prime Minister David Thompson was wrong and Opposition Leader Mia Motley was right all along.
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“In most countries, decisions about movement, about action, should start to be discussed and taken now,” said Pier Carlo Padoan, chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Planning spending cuts and raising taxes, he said, take “months in some cases to go through.”
“Next year, in 2011, fiscal consolidation programs should be moving,” he said at a briefing to present the interim economic forecasts of the O.E.C.D.
Most advanced economies have announced only limited measures to end emergency stimulus — for example, allowing tax incentives on automobile purchases to expire. But most have avoided raising tax rates or cutting spending, fearing such policies may dent the fragile recovery or bring a backlash from voters.
The 30-member O.E.C.D. also urged central banks to continue reining in the exceptional liquidity stimulus measures that they put in place during the recession.
As Mr Brown returned from Buckingham Palace after formally asking the Queen to dissolve Parliament, the Tory leader rallied his troops in an appearance outside County Hall on the banks of the Thames.
"It is the most important election for a generation and it comes down to this: you don't have to put up with another five years of Gordon Brown."
Mr Brown finally emerged from No 10 at around 10.45am, announced what he called "probably the worst-kept secret of recent years" and started the pitch to voters that Labour campaign strategists hope will lead to a record fourth term for Labour.
"The Queen has kindly agreed to the dissolution of Parliament and a general election will take place on May 6," he said.
WARNINGS and pleas pertaining to the Caribbean Community's future economic development have recently come from President Bharrat Jagdeo and the former Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur.
Speaking at a media briefing prior to his participation last month in London on the United Nations special panel on the challenges of climate change, President Jagdeo warned that CARICOM countries were on "the verge of bankruptcy".
A few days later, Barbados' Arthur, who headed three consecutive administrations for 14 years until January 2007, was to warn CARICOM member states against what he views as "the whittling away" of gains achieved by the Community in new moves for extra-regional trade agreements.
For his part, former Prime Minister Arthur, currently engaged in a series of individual country analyses involving Belize and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), sounded his warning in Dominica of diminishing trade preferences with the emergence of new agreements with extra-regional states that could negatively impact on the provisions of CARICOM's single market and economy (CSME).
Arthur's advocacy for collective vigilance, strategising and commitment to avoid undermining hard-won gains, consistent with the objectives of the CSME, should no more be ignored than President Jagdeo's call for enlightened regional approaches for significant debt reductions to help individual member states
THE CURRENT period of drought may be used to demonstrate how its persistence will impact on future water supply in much the same way that the current economic recession will impact future economic growth and possibly development.
Development simply defined is: economic growth plus desirable social change. It is therefore possible to experience a period of drought and not be pushed off the path of development but this depends on leadership.
An economy also experiences drought, but the difference is that lack of rainfall is the work of the Lord; some scientists may argue otherwise with the knowledge given to them by the Lord. The drought which attends an economy is for the most part man-made. There may however be some correlation between the two under very specific conditions. Think of parts of Africa!
Economic recessions are not usually caused by drought. Just as the excess rainfall is stored in aquifers, excess foreign reserves are stored in the banking system.
"I will be seeking redress because he has said enough to suggest that there was malice in my actions towards him, on a falsehood," the former PM stated.
"I fought and succeeded in putting that to rest. One of the first things that I did, I did not send any envoy anywhere. I invited the principals of CLICO to my office and I told them the kind of Prime Minister I was going to be and the kind of administration I was going to lead, that no matter what happened in the election, I was going to put Barbados first and not unfair anybody I might even feel was opposed to the Barbados Labour Party," he stated.
"And I was very clear I was not going to get myself involved in the personnel affairs of CLICO or tell them who to employ or not.
I was never going to allow any action by any administration that I led to take advantage of CLICO, to discriminate against it or treat it in any way to suggest that I had any vengeance in my heart against it," he added.
Former Minister of Social Transformation Trevor Prescod made this observation on Sunday night while addressing a Barbados Labour Party meeting in Heroes' Square, The City.
The former St Michael East MP said: "The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is yet to recover from the exodus of such intellectuals as Sir Richard Haynes and Dr Donald Blackman in the late 1980s and early 1990s. What we have now is a second eleven team controlling state power at this critical juncture of our political history."
Prescod charged that even though DLP members were in possession of Central Bank reports and other official documents which indicated that the country was entering a period of economic turbulence at the time of the 2008 general election, they still made extravagant promises to civil servants and Barbadians generally.
"If my members have to go up the steps of Parliament and there is no firearms policy then the Barbados Labour Party will conduct the people's business outside Parliament until there is a firearms policy," she warned.
"And maybe then the people in this country will understand what is at stake. They will understand that democracy is at risk in this country, and what is sad is that you know there is a better way."
OPPOSITION LEADER MIA MOTTLEY is threatening to stay away from Parliament unless a firearms policy is implemented by April 20.
She told hundreds of Barbados Labour Party (BLP) supporters in Heroes Square last Sunday night that after the Easter week is over, "We have a duty to let Parliament reconvene and have the matter sent to the Committee of Privileges so that it can be put behind us before we go any further.
"Democracy has always been about a contention of views. You have a view and I have a view, and we both have a right to represent ours."
Addressing a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) mass meeting in Heroes Square on Sunday night, Marshall said that democracy in Barbados was under threat.
Refusing to disclose details despite calls from the audience, Marshall assured the hundreds of supporters that he had written an official letter to the Speaker of the House of Assembly and asked him to refer Minister of Economic Affairs David Estwick's conduct to the Committee of Privileges, which is a standing committee that deals with matters of discipline within the precincts of Parliament.
"And that is the process that I am prepared to allow to work. It so happens that we only have one member on the Committee, but the truth always prevails," he said.
The senator, however, stressed that at no time did BLP ministers subject the homeowners to the glare of television cameras and the print media.
"Do you see bank managers handing over keys to new homeowners? That is the private business of the financial institution and the homeowner," Thompson argued.
Saying that three of the 18 people given keys to homes did not have mortgages, she asked: "How long were they on the list? How thorough was the screening of the prospective homeowners? You will never see BLP personnel handing over keys to homeowners."
That accusation was made Sunday night by St Thomas Member of Parliament Cynthia Forde.
She levelled this charge at the David Thompson administration while addressing a large crowd of Barbados Labour Party (BLP) supporters in Heroes Square, the City.
Forde recalled that during the period of political tribalism, a member of the BLP was struck in his mouth with a four-pound weight for his outspoken support of the party. She further recalled that DLP supporters were encouraged to break up BLP meetings.
According to the St Thomas MP, political tribalism has reached Parliament where there were allegations of members "brandishing guns like in the Wild West".
She charged that MPs were not setting a good example and suggested that good behaviour had to begin at the top.
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How when as leaders we are asking our citizens to be temperate in their response to one another, can a Member of Parliament brandish a gun in the heat of a verbal argument?
As the leader of a political party that had its genesis in a deep-seated desire to change the social conditions and respect for human dignity of the day, I am today equally as concerned by the double-speak and double standards of the present Government on a number of issues which in my judgment have wider implications for the society as a whole.
We are also disappointed that the Prime Minister has side stepped the issue of David Estwick’s membership in his Cabinet.
The Speaker does not appoint any Minister to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet!
Mr. Estwick’s behaviour as a Parliamentarian is what is dealt with by the Speaker. Mr. Estwick’s suitability to remain as a Member of the Cabinet is entirely within the hands of the Prime Minister.
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America’s economy has grown at its fastest pace in the past six years. The US recorded growth of 5.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, down from a previous estimate of 5.9 per cent.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, personal consumption and non-residential fixed investment.
If the American consumer is cautious, demand is accelerating elsewhere: the World Trade Organisation is expecting global trade in goods to expand by 9.5 per cent this year. Most of the gain will be from emerging market countries, such as China, India and Brazil, where exports are expected to increase by 11 per cent.
Exports from rich countries will expand by 7.5 per cent, the WTO said. In 2009, the volume of goods moving around the globe shrank by 12.2 per cent and wealthy nations suffered the worst: exports plunged 13.9 per cent in the US, 14.8 per cent in Europe and 24.9 per cent in Japan.
Thompson, who received the Champion Of The Earth Award in 2008, perhaps the highest global environment accolade given by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has been nominated for the position of executive secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
If chosen for the top job by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, Thompson would become an assistant secretary-general of the UN responsible for the world body's global climate change negotiations and programmes.
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“It is clear that the Prime Minister has closed ranks on the question of Dr. Estwick’s conduct,” she said, “and sought to distract public attention by making the matter a partisan issue.”
“It is ironic that in one breath he wants to be seen as protecting our children from negative influences by banning Vybz Kartel and Mavado, but could not give the public the assurance that he would not tolerate far more egregious behaviour from a member of his own Cabinet.”
Miss Mottley said she would be calling a Press Conference on Saturday to ventilate the incivility and intimidation that has come to characterize the Democratic Labour Party Government tenure among other issues relating to the society.
OPPOSITION Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Senator Arthur Holder yesterday described Government's 2010-2011 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure as failing to provide direction for the country's economic policy.
Speaking in the Upper Chamber during debate on the Appropriation Bill, Holder said the average Barbadian needed to know what the figures presented to them by Government last week meant in terms of providing them with a better standard of living.
Referring to the cuts in the Estimates for health and welfare, Holder suggested that they could only impact negatively on the most vulnerable section of society.
He said Government had previously sought to make a differentiation between building an economy and a society, but noted it was a notion that should be dismissed. He stressed that they were both inextricably linked.
In the letter, delivered to the House yesterday morning, Marshall has asked that the matter be referred to Parliament's Committee of Privileges for action.
But on Sunday, former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, during a Barbados Labour Party branch meeting for the St Michael West constituency, called the incident a "national abomination", and vehemently urged Prime Minister David Thompson to revoke Dr Estwick's commission.
Arthur said that if any of his ministers had done what Dr Estwick, the MP for St Philip West, was alleged to have done, he (Arthur) would have fired him.
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“The Government has asked Parliament to approve a programme to borrow a $1 billion and $500 million after – not before – it has cut the hospital by 50 million. After it has cut the allocation to the University of the West Indies by $50 million. After it has cut all subventions to national housing! After it has cut almost every Ministry … it is to borrow over $1 billion in a year after it has made most of the cuts it can possibly make,” said Arthur.
In this document [The medium term Fiscal Plan]” said Arthur holding the document aloft “the Government said in this financial year will get $115 Million from the [International Develop-ment Bank] IDB, $ 105 from the Caribbean Development Bank and $75 Million form the World Bank.”
However, the former Prime Minister notes that the 2010 Estimates shows $25 million from the IDB, $2.3 million from the CDB and $5.7 million from the World Bank.
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“The problem, then, is how you service the debt. If after you enter into loans, you are not working and earning, that is where you have a problem,” she said.
And former Prime Minister Owen Arthur suggested that the first to account should be retired company chairman Leroy Parris and Prime Minister David Thompson.
"At no stage while I was Minister of Finance was any such Supervisor of Insurance report submitted to me. All that was referred to me was that there was certain aspects of CLICO's business that he wanted them to correct and he had given them a deadline to correct and he would report back if necessary," he said.
Arthur said since 2008 CLICO had been in a turbulent situation where an injunction should have been taken out before the court to put the company under judicial management.
"And now we are hearing that come 2012 there are persons who hold annuities with CLICO who may not know how they will get paid," he said
He added that efforts to sell Clico International Life had proved more difficult than selling two of the other subsidiaries because potential bidders had expressed concern about the liability in excess of $300million for the large number of executive flexible annuities most of which mature in 2012!
What, for example, is meant by the Prime Minister's statement that it is expected that any restructuring of the company "will involve some adjustment to the terms of the short term liabilities, the executive flexible premium annuities, so as to achieve a better matching of assets and liabilities" and [that] this may involve having to place the company under judicial management if there is no policyholder agreement to the proposed restructuring of the company."
Might policy and annuity holders be asked to compromise their claims, or face the protracted
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That's the view of Professor Avinash Persaud, the featured speaker at the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association's (BHTA) first quarterly meeting at the Crane Resort yesterday morning.
"I fear that this sector could become like the sugar industry, employing a tiny fraction of employees, remaining closeted and unprofitable, but we have it there as part of our heritage, we have it there as some grand museum," he said.
Persaud, an economist and chairman of the Four Seasons project, said the flagship tourism industry should not be heavily subsidised.
We need to do some things that will change that projection because I will argue that if we lose the tourism sector, that will actually be even more crippling than losing the sugar industry.
Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley issued this warning on Monday as debate started in the House of Assembly on Government's Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the 2010-11 financial year.
She said that with Government proposing "unrealistic", sharp cuts in spending on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the Barbados Drug Service, the Barbados Transport Board, the UWI and the National Housing Corporation (NHC), it had the choice of returning to Parliament for additional funds or introducing user fees at a number of institutions to make up for a revenue shortfall.
Taking the position that Government had underestimated expenditure in the coming financial year by "almost $100 million", she said: "You either have to come back for it or charge fees.
"You either have to put more money in the Transport Board or carry up bus fares.
"You either have to put more money in the National Housing Corporation or increase rents and sell off assets.
"You have to put more money in the Drug Service or increase fees, introduce fees for certain medications in this country, a handling fee."
"You cannot leave all of us to the ravages of your incompetence and poor judgement," she added.
"You have not taken responsibility for anything you have done the last two years," Mottley said, as she pointed to Thompson, who sits directly across from her in the Lower Chamber.
"Up to most of 2009, people were giving the PM the benefit of the doubt. But not anymore. Now, Barbadians can't believe the scale of incompetence being seen . . . the Prime Minister is not getting people back to work, or getting tourism and manufacturing working again," Mottley said during her contribution to Monday's Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure debate in the House of Assembly.
"Woe betide the males in Barbados that people said were in crisis before; they are in deeper crisis now as a result of what is happening - [the fact that] this Government is not performing in the way that it (promised)."
Forde also charged that Government had constructed guard huts at several schools in an apparent move to beef up security, but the structures had remained unused.
"Not a single security guard has been placed at any of the schools to ensure the security," she added.
"If we are to change the fundamental policy that has released a Barbadian such as myself from the bondage of poverty, then let us sit down and discuss all of the implications of what we are doing up front, rather than doing it by way of implications," he said.
Arthur stated he was prepared to agree to a special tax to pay for higher education because an economy would not be built on tax breaks, trade preferences or tax treaties, but on the quality of the skills of Barbadians.
This was the charge from Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, who blasted the David Thompson-led administration, accusing it of being asleep at the financial controls of this country while the average Barbadian continued to struggle to make ends meet.
“I wish that all Barbadians could go to sleep tonight comforted that they had heard their Leader and Minister of Finance deliver a set of promises and clear guidance that would allow them to see their way clearly through this year ...
To say that the Prime Minister has perfected the four branches of arithmetic as defined Louis Karl would be to understate his competency in this regard.
The Prime Minister was chided for his lack of consistency on certain issues especially in relation to the matters surrounding the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). The Opposition Leader blasted the Prime Minister for not knowing what to do with the premier health care institution.
“THE EMERGING BLACK HOLE IN BARBADOS’ FINANCES”
An enormous black hole has emerged in the country’s finances. It is a black hole of proportions never seen before in our history.
What compounds the Government’s dire financial position, the Estimates of Annual Revenue and Expenditure the Minister of Finance has put before the House of Assembly leaves unexplained how he will raise $466 million out of a $1.5 billion financing gap. Prime Minister Thompson is unable and/or unwilling to say how, where and from whom he will find one-third of the country’s financing requirements.
To simply say that it will come from “OTHER” is a breach of trust, and makes a mockery of Parliament and Barbadians.
It is unheard of in our history that a Minister of Finance can approach the Estimates Debate with a level of uncertainty as to how he will finance the Government’s Programme.
The Minister is committing the country to a level of spending without knowing how he will pay for it. It is like going to Courts and taking out a washing machine, a television and a living room suite without knowing how you will pay for it.
If he does not know how he will fund this gap he must level with the country and not take us down this path of financial peril. If he does know, then he must equally be frank with the country and tell us whether it will be increased taxes and user fees when people and businesses have no more disposable money?
Some unusual things have emerged in the Barbados economy over the last two years of which the most obvious is the excessive spending on the current expenses of Government. Secondly, last year's decline in imports was not matched by an accumulation of foreign reserves.
This means that any attempt to manage the balance of payments could hardly come via a further reduction in imports, and exports do not grow overnight.
In the absence of a good winter tourist season the pressure will be put on adjusting some price or set of prices in the economy. In the current circumstances and given the legislation, the wage rate is not the price which will be adjusted. If the wage rate is untouchable in a real crisis, then unemployment will have to rise.
....if the country is not accumulating foreign reserves as it usually does during the tourist winter season, and if the country's imports have already declined, and if the country has to make a foreign debt payment of $200 million next quarter along with all the other commitments, and if there is no other way to earn foreign exchange overnight, then some price will be put under pressure. Since it is impossible to continue borrowing from the National Insurance Scheme at the current rate and levels, the Government will have to compete even more with the private sector in the money market, therefore the price of money will rise; that is the interest rate.
Having promised to lower the levels of commodity prices as jobs one, two and three, and failed, there is little hope for any downward adjustment in commodity prices. Indeed the economic environment suggests some return to moderate levels of inflation in the foreseeable future.
"Similarly, Barbadians will ask why saddle Minister Estwick with Patrick Todd who will now be on his third ministerial assignment in two years? We are unsure of the role of Jepter Ince in the Prime Minister's Office, but we note and recall that he was removed as chairman of the National Insurance Scheme last year," he said.
At a time when all in Barbados agree that we face dire economic challenges and Government is unable to execute its programmes, we were truly underwhelmed.
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That's because the bulk of CLICO Life's Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPAs) - which promised high interest rates on deposits - become due in 2012.
According to the senior Government official, "All the potential buyers expressed concern about the EFPAs, most of which will mature in 2012, and that's around $300 million."
"The problem with CLICO is that there is an assets/liabilities mismatch," he explained.
by CLYDE MASCOLL
The current economic circumstances require seriousness.
By April 1 of this year, the balance on the account goes to zero regardless of whether or not the Government makes any payment. The most recent published information suggests that the balance on the ways and means account is $274 million, just short of its legal limit. This balance has been persistently high since April 2008 which is indicative of the fiscal condition.
As stated, the balance of the ways and means account goes to zero at the start of the fiscal year, but this does mean that Government no longer has the liability; it is that a new paymaster account will be opened alongside the existing ones.
The ways and means limit was a source of major controversy when the Erskine Sandiford administration was accused of breaking it in those difficult days of the early 1990s. Access to the funds of the National Insurance Scheme seems to be a temporary alternative source of financing and over the last two years the Government has borrowed a lot more money from the scheme.
This seems to be a failure to admit that excessive spending of the Government, not only the recession, is at fault.
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He questioned the reasoning behind the sum of the supplementary that would almost double the figure outlined for the project originally, which was just over $12 million.
“That is not a supplementary Sir. You cannot increase something, pay almost 100 percent and call it a supplementary. What this speaks to is the fact that the Ministry of Public Works grossly underestimated the amount of works that would be required for this stimulus package or that the Honourable Minister did not have due regard to the proper cost of these works. The people require an explanation. You just can’t come in here and say ‘We need an extra $10 million’‚ Sir. We want to know on which specific road is this extra $10 million going. We want to know why $10 million. It is scandalous when a minister has to come to this chamber and say that he needs almost 100 percent more to execute a program that he originally said to us was well thought out and almost precisely conceived,” Marshall said.
He said the situation was so chronic with Clico in T&T that it caused a rippling effect in the region. T&T must address existing weaknesses in order to strengthen regional financial stability.
He said there are lessons to be learnt from the regional crisis:
• urgent need for all regional jurisdictions to strengthen national financial legislation and regulatory practices.
• establishment of a framework to facilitate close collaboration among regional regulators in the regulation of cross-border institutions.
• establishment of a national crisis managment plan which would detail how regulatory authorities would react in the event of a systemic financial crisis
• greater appreciation of or a link between macro-economic forces and micro-prudential supervision.
Williams describes the regional financial crisis as an important wake-up call that cannot be ignored.
With Barbados' sovereignty being surrendered to Washington, and with DLP Policies now carrying the IMF's: "Made in Washington Label," PM Thompson invites Barbadians to wrap themselves in the flag. Whose - Barbados or the American?
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One of the main ingredients of the plan was the intention to move Barbados from a $500 million deficit to a surplus within a five-year period.
But according to Mottley, the two plans look, smell and feel like International Monetary Fund (IMF) plans seen before.
"We feel this is an IMF plan," Mottley claimed. "It is amazingly reflective of the seven Article IV recommendations, all in this document, and a more nuanced approach to where the cuts must come, how we must adjust, and the time period over which the adjustment must come needs to take place. We are not satisfied that has happened so far."
GOVERNMENT'S MEDIUM TERM fiscal programme which is to be debated by the social partnership today is being termed a hoax about to be perpetrated on Barbadians.
That's the charge from former prime minister Owen Arthur in an address to the St Michael East constituency branch of the Barbados Labour Party.
He has warned that the package includes a five-year wage freeze, increases in VAT and excise tax along with increased fees for Government services, including NHC rents.
"We all agreed that, given what has happened in the last year, expenditure should be cut. But the issue now is whether this country should be forced for the first time since Independence to surrender its sovereignty in such a way that the Government of Barbados cannot even borrow a small loan to help build a school," he said.
Responding to a question from the audience about his 14-year stewardship of Government and the huge national debt which he left in January 2008, Arthur said the costs of providing government and services were spiralling out of the reach of most Caribbean countries.
Arthur said the significant debt that his administration accrued was all reflected in assets that would serve generations of Barbadians for a long time.
He noted hat there were many important challenges that developing countries now faced which they didn't face in the past.
Arthur told the large crowd that frequently interrupted him with applause, that Barbados would have suffered if he had not undertaken such a strategy. He stressed the assets were available to show how the money had been spent.
OPPOSITION Leader Mia Mottley has blasted the David Thompson administration over its management of the “affairs of this country”.
The response came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on completion of its staff visit to this country, released a statement that stressed while Barbados had experienced some economic challenges, the Government’s initiatives to date had been successful. The IMF also cautioned the Government to seriously look at cutting its spending, since debt was now 100 per cent of GDP.
Mottley charged that the economic policies of the Prime Minister have led to a deterioration in the country’s economic position.
She lamented the fact that the situation continued to worsen with worrying speed. “It is now beyond question that the Prime Minister’s management of the affairs of this country is dangerous at any speed.
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The Prime Minister’s removal of Arni Walters from Cabinet and his appointment as Executive Chairman of the Barbados Water Authority is a classic case of treating the symptoms and not the cause of the disease.
Even more disturbing though is that the post of Executive Chairman does not exist within the Barbados Water Authority Act.
The Prime Minister is essentially placing Mr. Walters in a collision course with the law. Is this how he defines good governance?
What we have instead is the shifting of someone who has failed in his two special missions - to deliver new Labour Legislation and the Government’s Immigration policy.
“Barbados has been severely affected by the global economic crisis. In particular, the deep global recession has curbed tourism, affecting related activities such as construction and trade which, in turn, depressed aggregate demand and raised unemployment. As a result, economic activity contracted significantly in 2009 after remaining broadly stagnant in 2008."
Reducing government spending, increasing tax collection efficiency, and broadening the tax base would support the exchange rate regime and improve the government’s balance sheet.
Moreover, credible and sustainable measures can actually raise medium-term growth, as better debt dynamics and lower pressure on external reserves would raise the private sector’s willingness to invest in Barbados. Thus, the authorities’ intention to push forward a medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy is very welcome.”
‘DANGEROUS AT ANY SPEED’
It is clear that the Prime Minister and the DLP Government have surrendered the leadership of this economy to Washington D.C. and the IMF. We are not surprised that the IMF has praised this plan as it is theirs.
Tomorrow afternoon at St. Albans School I will be showing the public that his Medium Term Fiscal Strategy is the IMF’s Plan, as reflected last year in the IMF’s Article IV Consultation.
The Prime Minister actions and inaction are a danger to this country’s stability. When the Prime Minister should be inspiring confidence in the management of the Barbados economy in these difficult times, he shuffles the chairs on the decks of the Titanic.
IT IS SO EASY to speak the gospel truth about the Barbados economy and be accused by individuals, who may not know better and are certainly not well intentioned, of preaching "doom and gloom".
Such reception ought not to deter, neither prevent making public, proper analysis of the country's condition which must not be confined to the economy.
Attempts to mask the truth by giving non-economists a forum to sing for their supper will not reduce the task ahead of pulling the country's fiscal condition from the brink of total disaster. We are first and foremost Barbadians and no effort should be spared in sorting out the sordid mess in which the country has found itself, simply out of ignorance.
According to the last year's International Monetary Fund (IMF) Article IV consultation, the Barbados economy was expected to decline by three per cent in 2009.
Given the obvious further deterioration of the Government's finances since then, the decline in the economy has been much more than what the IMF forecast.
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Manning also indicated that other countries would send money to T&T’s Central Bank from where the funds would be sent to Haiti. “It’s not only that, but when we met in the wider Latin American Grouping and Caribbean countries, countries pledged a number of contributions in excess of $20 million for Haiti and they mandated T&T to open an account in our Central Bank and those monies would be wired into the account and the Central Bank of T&T would send that money to an account in Haiti,” he said. He added that T&T’s financial assistance to Haiti should reach there within days.
OPPOSITION LEADER MIA MOTTLEY has charged a "heartless" Government with firing food and beverage workers at the state-owned Savannah Hotel just before last Christmas and outsourcing the section to a concessionaire.
Yesterday in the House of Assembly, Mottley quoted from a letter, dated December 15, from the human resources manager at Gems of Barbados to staff.
It said: "As you are aware, the company is taking steps to lease the food and beverage operation to a concessionaire, effective Friday, January 15, 2010.
"This means therefore that your employment relationship with Gems of Barbados ends on January 14, 2010.
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With new government paper valued TT$3.4 billion on its balance sheet, Clico would be in a position to use the bonds as collateral to raise additional cash, financial sources disclosed.
This process, referred to as a repurchase agreement or a repo, is normally used by companies to raise short-term money, and would allow Clico to raise more than TT$3 billion over the life of the three tranches of the bond.
Analysts said that the heavy snow at the beginning of the month, coupled with the return of VAT back to 17.5 per cent, impinged on overall sales. But clothes retailers benefited from the weather, as demand for winter coats and boots coupled with January discounting, boosted sales of shoes and clothes by 4.7 per cent, the biggest rise since June 2009.
However snowbound consumers were not even tempted to go online to shop. Non-store retailing, which includes internet and mail-order sales, fell by 3.2 per cent, the biggest drop since January last year.
Colin Ellis, European economist at Daiwa Capital Markets, said that while a decline in sales in January had been on the cards, the size of the fall would dampen the country’s economic growth: “With the labour market still very weak and private sector earnings growth almost non-existent — and tax rises and public spending cuts looming — there is little reason to expect a strong bounceback in household spending this year.”
"Regardless of the price charged, the amount of usage will not decrease substantially, and that is from a pure economic perspective. That is why we speak to methods of conservation," the first-time senator added.
Noting that water remained an essential item for any country, Holder said that its want was an inelastic demand, which meant an increase in price would not bring about a substantial change in the quantity of the good used.
President Obama said that 19 million Americans had their unemployment benefits extended under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, while 95 per cent of working people got a tax cut and 38 million individuals were assisted by increased distribution of food stamps.
"Our work is far from over but we have rescued this economy from the worst of this crisis."
The President admitted, however, that with 9.7 per cent unemployment plaguing the US, “it doesn’t yet feel like much of a recovery”. The programme is expected to save 3.5 million jobs in total over two years.
Opposition parliamentarian Ronald Toppin made the suggestion yesterday when the House of Assembly debated a bill to make the FTC responsible for setting water rates.
Toppin suggested that the FTC should start proceedings post-haste, reviewing the books, accounts, systems and operations of the BWA and involving consumers, with the assistance of the Office of Public Counsel.
While supporting the bill, Toppin complained that Government was "putting the horse before the cart" in introducing a 60 per cent increase in water rates and then moving to make the FTC responsible for determining rates.
Opposition parliamentarian Ronald Toppin made the suggestion yesterday when the House of Assembly debated a bill to make the FTC responsible for setting water rates.
Toppin suggested that the FTC should start proceedings post-haste, reviewing the books, accounts, systems and operations of the BWA and involving consumers, with the assistance of the Office of Public Counsel.
While supporting the bill, Toppin complained that Government was "putting the horse before the cart" in introducing a 60 per cent increase in water rates and then moving to make the FTC responsible for determining rates.
How can Barbadians have any confidence in the words of the Prime Minister?
Barbadian public servants are no closer today to knowing whether they will have to face a wage freeze by this Government. The only thing that Barbadians know for sure is that Prime Minister Thompson has a preference for the word moratorium, as he feels this is a gentler word.
The results however will be the same. No matter the choice of language, public servants will still feel the pain in their pockets no matter which word he uses.
The Opposition is still willing to sit on a Joint Select Finance Committee of Both Houses of Parliament. We too are willing to wrap ourselves in the flag but not at the expense of the public servants or to excuse the incompetence of the Minister of Finance
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The evidence clearly shows that excessive spending is the root cause of the current fiscal position and not the slowdown in Government revenue collection.
The only way to truly address the fiscal crisis is through structured expenditure cuts which have to be planned over a three-to-five-year period.
Put simply, the stock of foreign reserves being held by the monetary authorities is what is keeping the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from the shores of Barbados.
Barbados' fiscal position is much worse than it was in the early 1990s; but unlike that period, the country has international reserves.
To compound the plight of Barbadians by freezing their wages is unnecessary and certainly at variance with what is required to help pull the economy out of recession.
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He said the then board was concerned with improving programming, ensuring the station's financial viability and improving the skills of the resident journalists.
Speaking at a mass meeting at St Patrick's, Christ Church, on Sunday night, Mottley said Thompson's Democratic Labour Party (DLP) manifesto and promises to the Barbadian populace amounted to a social contract which the Government had broken at every turn.
She said Barbadians voted for the Government on the strength of promises that included: Duty free cars for police, nurses and teachers; VAT off electricity; 2 000 lots at $2.50 per square foot; a special interest-free fund for public servants, among others.
The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader said since the DLP Government came into power, it had directed its energies in one direction.
She said Thompson was practising a politics of "families first", where the only people benefiting from what little his administration was doing, were close friends of the party.
Mottley said the greatest promises were made to Barbados' public sector and it was to them that the greatest betrayal was now being meted out.
That is the view of Roger Smith, Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for the constituency of St Philip West, as he shone spotlight on the two-year tenure of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) since it took over the reins of government.
Smith, speaking at a mass meeting at St Patrick's, Christ Church, on Sunday night, said that the DLP should not take credit for a number of roads built in the constituency because they were part of the road programme conceptualised by the BLP.
He also said that nothing came from the Dems in terms of housing, adding that "the case was well made" that all the progress that was seen for the past two years was from residual BLP projects.
"I have come to the firm realisation that a man's purpose in life is to work towards the advancement of human civilisation within his capacity so to do, and politics provides an opportunity for all right-minded persons to use statecraft, the power and apparatus of Government to improve the lives of one's fellow citizens."
Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh making his budget presentation in the National Assembly yesterday.
The budget, titled “Consolidate, transform, sustain,” represents a 10.8 % increase over last year’s announced expenditure. Like last year, Singh did not announce an increase in the income tax threshold but noted that there would be no new taxes.
According to the Finance Minister, the overall real growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to be 4.4%.
Last year, the country recorded a Growth Rate of Real GDP of 2.3%. In the 2009 Budget, this figure had been pegged at 4.7%.
In relation to inflation, Singh projected a rate of 4%. In 2009, Guyana recorded an inflation rate of 3.6%. The Finance Minister said that “this occurred against the background of the depressed global conditions…which resulted in price pressures imported into the domestic economy being minimal.”
By Clyde Mascoll
ON THE SAME DAY that the Minister of Economic Affairs is calling for a national wage freeze, the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister is proposing that Barbadians establish small businesses as the major way of creating jobs in the short term.
Apparently the Government has not yet learnt that it takes consumer spending to truly generate economic activity. In the face of recent evidence that additional taxation reduced consumption expenditure which comprised the base of Government tax collection, the idea of a wage freeze still emerges from the lips of a minister.
It is unreasonable to expect workers to bear the brunt of rising food cost; a 60 per cent hike in water rates; a pending increase in electricity on top of the fuel clause adjustments; staggered increases in telephone rates; higher cost of insurance; more road taxes to name a few, and then call for a national wage freeze.
The freezing of wages is an anti-growth strategy which puts jobs under more severe pressure both in the private and public sectors. The strategy reduces spending power and so hurts the private sector.
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The public servants of Barbados have already effectively taken a cut in salary over the last 2 years where their wage increases were wiped out by rising inflation.
To have a wage freeze on top of this is to take more money out of their pockets especially given the known increases in the prices for water, electricity, telephone, energy products and other rates and fees, like road taxes. And let us not forget that it was the Prime Minister who has led the charge in this arena of price hikes.
The public must not be fooled that by failing to agree to a wage freeze that there will inevitably be layoffs.
Yet again here is a Government that is prepared to ask the public servants, just like in 1991, to pay the price for their incompetence over the last two years. We will address this matter on Sunday night in St Patricks and lay bare the facts.
One minute they want to buy BNB and Sam Lords. Now they want to sell Government assets.
The two areas of current expenditure which have grown fastest are wages and salaries, and transfers and subsidies. Having committed itself to legislation, cutting wages is not an option but cutting subsidies and transfers is an option and, perhaps, goods and services.
Incidence explains why the Government collected less indirect taxation after imposing heavy taxation in July 2008 on the wrong groups. What is needed is more economic activity from which Government derives more taxes, especially VAT.
I know it is not usual for Government to reduce taxation while reducing expenditure, but the economic circumstances are not usual. Barbados has never been in a fiscal crisis of the magnitude being witnessed, not even in 1990/91.
The saviour for us at this time is the stock of foreign reserves which is enough to keep the country from approaching the International Monetary Fund.
Unfortunately, if the current winter season performs below par, then the second half of 2010 will be more than challenging.
“Oh No! Not At This Time”
The Barbados Labour Party is of the view that: “now is not the time for any electricity rate hike as Barbadians are already at their limit - having to tighten their belts and make harsh decisions, in the face of the high cost of living and increases in fees, rates and taxes.”
While the Barbados Light and Power has not had a rate increase for 26 years, it has been adequately compensated by the Fuel Adjustment Charge and has also benefitted from more efficient operations and cheaper capital through Government provided guarantees.
“Even if there was a case for an adjustment – now is not the time.”
We regret that the Government has not set a good example, in respect of its increase in water rates and other fees and taxes. Further, it is unfortunate that the Government is not speaking out on behalf of Barbadians families and businesses, who will bear the brunt of this electricity increase.
The IMF yesterday told The Gleaner that while its executive board was scheduled to consider Jamaica's request on February 4, it expects that by tomorrow the Government would provide it with key information.
"The debt exchange should yield the intended interest savings and extension of maturities; and a plan for Air Jamaica should be outlined," Andreas Adriano, IMF spokesperson, told The Gleaner.
Adriano said the decision to delay the executive board's discussion of Jamaica's request was made last week, when it was realised that it would not be possible to get the results of the debt exchange in time for a January 27 meeting of the board.
The IMF executive board was expected to rule on Jamaica's request yesterday, but in a late-night submission to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Finance Minister Audley Shaw announced a delay.
He said the only outstanding issue is the trust fund mechanism through which the money will be disbursed and Guyana hopes to conclude discussions on this with Norway and the World Bank by next month.
The agreement with Norway provides Guyana with an initial payment of US$30M into Guyana’s REDD+ (Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) development fund and Norway will offer further investment in the country of up to US$250M if this initial investment succeeds in reducing emissions and tackling poverty as expected.
But while the Norway agreement is well under way, Guyana is unhappy that pledges by developed countries to a US$10 billion fund for countries more vulnerable to the catastrophic impact of climate change have not yet materialised.
“We are very unhappy that of the US$10 billion pledged, very little has actually been delivered so far”, he said, noting that the United Nations has called on the countries that made the pledges to stump up the money.
The source told Stabroek Business that large companies with pension funds invested with CLICO have begun to come under “real and persistent pressure” from employees whom he says “have now become totally preoccupied with concerns over the fate of their savings.”
Meanwhile, Stabroek Business has learnt that local companies with funds invested with CLICO are also facing complaints from employees over problems associated with the unavailability of payment of medical expenses under their health insurance plans.
Companies are reportedly faced with requests from employees for loans and advances to meet medical expenses which would otherwise have been met under their health insurance plans. The source named one major company that is said to be pushing for the matter to receive “more serious official attention.”
Fortunately there is a blueprint, drawn up by Haiti’s government and presented to donors last year. It calls for investment to be targeted on infrastructure, basic services and combating soil erosion to make farmers more productive and the country less vulnerable to hurricanes.
More than a week after the earth convulsed beneath it, Haiti has still to plumb the depths of suffering and want. The numbers are still only more-or-less informed guesses, but their magnitude is grim: perhaps 200,000 killed, 250,000 more injured and some 3m in desperate need of help. The generosity of the world’s response has also been profound. Barack Obama led the way, dispatching 16,000 American troops and marines, but others, from Europe to Brazil, Cuba, China and Israel, responded too. Immediate promises of aid added up to around nearly $1 billion.
The urgent task is to connect this supply of help with the demand. That is proving extraordinarily hard (see article). Seven days after the earthquake, the United Nations had got food to only 200,000 people.
Lessons from other disasters are not always relevant to Haiti. The Asian tsunami, for example, struck a ribbon of remote, mainly rural, areas. The governments of the affected nations could lead the relief effort. But Haiti’s institutions were weak even before the disaster.
To lose, on a 43-point swing, a Senate seat that has been in Democratic hands since 1953 takes some doing, even in the teeth of the worst recession since the 1930s>
Unemployment is stuck at 10%; and if you add to that the number of people who are working part-time because they cannot get a full-time job, as well as those who have simply given up looking, you reach a figure of around 17%. The proportion of long-term unemployed is at its highest since the government started collecting the statistic in 1948.
The terrible fear is that the recovery will be long, slow and jobless. The greatest challenge he now faces is explaining how he plans to tackle these problems without inflating the deficit even more than he already has.
Time for a rethink
One thing, though, is clear. The brief era in which the Democrats felt they could push through anything they wanted, courtesy of their thumping majorities in the House and the Senate and their occupancy of the White House, is over.
Williams said new legislation was being finalised to strengthen the financial services sector, adding that reforms were necessary to add to the confidence the public will have in the economy as well as the sector.
“New legislation was introduced to the Parliament to tighten up some of the loopholes when the CL Financial crisis initially occurred. However, no one can really give protection from any institution or individual that is determined to go around the rules and regulations to defraud investors.
Williams said the ongoing operations of Clico were difficult because the company has been facing problems convincing policyholders to roll over their investments and a decision will soon be taken on the future of the organisation.
“The amount of rollovers have been much lower than we had anticipated and we have contracted a team of consultants to review the business model and possibly make adjustments as we move forward.”
“Good night, One Love, One Aim and One Destiny” announced the newly nominated Prescod as he addressed a hall packed with almost 300 BLP supporters and stalwarts.
“This is a community from which I sprung, this school that I stand in tonight is responsible for making me what I am. So I owe my life to the people of [this constituency] and I want to say thank you for making me who I am”.
Prescod stated “I … will remain consistent to the path of history, I will not allow any diversions to offset me from my objective, my mission. It will always be to ensure that some part of the national cake is given to the poor black masses of this country”.
“We have to have institutions so that we can build the kind of Barbados that would respect the desires of ordinary people … I want to take working class children whose parents don’t have any money, [and give them] the opportunity to go into a pre-primary setting just like the other people of this country can go” continued Prescod.
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That was the suggestion of Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Leader Mia Mottley on Sunday at St Giles Primary School, as she delivered the feature address after the unopposed selection of Trevor Prescod to contest the St Michael East seat in the next general election.
Mottley said Barbadians merited a different type of politics and a new form of Government that moved away from the traditional practice of division in the country.
She charged that rather than concentrating on the aspects of development that had previously worked for the country, Thompson was caught up in the worst practices of traditional politics.
International business is still declining as the report shows and tax receipts from that sector are down by 34.4 percent after the adjustments are made,” she said, adding, “Exports are down by 65 million over the last two years and there is no program to stimulate them or protect what remains.
The receipt from corporation taxes from the domestic companies are down $50 million from two years ago”.
Stating that 4 000 more Barbadians became unemployed last year and their dependent families were plunged into despair by extension, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley said this issue must be addressed with a degree of urgency.
Speaking to the press recently in her office, she noted that Barbadian companies have confirmed that the Employment Stabilization Program as currently construed was not attractive.
The 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday had affected one-third of the nation’s population, left 300,000 homeless and claimed about 50,000 lives, including top UN official in Haiti, Hédi Annabi.
The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that many survivors had sustained serious injuries, including crushed limbs and traumatic wounds, identifying medical support as an immediate need.
World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Emilia Casella said the agency had received US$20 million in donations so far and was aiming to reach the two million people affected by the quake.
The UN reported that food and medical help had started to arrive in Port-au-Prince, but on a very limited scale.
They UN also said said it was committed to ensuring the aid reached people as quickly as possible.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had dispatched his former Special Representative to Haiti and current Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmund Mulet to assume full command of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti and co-ordinate all relief efforts.
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The Central Bank Governor’s report confirms that this is a Government up a creek without a paddle. An aimless Government, directionless and without compass. The economy is on auto-pilot in the middle of a perfect storm.
What is it that the Government is trying to do? They said that they wanted to deal with costs; and they failed. They said one year later that they wanted to deal with jobs; and they failed.
This Government has developed the habit of setting targets; but having no strategy to achieving them.
We need to know what they are doing to protect Barbadian households, Barbadian jobs and Barbadian businesses. The primary purpose of Government is to protect the people. They cannot just say this is what they want to do and hope or wait and see if it will happen by accident.
This government has no growth strategy. In 2008 they increased a range of taxes, rates and fees and compounded the recession. They must now know that you cannot tax your way out of the recession.
The Government is borrowing from National Insurance in an unprecedented manner and quantity and this requires independent assurances that pensioners are not being put at risk.
Prices in Barbados have risen more as a result of domestic actions and policies than the international environment.
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The scale of the disaster is really as a result of Haiti’s continued impoverishment.
I think that it is, time for this hemisphere and the Global community to recognize that it is simply not good enough for us to live in a world where some have so much and others have so little.
In our own backyard we may not be able to offer the level of support in terms of financial resources but our voices must be continued to be heard on the case of Haiti.
It is a moral issue and one that requires our continuous support, not just at the level of Governments but at the level of all Caribbean people.
Clearly, we have across the Region to do whatever we can.
It is not the responsibility of Governments alone and I certainly want to add my voice to a request that all Barbadians (because every Barbadian in respect of their circumstances is considerably better off than persons in Haiti who have been affected by this earthquake) put them in our prayers and also find tangible ways of offering support.
The Barbados Labour Party will play its role in mobilizing people to contribute to the national effort.
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Twelve months ago, the panic sown by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers had pushed financial markets close to collapse. Global economic activity, from industrial production to foreign trade, was falling faster than in the early 1930s.
By mid-year the world’s big, rich economies (with the exception of Britain and Spain) had started to expand again. Only a few laggards, such as Latvia and Ireland, are now likely still to be in recession.
But thanks to the resilience of big, populous economies such as China, India and Indonesia, the emerging world overall fared no worse in this downturn than in the 1991 recession. For many people on the planet, the Great Recession was not all that great.
Fiscal tightening now could kill the rich world’s recovery.
That is why policymakers face huge technical difficulties in getting the exit strategies right.
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Women are wired differently from men, and not just in trivial ways.
They are less aggressive and more consensus-seeking, less competitive and more collaborative, less power-obsessed and more group-oriented. Judy Rosener, of the University of California, Irvine, argues that women excel at “transformational” and “interactive” management.
Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham, the authors of “A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom”, assert that women are “better lateral thinkers than men” and “more idealistic” into the bargain.
The recent financial crisis proved that the sort of qualities that men pride themselves on, such as risk-taking and bare-knuckle competition, can lead to disaster.
Women are now outperforming men markedly in school and university. It would be a grave mistake to abandon old-fashioned meritocracy just at the time when it is turning to women’s advantage.
When asked about the policy with respect to undocumented non-CARICOM immigrants, the Minister said the policy "would be" - not is - known at sometime in the future.
He further suggested that the issue with the undocumented non-CARICOM immigrants was "minuscule" by comparison and that most of these individuals had made a significant contribution to the social and economic development of this country anyhow.
According to the impression being given, an undocumented non-CARICOM immigrant is not the same as an undocumented CARICOM immigrant. The latter has broken the laws of Barbados because of the numbers involved, while the former is minuscule in numbers and so has not broken the laws. Therefore, the social and economic contribution of the undocumented non-CARICOM immigrant is sufficient to make him/her legal.
The issue of legality or illegality in relation to the immigration law on undocumented immigrants seems to be based on: (1) the numbers and (2) the ability to contribute socially and/or economically to the country. Is it fair to deduce from the minister's comments on the call-in programme that once an undocumented immigrant meets the social and economic criteria, that his/her fate is sure?
Public policy that is not well thought out and is seeking to correct an unclear mischief has the potential to lack clarity of purpose and certainty of incidence.
That has been the position of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, and other regulators. It explains why Mr. Bernanke and the Obama administration are pushing Congress to give the Fed more authority over financial firms.
So let’s consider what an empowered Fed might have done during the housing bubble, based on the words of the people who were running it.
In 2004, Alan Greenspan, then the chairman, said the rise in home values was “not enough in our judgment to raise major concerns.” In 2005, Mr. Bernanke — then a Bush administration official — said a housing bubble was “a pretty unlikely possibility.” As late as May 2007, he said that Fed officials “do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy.”
The fact that Mr. Bernanke and other regulators still have not explained why they failed to recognize the last bubble is the weakest link in the Fed’s push for more power. It raises the question: Why should Congress, or anyone else, have faith that future Fed officials will recognize the next bubble?
The Barbados family has had a tough 2009.
We are in the uncustomary position, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, of being forecast as one of the 20 slowest growing economies, out of 192.
In the last year, almost 4000 people have become unemployed, families up and down the country have had to struggle to make ends meet with higher costs and rates.
The government has told us it is all under control, or has promised action once it has “waited and seen”.
Prime Minister Thompson will say much has been done, but whatever has been done, it was undeniably inadequate to stem the inexorable rise of joblessness and despair in 2009.
In the new year, we will continue to give the Prime Minister some more suggestions.
Our future requires leadership and vision today, a vision that has at its centre a growth-strategy not a high-tax strategy, a vision that embraces education not questions it, one that looks for ways to better integrate our economy with the region and the rest of the world, not to anger our trading partners in the hope of cheap political gain at home.
We urge Barbadians to join us in a national conversation that we will launch in 2010 to flesh out the details of such a vision.
Indeed we are most likely to face a further slow-down in major sectors of the economy with the decline in our productive sectors plummeting to double digits.
The national debt continues to increase, apparently financing consumption rather than building productive capacity. Government revenue is decreasing seemingly unable to cover expenditure and many Government Agencies are underperforming. In all of this our youth are the major casualties, being left to fend for themselves when they leave school due to the unavailability of jobs.
We do not come to be the bearers of gloom and doom. We highlight these issues because we recognise that the further our country slips, the worse off all Barbadians will be. This is not a BLP or DLP issue, this is a Barbadian issue.
The Prime Minister’s “wait and see” approach in dealing with this economic crisis is doing our country more damage than good. Let us think carefully and ask the Prime Minister how this approach is helping the 5000 people who lost their jobs last year and the 3000 people the year before.
The Barbados Labour Party and the League of Young Socialists will continue to fight for the rights of all Barbadians throughout this year, we hear your voices and we feel your pain.
We will champion the cause of the people and we shall never surrender until Barbadians can go to sleep at night knowing that their country is strong and resolute.
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No Caribbean country, however strong its domestic finances, is capable of sustaining extraordinary deficits on its Government's accounts, which literally means that the country is borrowing to meet its current expenditure obligations, including the payment of its civil servants.
To address the fiscal crisis, the Government has promised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its Article IV consultation September 2009, to seek external funding from multilateral institutions and "to implement a strong fiscal adjustment programme in the period ahead". The former has apparently been done.
The minister of finance now needs to explain early in the New Year, what is meant by a strong fiscal adjustment and what is the period ahead?
The explanation becomes more urgent as the Government's finances have deteriorated more than expected in the post-Budget period.
By the Leader of the Opposition of Barbados - The Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P.,
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LIKE CHRISTIANS the world over, the majority of Barbadians will be celebrating tomorrow the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a special time for us as a nation and as a people.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of preparing for the gathering of family and friends, there may also be moments of quiet reflection, and I hope that we will use these quiet moments to remember that as a nation we are richly blessed.
Despite the economic setback we are currently experiencing, our nation rests on a solid foundation built over centuries on the values of thrift, industry and compassion for our neighbours.
As you meet with your loved ones and look forward to the year ahead, challenging as it may be, I ask you to think on these things. Spare a thought too for those who may not be as fortunate as you and resolve to do whatever you can, no matter how small, to bring comfort to someone else. A smile or a kind word costs nothing but may be invaluable to the recipient.
On behalf of my family, my colleagues in Parliament and the wider Barbados Labour Party family, I wish you and your family our heartfelt thanks for your support and best wishes and offer ours in return.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo, noting the global challenges faced, has expressed optimism about 2010 while emphasising that Government is managing its resources carefully.
He said about 20 million people worldwide lost their homes and another 50 million their jobs.
In the Caribbean region, President Jagdeo mentioned the collapse of CLICO and said the tourism industry is reeling from the impact of the global crisis.
He said, for example, Antigua and Barbuda cannot pay wages and salaries in the public sector and defaulted on its debt.
President Jagdeo said Jamaica has seen its currency depreciate significantly and the country had three of its four alumina plants, that contributed about 58 per cent of merchandise exports, shut down because of the crisis and fall in global demand.
He said, although he only gave two examples, almost every country in the region has some difficulty with meeting payments now, excepting, probably, Trinidad and Tobago, which has significant oil wealth.
Analysts had forecast that today's figure — the final estimate of national output for the third quarter — would show that the economy stopped contracting or even grew.
But while gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a slower pace than the previous -0.3 per cent reading, the figures confirmed a sixth successive quarter of recession – the country’s longest downturn in history.
Today’s figures will serve as a further embarrassment for the Government, which is facing a general election next year.
America, China, Japan, France and Germany all returned to positive growth in the third quarter while most recently Ireland, which has been suffering from a severe downturn, also revealed it had left recession.
By any measure this is a phenomenal amount for an economy the size of ours.
It means the country has taken a ten percent pay cut, which incidentally is almost equal to the 10.5% decline in long stay visitors recorded for the same period.
As amazing as this revelation was, it was followed by the incredulous, if not idiotic, assertion by the new Chief of the Barbados Tourism Authority that somehow this slide to the back of the pack was not so bad because it could have been worse.
If this is how we are going to approach the marketing and management of our main money earner, then we had all better brace ourselves for a long, lean winter.
Even Guyana recorded an increase in arrivals. All of the others, with the exception of the Bahamas and Antigua are ahead of Barbados in the visitor arrival stakes.
We are fighting it out with less popular destinations like Grenada and St. Vincent & The Grenadines, who do not attract 100, 000 visitors a year for last place.
With this mindset it was no surprise that panic set in with the news that British Airways cabin crew might ground the airline over Christmas with a threatened strike.
Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley, said yesterday that now was the time to share with the needy more than ever.
“I believe that this has been a challenging year, but having said that ... we are a resilient people.
And, to that extent, we will reflect in all that we do, the Christian spirit that requires of us the ability to share, and to share especially with those who are least able to provide for themselves at this time of the year”.
The Opposition Leader added, “If ever there was a time to share, it is now, not just because it is Christmas, but the circumstances of this year have made it difficult for a number of people, who have either been laid off or who are on short week.
And to that extent, I think there’s an obligation for all of us to ensure that what we have is well-shared, such that there is no family who goes completely wanting at this time of year”.
As Barbadians we all need to be particularly aware of the impact of rising sea levels on our coastal environment, but in general each of us needs to take ownership of our environment.
Former Minister of the Environment, Liz Thompson is to be commended for her sterling work in initiating these two projects.
She also signed the Convention on Wetlands in 2006 enabling the designation of the Graeme Hall Swamp as a Ramsar Site and therefore a wetland of international importance.
Under her leadership Barbados was up front at the Bali Conference on Climate Change, pushing for a reduction of carbon emissions which would result in a 1.5 degree temperature increase rather than the 2 degree increase favoured by developed countries like the United States.
Liz’s work, particularly as it relates to climate change, was recognized by the United Nations with the award “Champion of the Earth 2008.
The announcement came as representatives from developing countries walked out of the climate talks in protest, saying that richer nations were not doing enough cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
The move stalled the ongoing negotiations, at least for the moment, as African delegates declared they were “outraged with the lack of transparency and democracy in the process.” “This is all part of the negotiating dynamic, especially as you get close to the end game,” said Jake Schmidt, director of international climate programs at the Natural Resources Defense Council,
The plan announced by Mr. Chu was called the Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative, formulated by an international energy partnership created under the Obama administration’s Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change. The forum brought together the handful of countries that are responsible for more than 85 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in a series of meetings this year.
The 2009 report, ‘Facing a changing world: women, population and climate’, concluded that climate change agreements and national policies are more likely to succeed in the long run if they take into account population dynamics, the relations between the sexes, and women’s well-being and access to services and opportunities.
It said that slower population growth, for example, would help build social resilience to climate change’s impacts and would contribute to a reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the future.
Generally, the 2009 report found that family planning, reproductive health care and gender relations could influence the future course of climate change and affect how humanity adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts.
It pointed out that the role of population growth in the increase of greenhouse-gas emissions is far from the only demographic linkage salient to climate change, adding that household composition is one such variable that affects the amount of greenhouse gases thrust into the atmosphere.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking alongside Mr. Brown here at a summit of E.U. heads of state, said that France would contribute some $620 million next year to the so-called fast-start fund, which is designed to run over a three-year period until 2012, and could amount to an European contribution of more than 6 billion euros — or nearly $9 billion — in total.
Overnight in Copenhagen, some of the smallest and most vulnerable countries represented in climate talks — island states facing the prospect of centuries of rising seas in a warming world — fired off a warning shot in the form of a new draft text reducing by 0.5 degrees Celsius the proposed ceiling for global temperature accepted by most nations.
The world’s industrialized countries and emerging economic powers have pledged over the past year to work to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius above where temperatures stood in the 1800s — a figure that translates into about a 1.3 degree Fahrenheit warming from today’s global temperature of about 59 degrees.
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“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth,” Mr. Obama said. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes.
There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”
In a ceremony at Oslo City Hall, Mr. Obama was formally welcomed into the ranks of Nobel laureates who have won the prize, which was established 108 years ago.
He said he accepted the award with “deep gratitude and great humility,” conceding it could be seen as premature.
“We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend,” Mr. Obama said.
“And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it is easy, but when it is hard.”
He explained, “You’re seeing situations where traditionally if someone came for two weeks, perhaps they’re coming for ten days.
You’re seeing situations where guests who would hire a car for two weeks are perhaps saying – not this year.
You’re seeing guests who traditionally would stay in a suite coming this year and staying in a room.
You’re seeing that same guest saying – well what deal can you offer me?”
Senior Vice-president (Ag) at the Barbados Tourism Authority, Averil Byer, responding to a question that asked if the type of visitor to the island was changing noted that Barbados has always had a diverse market, as the island is a destination people aspire to visit.
She did acknowledge that there had been reduced pricing on the island to attract visitors to travel here and stay in hotels they would not have otherwise been able to afford.
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“Even though we have reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who’ve been swept up in the flood,” Mr. Obama said. “There are more than 7 million fewer Americans with jobs today than when this recession began. That’s a staggering figure and one that reflects not only the depths of the hole from which we must ascend, but also a continuing human tragedy.”
The president outlined his proposals in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank not far from the White House. It was the latest in a series of speeches intended to focus attention on what his administration has already done to improve the economic outlook, as well as what it plans to do in 2010, a crucial midterm election year in which the economy will be a central issue.
In addition to proposing a tax cut for small businesses to encourage hiring, he also called for eliminating capital gains on these businesses for one year and suggested money left over from the Trouble Asset Relief Program should be redirected toward small businesses. He also proposed investing new money in roads, bridges and other infrastructure improvements, and offer rebates to people who make homes more energy efficient.
“Small business, infrastructure, clean energy: these are areas in which we can put Americans to work while putting our nation on a sturdier economic footing,” Mr. Obama said. “That foundation for sustained economic growth must be our continuing focus and our ultimate goal.”
About 15,000 delegates from 192 nations are gathering in Copenhagen for two weeks of negotiations on an agreement that would succeed the Kyoto Protocol and go far beyond it in scope.
The political deal reached here could bring deep cuts in CO2 emissions from industrialised nations and a "cap-and-trade" programme that could lead to hundreds of billions of dollars being paid to the developing world.
But the smooth run-up to the conference has been upset by a row over the publication of hundreds of e-mails sent by and to the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia which appear to suggest a deliberate attempt to skew the science of global warming.
In his opening address to the conference, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), mounted a passionate defence of the organisation's integrity and objectivity in the face of the Climategate assault.
In a late-morning speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Mr. Obama is set to deliver his latest speech on the economy and present three key priorities for targeted investment and growth.
The speech, according to a senior administration official, will outline a series of steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff.
The president also will call for increasing the investment in infrastructure through building and modernizing highways, railways, bridges and tunnels. He also will propose a new program that provides rebates for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy efficient.
“We don’t think there is one silver bullet, one plan, one speech or a singular piece of legislation that alone will solve double digit unemployment,” Mr. Obama is expected to say in his remarks, according to a senior administration official.
It is Mr. Obama’s latest effort to draw attention to the economy. In his speech, the president will outline how he intends to jumpstart the job market by spending the excess in government bailout money.
The president also will call for using some of the $200 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program to help pay down the $1.4 trillion budget deficit.
Former energy minister Senator Liz Thompson said she was "deeply horrified" that the two-year-old Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Administration had seemingly scuttled the drilling/exploration programme, which had already earned $20 million and had the potential to transform Barbados' economy in these trying times.
Reacting to Prime Minister David Thompson's statement last week that Barbadians had been misled by the previous Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government about easily accessible reserves of oil, Thompson called on Government to disclose how much money the country had failed to earn as a result of its delay in signing a contract with international oil company, BHP Billiton.
She told a Press conference at the Opposition's Office yesterday that BHP Billiton, a reputable international company, had won at least one oil bid block, which meant that if BHP had signed the contract, it would immediately have to pay the Government millions of dollars based on a signature bonus.
"And I'm not talking about $10 or $20 million, no figure so small. I'm talking about substantial money," she said. "At a time when we are broke, just signing the contract would have brought upwards of $100 million to the Barbados economy."
"There was no risk to Barbados. The way our programme was set up, all of the costs of drilling and all of the exploratory activity had to be carried by the company, not by the country," she told reporters at the Opposition's office in Bridgetown.
Senator Thompson explained that Barbados had paid for seismic data to be done and had then put out marketing teasers. She added that when various oil companies saw the data, they were "so excited they were willing to pay substantial sums for it".
By October-November 2007, Barbados had already earned over $20 million for the data alone, she stated, while the bids - which were due in March-April this year - would have resulted in companies getting bid blocks, which would have earned money for the country with each company's signature.
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President Bharrat Jagdeo announced Monday in Trinidad and Tobago that Guyana and Papua New Guinea will be co-hosting an event during the summit.
Speaking during a lecture at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jagdeo disclosed that Guyana has been networking with Suriname, Belize, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and others in the run-up to Copenhagen, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported. “We hope that we can influence what takes place in Copenhagen and this is why our model is getting so much publicity around the world,” the President was quoted as stating.
Jagdeo recalled that Britain’s Prince Charles recently spoke about Guyana’s model and said other countries are using it. In what GINA described as a well-received detailed presentation, he noted that Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) is the only one that has advanced so far.
These areas are: climate change, disaster risk reduction and emergency management; regional integration including trade facilitation; education, including in the fields of science and technology, provision of scholarships and training of diplomats; university co-operation; food security and agricultural co-operation; renewable energy, microfinance; border security and sport, youth and culture. The CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) may also benefit from these resources, according to a statement from the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown.
This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two parties by Secretary-General of CARICOM Mr. Edwin Carrington and the Prime Minister of Australia Mr. Kevin Rudd on Sunday last in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia was one of four bilateral meetings between CARICOM Leaders and other Commonwealth Heads of Government, all of whom are members of the G20.
CARICOM leaders also met with the Prime Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom as well as the President of South Africa in pursuit of several objectives.
President Zuma indicated that he would make himself the advocate on this matter with both Organisations. Trade, tourism, climate change, security, air links, establishment and strengthening of ties between universities were viewed as areas in which the two sides could cooperate.
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My fellow Barbadians, in these very challenging economic times, we need to look inside ourselves to find the means of our own liberation.
We must bring a revolutionary approach to how we see ourselves and to the opportunities available to a confident, well-educated and compassionate people.
It will make the difference between being good and being the very best at what we do.
I ask us to reflect on the things that stunt our imagination and strangle our ambition and see how together we can eliminate them from the national landscape as relics of another era long since past.
It is not good enough for us to continue to dwell on what used to be in the Caribbean.
We cannot continue to plan for yesterday nor must we rest smugly on former victories.
It is impossible to build our future on the rubble of yesterday’s outdated ideas, systems and structures or on broken dreams and unrealized expectations.
The world is a far different place from even two years ago, much less 43. As such, I will be inviting you to a series of conversations in the months ahead to hear your ideas on the best way forward and to give you my own.
To all Barbadians everywhere on this Independence Day, be confident, be conscious and be blessed.
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The POS declaration, Rudd added, had now facilitated a breakthrough regarding financing for the most vulnerable states to adapt to and deal with the mitigating effects of climate change. This would be done via an annual “fast start” fund, starting in 2010 and building to a level of resources of $10 billion annually by 2012.
The fund will be known as the Copenhagen Launch Fund. Immediate fast disbursing assistance with a dedicated stream is proposed for small island states and associated low-lying coastal states to the tune of ten per cent of the fund. Leaders met with representatives of such states yesterday. Caribbean states are among small island territories.
What the leaders say:
“What the Commonwealth has done today is throw its full weight behind the process now chaired by the Prime Minister of Denmark,” Rudd said, noting that the situation on the climate change issue had reached something of an impasse previously. Rudd said the leaders’ declaration had recognised the importance of climate change finance in delivering a substantive outcome at Copenhagen.
Canada was fully supportive of the declaration and participation in the fund. Rudd added: “What we’re seeking to do in Copenhagen is to bring about a comprehensive, substantial, operationally-binding agreement in two steps. “The first is the Port-of-Spain Consensus which will lead to a legally-binding document during the course of 2010.”
He made the comment in Port of Spain yesterday, just one day after Prime Minister Patrick Manning declared that this country, which earns most of its revenue from its bread and butter oil and natural gas sectors, is not one of the world’s largest polluters in the world on a per-capita basis.
’Whatever the significance or importance of Trinidad and Tobago, I don’t think Trinidad and Tobago, these two islands, in any way risk upsetting world balance or carbon balance,’ Sarkozy, speaking through an interpreter, said.
Sarkozy also announced that France is willing to support a proposal for a fund to be supported by developed countries worth US$10 billion on an annual basis over the next three years, to assist the world’s poorer countries to combat deforestation, lower their carbon emissions and address the impact of climate change they are suffering.
As he made the comment, Sarkozy said he could not give an answer to a question with regard to Trinidad and Tobago, when asked about comments he made yesterday that India would be subject to financing under the fund because it is one of the world’s lowest polluters on a per capita basis.
“The banks are not doing a good enough job,” Michael S. Barr, Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, said in an interview Friday. “Some of the firms ought to be embarrassed, and they will be.”
Even as lenders have in recent months accelerated the pace at which they are reducing mortgage payments for borrowers, a vast majority of loans modified through the program remain in a trial stage lasting up to five months, and only a tiny fraction have been made permanent.
From its inception early this year, the Obama administration’s program, called Making Home Affordable, has been dogged by persistent questions about whether it could diminish a swelling wave of foreclosures. Some economists argued that the plan was built for last year’s problem — exotic mortgages whose payments increased — and not for the current menace of soaring joblessness. Lawyers who defend homeowners against foreclosure maintained that mortgage companies collect lucrative fees from long-term delinquency, undercutting their incentive to lower payments to affordable levels.
Last month, an oversight panel created by Congress reported that fewer than 2,000 of the 500,000 loan modifications then in progress had become permanent under Making Home Affordable. When the Treasury releases new numbers next month, it is expected to report a disappointingly small number of permanent loan modifications, with estimates in the tens of thousands out of the more than 650,000 borrowers now in the program.
Given the steady rise in oil prices last year that pushed electricity bills through the roof because of the fuel charge clause and the general rise of prices normally associated with higher oil prices, the imposition of millions of dollars of taxation cannot be described as trivial.
This imposition cannot be trivial in the context of Barbadians having to cope with high food prices, escalating electricity bills, rising water rates, more professional fees, greater insurance costs, increased mortgage payments, higher land taxes and land prices, and growing cost of all services. How could the burdensome taxation be isolated from the circumstances confronting workers, households and businesses?
The economy needed fiscal stimulus since last year. It received fiscal neglect instead, as the Minister of Finance preferred to wait and see, while imposing excess taxation.
Fiscal stimulus comes in two basic forms: (1) reduced taxation and (2) increased expenditure. The choice of one or the other is based on incidence, that is, who is to be affected: the household, the private sector or both.
This choice is driven by the need to expand economic activity primarily to maintain jobs with the understanding that there may be some loss of foreign reserves.
The loss of foreign reserves from enhancing spending in the economy is, however, grossly inflated as the estimate does not take into consideration the multiplier effects of spending a $1 and the high level of local value added to imported goods. The figure of 70 cents out of every $1 being spent on imports is absolute rubbish.
President Obama discussed climate change with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, when the two met in Beijing on Nov. 16.
China and the United States, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, have been in discussions on options that both nations can take to address the issue of climate change. Both countries are expected to be crucial players in talks next month at international climate meetings in Copenhagen at which nations will negotiate terms for a global post-2012 treaty on reducing emissions, although leaders have said they do not expect to come to an agreement there.
In Copenhagen, Mr. Obama will tell the delegates that the United States intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, American officials said Wednesday.
China’s announcement on Thursday of future reductions uses an altogether different benchmark. China will measure its reduction by carbon intensity, or amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product, meaning that emissions would still grow but the rate would slow.
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This advice came from President of the Foundation on Economic Trends, Jeremy Rifkin, as he delivered the 34th Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture held under the theme “The Third Industrial Revolution and a New Social Vision for the 21st Century” at the Frank Collymore Hall on Monday night.
He lamented that many regions will be first to feel the adverse effects of climate change in a few decades, the Caribbean region is definitely on the list. He explained that with global warming, a relatively slight increase in temperatures could spell trouble for the island chain, particularly as it relates to hurricane activity.
“For every one degree that the temperature rises on the earth, the atmosphere can absorb seven per cent more precipitation which means more violent rain, long years of drought, the whole water cycle changes and the eco systems of the world can not keep up.”
He added that a move to be environmentally conscious could lead to a boost for Barbados’ tourism product. “You have to make Barbados an eco-sustainable model for the world and the tourists will come and see ...to be part of an experiment like this where you can show across the island is completely post-carbon with all the modern model technology, they will come,” he assured.
And she is basing that confidence on what she cited as a mix of factors ranging from "growing public disaffection" with the David Thompson administration's approach to governing; the impact of the Government economic policies on people's lives; the BLP's vision that would be outlined in the campaign; and its array of candidates facing the electorate.
"I am confident because of the programme we will put to the country for its transformation and the team that will implement it, because there is no use having a programme if it's not capable of implementation," she said.
"There is, in fact, growing public disaffection with the Government. I don't want to frame this issue in terms of winning the next election, simply because people would then feel it's just about being power hungry.
"I really feel we will win not because of a simple power issue, but because the country, in order to maintain the quality of life we have now, needs transformation and that these guys [Democratic Labour Party administration] are not even showing that they are up to the task of maintaining the status quo, far less transforming the country."
"I recognise that historically Barbadians have not changed their government after one term.
"But I think a combination of the deep disappointment of Barbadians in the performance of the Government when compared with the promises they made, combined with us living in a very different world that will not admit of maintaining the status quo (would lead to a change in government)," Mottley said.
He added: "Having taken this unprecedented global action there is another choice: the timing of this withdrawal from that fiscal stimulus.
“Choking off recovery by turning off the life support for our economies prematurely would be fatal to British jobs, British growth and British prosperity for years. So that’s why we will continue with our current plans to support our economy until the private sector recovery is established, and we will ensure that nothing we do will jeopardise that recovery.
“Our strategy has to be to go for growth, now and in the long term, supporting the economy while ensuring sustainable public finances.”
Mr Brown also insisted that European growth was essential to the UK’s domestic prospects, bemoaning the recent focus on “personalities” as the EU picked out its new president and high representative.
He said that the real issue was how to create 10 million new jobs across the continent. “I want to see - in this low inflation environment in Europe - a push for the growth which could involve incentives for new private investment,” he said.
For advanced economies, where debt burdens have grown sharply over the past year, the IMF wants governments to design and communicate plans to get their respective finances back in order. That means ensuring stimulus measures are temporary and putting entitlement programs on a sustainable path. Eventually, more drastic measures will be necessary, Mr Strauss-Kahn said, including spending cuts and -- in some cases - tax increases.
The images will be frequently updated and anyone with internet access will be able to make instant comparisons with historical images and spot destruction of rainforest almost as soon as it happens.
Every four seconds an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is cut or burnt down for timber and paper or to clear land for cattle and plantations.
Rainforest destruction accounts for 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than is produced by all the world’s cars, ships and aircraft. Tropical forests cover 15 per cent of the world’s land surface and have a double cooling effect, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and maintaining high levels of evaporation from the canopy.
The armchair detectives will be able to report their findings to an international agency being created to monitor whether countries are meeting their commitments to reduce deforestation. Any state found to have broken its pledge will lose its share of a new global fund established by rich countries to pay nations for leaving their trees standing.
President Jagdeo of Guyana told the seminar that the cheapest way for industrialised countries to reduce carbon emissions was to pay poor countries, such as Guyana, not to fell their trees.
Contributors to the Redd fund will pay about £4 for each tonne of CO2 saved by reducing the rate of deforestation. Fitting carbon capture and storage systems to coal-fired power stations costs more than £50 for each tonne saved.
Norway announced last week that it would demonstrate how Redd could work by paying Guyana up to £150 million over five years to preserve its trees.
Guyana’s forests have been far less logged than in many tropical nations, and under the terms of the new deal with Norway, Guyana could actually be paid for increasing deforestation.
The memorandum states that Norway will compensate Guyana if it does not cut down more than 0.45 per cent of its forests per year, but Guyana is currently felling trees at a far slower rate. The countries contributing to Redd are concerned that their money could disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials in poorly governed countries. There are also fears that payments will result in logging companies switching to unprotected areas, resulting in no net reduction in deforestation.
"I would particularly like to thank President Jagdeo of Guyana. He has shown incredible leadership in all this,” the Prince stated.
The meeting, a few weeks before the important 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7 to 18, arrived at a consensus which comes in the form of an inter-governmental report produced by the Informal Working Group (IWG) of 35 countries, that was set up after the meeting of the G-20 leaders, convened by The Prince at St James’s Palace in April.
The IWG report outlines a process that would reward rainforest countries for reducing deforestation rates. Payments would be made on a performance basis, and by ensuring that the forests are worth more alive than dead, the financing is aimed at encouraging rainforest countries to pursue more sustainable forms of economic development.
The Prince urged the world’s Governments to deliver new public finance commitments to provide the funding that the IWG has demonstrated is necessary to reduce deforestation by 25% by 2015.
Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which was launched on June 8 and has gone through a four-month, exhaustive national consultative process, is the first national plan that seeks to combat climate change by preserving forests.
P> “There are no two people who can give the same answer as to what the Government’s plan is to make life easier for them.
“The Prime Minister is so deeply embedded in his wait-and-see approach that he seems unaware of his own waffling on what the Government’s policies are or should be,” Mottley charged.
And according to Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley, people are no closer to paying their bills after listening to Prime Minister David Thompson’s quarterly address to the country last Thursday night.
The opposition leader said that it was clear that the BWA had some “structural difficulties” to resolve before the rates were increased but instead of addressing them the Thompson Administration went ahead and increased water rates.
“No I am not surprised that he is now disappointed with the Water Authority,” she told the Saturday Sun. “That’s because we were all of the view that there are some structural difficulties that we have to address in the Barbados Water Authority. But more importantly to simply carry up the rates before addressing their minds to those structural difficulties is to ask Bajans to pay for the structural inefficiencies of the Authority and to subsidize the Authority instead of the government doing its job first and getting the structure and the inefficiencies dealt with first of all.
“The government seems to have a confused approach to the resolution of problems in the country and it is unfortunate because what the country needs now is certainty and clarity in respect of the kind of leadership the government provides,” she added.
“This government seems obsessed with ascribing blame to everyone else but themselves and it is part of the DNA of opposition politics. That’s why I say they seem not yet to be comfortable with the fact that they are the government of the country and they are required to govern,” she said.
The question we must ask ourselves is “What is the Prime Minister afraid of?” “Don’t Barbadians need a full, free and frank debate on the state of the economy?
Are we not deserving of alternative solutions from the Opposition?” The answers soon became apparent. Having first offered to allow Opposition Leader Mia Mottley the remaining two and a half hours to speak Prime Minister Thompson quickly withdrew the offer once she accepted.
For her part, Miss Mottley called on the Government yet again to create a joint economic committee of Parliament so that all members could make a contribution to finding solutions to our current problems. Yet again the offer was ignored.
This is a strange reaction from a Government that is clearly lacking in ideas and wants Team Barbados to dominate.
It is now abundantly clear that so long as the Democratic Labour Party remains in office that homegrown solutions are a thing of the past. We must steel ourselves against their incompetence and lack of economic imagination in how to deal with the problems we all confront.
Hope still lies in the ability of Mia Mottley and the members of the Barbados Labour Party to provide solutions, which they will continue to do in the interest of us all.
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"You see people doing things out of fear. You find that some workers know they are not supposed to carry out an instruction that is not conforming to the financial rules, and I'm talking about boards, but yet they will go do it out of fear cause they want to keep their jobs. That is bullying in my estimation."
"We talk about Public Sector Reform, we talk about customer charter but the union is experiencing, especially at the level of statutory boards, failure to respond to correspondence and certain departments in the Public Service also," he noted.
"This in itself is a violation of the Public Service Act and we're wondering what is happening.
"Is it an anti-union move? Or is it a situation where people are simply callous about the whole industrial relations process and what should happen?" the general secretary queried.
This attitude did not bode well for good industrial relations and had to be examined, Clarke added.
"I am not going to be distracted therefore by the list of roads called out by the Member for St Philip West or the blame game. In fact, the more I listen to this debate the more I realise that this Government is totally out to sea in respect of how to handle this economic crisis.
"It has been a completely defensive posture. They tried to attack as the best form of defence, but it doesn't matter because attacking on this side does not change the reality of any Barbadian household at 6 o'clock this evening," she said.
Mottley added that attacking the Opposition Barbados Labour Party would not change the reality of any enterprise or business, or "suddenly convert a tale of woe in terms of declines across almost every sector" into growth.
Furthermore, the St Michael North-East MP told the House of Assembly a "better approach" would be for parliamentarians to work together, create a joint committee of economics and finance affairs, so that "we get the benefit of all honourable members in this chamber and in the other chamber to ensure that the economic hole into which Barbados finds itself is not one that we cannot get out of within another year or two."
Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mottley noted that the Government has apparently not realised that the 400 jobs to be created by the capital works for the centre project is a far cry from the 10 000 jobs that needed to be protected in the tourism sector, which continues to decrease across the board.
The Opposition Leader again made the call for Government to defer its Constituency Councils project, noting it would save taxpayers $6 million dollars which could be better used to keep persons employed and help the sectors be more productive.
Until it is recognised by those who lead that the journey becomes more difficult when it is uncharted and that the future of Barbados is not about how quickly it comes out of an economic recession, the current pace of decay stands only to be accelerated by an economic downturn and certainly not halted by a return to economic growth. Though fundamental, the issues are not that easy but need leadership.
The first step in charting the new journey is to understand the potential of the people, remedy their weaknesses and build on their strengths. This is the true test of leadership.
But there must be a vision and a plan
Late Saturday afternoon, November 14, 2009, Opposition Leader Mia Mottley released this statement to the media.
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Yesterday’s news report of a further downgrade from a stable outlook to a negative outlook from Standard & Poors is regrettable but not unexpected.
There have now been two downgrades of our credit rating in two years of this Government.
This government is devaluing our international credit standing at a record pace.
If we are downgraded again we will be one step away from being officially classified as Junk, making borrowing more difficult and the cost more expensive.
We will then have gone from the star credit in the region just a few years ago to Junk Bond Status in two budgets.
This is the cost of this government’s fiscal incompetence and lack of imagination of how to deal with economic problems that are worsening by responses that are plenty of talk and little action.
Barbados cannot afford to be downgraded by international investors twice in two years while the Guyana economy reports this week 2.7% growth for the year so far.
It becomes clearer every day that the Government is at a loss as to how to manage the recession and is so lacking in confidence that it will not come to Barbadians with the truth.
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But under the current circumstances this is understandable and feather in the cap of those who are responsible for the management of the economy as well as the business sector which has continued to show confidence in the national economy.
Of course this positive news will be like poison for few among us but certainly welcome by the vast majority of Guyanese.
Only recently President Jagdeo drew attention to the fact that while many of our regional counterparts have instituted a wage freeze we are still granting wage increases and in this regard he assured that the public sector will receive an increase for this year.
Notably too Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, in a mid-year review tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday said that at the end of the reporting period, the non-sugar economy recorded positive growth, with expansion in output reflected across a broad base of sectors, pointing out that the Guyana economy has withstood challenges from the continuing global economic downturn and modest growth is projected by the end of the year.
This result undoubtedly demonstrated early returns to the government’s efforts at diversification, with the strongest rates of growth achieved in non-traditional agriculture sub-sectors. That notwithstanding, difficulties were encountered in some traditional sectors…on balance, the economy is still projected to achieve positive growth at the end of the year and continued macroeconomic stability is expected to be maintained,” the Finance Minister declared.
S&P attributed the adjustment on the island's outlook to deteriorating public finances, but did not fail to affirm the country's foreign currency ratings - long term at BBB and short-term at A-3 - and the local currency at A-2.
"We believe the timeliness and magnitude of Barbados' fiscal consolidation is uncertain because of a worse-than-anticipated economic recession . . . . The negative outlook reflects the possibility of a downgrade if the authorities fail to consolidate the general government deficit [estimated at 7.1 per cent of GDP in 2009] and to curb the rising debt.
"Results for the first three quarters of 2009 underscore a rapid deterioration in Barbados' public finances, at a faster rate than we had previously assumed, and a sharper economic contraction," the S&P report published yesterday stated.
Moreover, the rating agency projected that net Government debt would reach 52 per cent of GDP in 2009, up from 42 per cent three years ago and altered Barbados' real GDP estimate to negative 4.8 per cent this year from the prior estimate of negative 2.5 per cent and a further slump of one per cent in 2010.
What the CEO did not say is the Medical Intensive Care Unit has been closed for over one year.
The Barbados Labour Party left a plan in place to refurbish and expand the MICU from 6 beds to 12 beds, as a short-term measure, pending the construction of a new hospital. Additional space for the expansion became available after the relocation of the gastrointestinal unit to a spanking new facility in 2007.
Unbelievably, the new management of the QEH made a shortsighted decision last year to house a paediatric clinic in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. This blunder meant that the planned refurbishment of the Medical Intensive Care Unit was put on hold.
As a result, ill patients who would normally be admitted to the Medical Intensive Care Unit are now being accommodated in Accident & Emergency for inordinate lengths of time on monitors, or in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
As a result, the overflow of surgical patients, who would normally be housed in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, are now being monitored in the Recovery Room.
These are the real reasons for the cancellation of numerous elective surgical operations over the past few months at the QEH, as the Recovery Room and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit are almost constantly full, because there is no Medical Intensive Care Unit.
The Government has made a legally binding commitment to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 but has failed to set out how this could be achieved.
The study by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says that the target, the central plank of Britain’s negotiating position at the UN climate change summit in Copenhagen next month, is “an act of faith” with no grounding in reality.
Britain would need to build the equivalent of 30 nuclear power stations by 2015 to be on course to meet the target, the study says.
Britain’s highest rate of carbon intensity reduction was 2.3 per cent a year in the mid-1990s when several coal-fired power stations were replaced by more efficient gas-fired ones.
In recent years, carbon intensity has been falling by about 1.3 per cent a year.
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The eurozone, comprising the 16 countries that use the euro, reported that gross domestic product (GDP) — a key measure of economic health — grew by 0.4 per cent in the three months to September.
Germany, the zone’s biggest economy, confirmed its recovery, after exiting recession in the second quarter, when it said that GDP increased by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter. France also underlined its recovery, with 0.3 per cent growth.
The IEA, the Paris-based agency, which advises 28 industrialised economies, raised its estimate for global oil demand this year by 210,000 barrels per day, and for next year by 140,000 barrels per day "following stronger-than-expected preliminary data" for North America and "buoyant demand" in Asia and the Middle East.
“Not only that, but oil demand itself would rebound much more slowly were the price rally sustained into 2010,” the agency said, in its monthly report.
Global demand is now well on track for year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, which would be the first rise since the second quarter of 2008.
OPEC raised its 2010 demand forecast slightly but said that fuel consumption may not return to pre-crisis levels, and the IEA predicted less of a rise in 2010 in demand in the United States, the world's largest energy user.
Supporting the vesting of Crown lands in the National Housing Corporation (NHC) at The Ivy yesterday, Clarke said between 1994 and 2007 the former Barbados Labour Party Government helped mortgages grow from $293 million to $1.5 billion, while creating a large number of small contractors and an unprecedented building boom.
"The building boom lasted for over five years, but today it is the opposite, and one out of three persons in the construction industry is finding himself on the breadline," he told the House of Assembly yesterday.
Clarke added that his Government had "taken pains" to lift the building industry, but the current Government was now blaming its decline on the recession.
"Their manifesto promised to maintain the building boom . . . but now only a few contractors are benefiting from the large sums being disbursed," he added.
The review, reporting next month, will consider whether visas should be granted only to foreign students on degree and postgraduate courses and stopped for those seeking to take shorter courses leading to lower-level qualifications.
Mr Brown also announced plans for a reduction of thousands in the number of posts on the Government's shortage occupation list, for which foreign workers can gain access to the UK because of a lack of local people with the skills to do the jobs.
Local workers will be given additional opportunities to secure available jobs, with the extension from two to four weeks of the period for which they must be advertised in JobCentres before employers seek to recruit overseas.
Mr Brown said this would be coupled with a scaling up in training opportunities to ensure that the jobs which become available as Britain emerges from recession go to the resident population rather than a new wave of incomers from abroad.
Yesterday we brought you Part 4 of the vision outlined by the Honourable Leader of the Opposition at her party’s 71st Annual Conference, on October 25th 2009.
Today we are pleased to bring you the fifth and final part
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We must develop ways of helping the country afford better health care so our people can live as long and as well as is possible.
More importantly we must ensure that Barbadians take greater responsibility for their health and wellness through the lifestyle choices that we make. We cannot afford the cost of not doing so.
This is not a trial run, a practice match, a dress rehearsal, this is the real thing and Barbados needs and Barbadians deserve an active, pro-active government with a strategy to put us back on par with the best, not with the rest.
We have arrived at a fork in the road, The DLP has chosen to take the low road, to shrug off the strategic challenges and try to divide the nation and this great party to steal another election.
The nation cannot afford to go further down that road.
Our slow under-performance will entrench problems as we are forced to under invest in our physical, cultural, environmental and human resources.
We must return to the high road, grab the opportunities and truly put our people at the centre of a new development strategy.
Yesterday we brought you Part 3 of the vision outlined by the Honourable Leader of the Opposition at her party’s 71st Annual Conference, on October 25th 2009.
Today we are pleased to bring you Part 4.
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Our people will continue to be our richest resource. But we must invest in that resource and support it, in order for us to maximize what it can achieve. Simply resting on our accomplishments to date will deny us the very real bounty that can be ours.
We must treat always to the legitimate ambitions of our people to want simply to own their own house, to have a job and to ensure that they and their children receive the best education possible.
This must be our constant objective.
Our sportsmen and our athletes with the right support from the public and private sector and civil society can become global citizens influencing millions of young people and earning valuable foreign exchange.
Our young people must be given more opportunities for post-secondary training and tertiary education beyond what exists now but in so doing we must provide mechanisms for our students to be exposed to the outside world by spending a semester or two at other educational institutions across the globe.
Yesterday we brought you Part 2 of the vision outlined by the Honourable Leader of the Opposition at her party’s 71st Annual Conference, on October 25th 2009.
Today we are pleased to bring you Part 3.
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The systems in our government must be more responsive to our citizens irrespective of who they are. Every citizen, rich and poor, employer, employee, pensioner, healthy and sick deserves effective government and that means developing new arrangements where public sector employees can take more responsibility for getting a job done well and done quickly. In none of these categories can we afford to be an also ran.
Our politics must be strategic and less tribal, must not be so conceived as to dismiss 50% of the population in the course of nation building.
Do we have such a surplus of technical experience that new governments should in cavalier fashion dismiss our boards and technocrats whenever they are elected.
Our politics must be less personal so as not to deter men and women who might otherwise be willing to give of their time and talents to political service.
We must actively engage Bajans by birth, descent or choice no matter where in the world they reside to be part of a new virtual population and to use their skills and capital in building out our economy.
Yesterday we brought you Part 1 of the vision outlined by the Honourable Leader of the Opposition at her party’s 71st Annual Conference, on October 25th 2009.
Today we are pleased to bring you Part 2.
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In our last year of office we developed plans for a new Financial Services Commission and a new Financial Services Institute (for which the EU had agreed to make a contribution) that would lead our charge in this area.
This is now more pressing than then, but not a name and a building, properly resourced institutions with a clear developmental strategy for converting foreign skills and jobs into local skills and jobs.
We need to energise our private sector and help them play the critical role in getting us to 5% to 10% growth. Part of that will be encouraging entrepreneurs through a more efficient, clever and e-government. A new class of entrepreneurs will also help to democratize the ownership of capital in Barbados.
Our development strategy needs to be adapted to reflect our reality.
Tourism will face a limit on the basis of our carrying capacity and it is likely that this will be in our lifetime.
Their statement came days after Judicial Managers who were appointed at the company's branches throughout the Caribbean, submitted their reports which revealed, according to the ECCU, troubling facts.
With the liabilities of the branches in the Eastern Caribbean totalling EC$1.05 billion (US$391 million) and nowhere near that amount of money available, liquidation is one option. But the ECCU said that going that route is "unacceptable".
The whole aim of the new strategy is to avoid the BAICO going into liquidation, which would result in policyholders getting as little as 10 cents on every dollar they invested.
The proposed new company would have its headquarters in the Eastern Caribbean and would assume the traditional life insurance, medical insurance and annuity business of British American branches.
It will be capitalized by ECCU Governments, the Government of Trinidad & Tobago, the Government of Barbados, and one or more strategic investors, the ECCU said.
The institute's estimate for past month contributes to an overall 0.4 per cent decline in output in the three months until the end of October, the same level as in the three months to the end of September.
After the surprise 0.4 per cent decline in third quarter GDP, which measures there period between July and September, economists had been confident that Britain would return to growth in the fourth quarter, after six consecutive quarterly declines.
However, there are growing concerns that Britain may have to wait until the first quarter of next year to leave the recession and today’s NIESR figures will do little to remove those doubts.
In January, the Government will restore the VAT rate from 15 per cent to its previous level of 17.5 per cent.
"We know that CLICO General and CLICO Mortgage Finance were sold but those two companies alone would only yield CLICO Holdings Barbados, the parent company, some $30 million; when in truth and in fact, at the end of 2007, the portfolio for life, group, health policies and annuities was $612 million, of which $575 million is the annuity component.
"So that a $30 million from the sale of CLICO Mortgage Finance and from the sale of CLICO General Insurance would not in any way grow to assist Government in the medium term to assure Barbadian policy and annuity holders that they would not lose their money in these entities," she said.
Mottley said that when one looked at the threat that CLICO's situation posed to the economy, it was important that Prime Minister David Thompson addressed the concerns of the policyholders and the annuity holders.
There has been virtually no information whatsoever provided in relation to CLICO Life.
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China’s giant economy is now expected to grow 8.4 percent this year, according to the World Bank’s latest projection, rather than by the 7.2 percent it had forecast in June. It forecasts 8.7 percent growth for next year.
The new 2009 estimate is just shy of the 8.5 percent being projected by the International Monetary Fund, which likewise raised its forecast for China and the rest of Asia last week, and also echoes recent upward revisions by economists at several private-sector banks.
China’s remarkable rebound stems mostly from a massive spending package, of 4 trillion yuan, or $585 billion, which the government announced a year ago. Lower interest rates and vastly increased lending by the country’s state-owned banks also have helped offset the fallout from the collapse in demand in Europe and the United States, which has hit export industries in China — and elsewhere in Asia — hard.
Chinese export growth is likely to resume, helped by strong fundamental competitiveness and the recent depreciation of the nominal effective exchange rate, the World Bank said in its quarterly review of China on Wednesday.
With support building for the cause, MP Teather, a liberal democrat, has been listening to her constituents, and last Friday she sent out a release stating: "Many of my constituents in Brent East will be hit hard by these taxes and I believe the government needs to take action now. It is shocking that people flying to the Caribbean will be charged so much more than those flying to the west coast of America even though it's further away."
"This massive anomaly just shows that arbitrary flying zones are not only unworkable but also unfair," the release further stated.
"It is important that we do more to halt carbon emissions and I am in favour of this. However, airlines should be taxed based on the distance travelled and emissions omitted rather than boundaries drawn up by a government minister.
We should tax planes and not people."
In a speech at the second FSA conference held to discuss his Turner Review on bank regulaton, published in March, he said that banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had been kept alive by huge injections of government capital because they were seen as too big to let them go bust. He said that a possible answer to this would be to force larger "systemically important banks" to hold larger amounts of capital.
Lord Turner said: "Essentially, such measures amount to a tax on size or on other measures of systemic importance."
The FSA chairman said that there was no one "silver bullet" for addressing the problem of banks becoming too big to fail, but that such a tax and several other key measures would be a better method than drawing up laws to separate investment banks and retail banks.
Alistair Darling is expected to announce tomorrow that Lloyds Banking Group and RBS will be stripped down and various parts sold to new owners, creating as many as three new institutions on the high street.
Mr Darling will argue that this is needed to introduce more competition in the retail banking sector. It comes just a year after the Government agreed to the merger of Lloyds and HBOS to create Britain’s biggest bank.
Northern Rock is likely to be split by the end of the year into a “good bank”, BankCo, which can be sold off, and a “bad bank”, the assets of which will be wound down. “We have what we believe is a viable bank [with Northern Rock], which can be sold with private investment coming back in. The remaining assets, they’re not all bad, some of them, you know. If we could take commercial property for example, it may not be worth that much today, but in time it will come back,” Mr Darling said.
He summoned the key PNM troops who would be leading the party into electoral battle to what was termed a “political strategy” meeting by participants at the Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s. It was attended by most of the 26 MPs and senators, as well as the executives from all 41 constituencies.
Enill confirmed that the PNM was organising to send its foot soldiers back into the communities to conduct what was indeed an election campaign, one he vowed would “leave no stone unturned” as it related to party preparations.
However, while Enill said local government elections would be held as planned next year, he carefully sidled around the question of whether Manning was going to call a snap general election early next year. Enill did not rule that out, but stressed it was Manning’s decision alone to make.
The Cascadia meeting was to launch a street-to-street and house-to-house campaign in all 41 constituencies, with special attention being paid to the 15 held by the Opposition United National Congress (UNC), said Enill.
“REIMAGINING BARBADOS”
Over the course of the next 18 months the BLP will seek to engage communities across Barbados on a wide range of issues affecting every sphere of our lives.
I am satisfied that this engagement is necessary to ensure that we can share our vision in more detail and that we can learn from Barbadians the things they want to see addressed in the next decade.
But I will share with you nevertheless a few thoughts which I have as I seek to re-imagine our future.
In the last few years emerging markets have shifted a couple gears. China and India, once desperately poor countries, now post 10% growth rates per year every year. Last year, a poor year for the global economy, a year when we did not grow at all, some 80 countries grew more than 5%, spread evenly across the world - 25 of these were in Africa.
Today our 3-4% growth remains above par within the Caribbean but is now below par relative to the rest of the world. This means three new things.
It appears that the acceptable scripts for women in powerful public political roles are still rigidly defined and easy to violate—by being too “pushy” or too “soft,” too “strident” or too accommodating, too sexless or too sexual.
It seems all too easy for women leaders to run afoul of their constituents or their colleagues by deviating from the narrowly-defined set of behaviors in which cultural femininity overlaps with leadership.
With the necessity to conform to two, often conflicting, sets of expectations, high-profile women leaders in the United States are relentlessly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts.
If women are to claim their share of leadership positions, and to operate effectively within such positions, women and men must be aware of these differential expectations, know how they affect both leaders and constituents, and understand what responses may be useful.
Given the issues raised so far, it is not surprising to learn that, in order for women to be accepted in leadership roles, they must often have external endorsements.
Particularly in competitive, highly-masculinized contexts, simply having leadership training or task-related expertise does not guarantee a woman’s success unless accompanied by legitimation by another established leader.
The nation’s gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the three months ending in September, a significant spike from a somewhat shrunken base. The economy had contracted at annual rates of 0.7 percent and 6.4 percent in the second and first quarters of this year, respectively.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the billions in federal aid devoted to economic renewal, including policies that encouraged consumer spending on cars and housing.
On the one hand, the poor job market is discouraging Americans from increasing their spending by too much. Consumer spending on nondurable goods like food and clothing, for example, increased 2 percent in the third quarter, compared to a decline of 1.9 percent in the second.
Likewise, stagnant consumer demand and withering consumer confidence have left companies wary of hiring more employees — or, for that matter, taking any expensive risks.
US gross domestic product (GDP), a key measure of a country's economic strength, grew by 3.5 per cent between July and September — at the top end of economists’ forecasts.
America joins Japan, China, Germany and France as the world’s leading economies that have emerged from recession.
Britain, the world’s sixth largest economy according to the World Bank, was widely expected to have recovered in the third quarter.
However, shock figures, released last week, showed that the UK economy contracted between July and September, leaving the country battling the longest recession on record.
Of the world's largest economies, China last week declared that their economy grew at an annual pace of 3.5 per cent in the third quarter, while Japan registered quarterly growth of 0.6 per cent between July and September.
The French and German economies both grew by 0.3 per cent on a quarterly basis.
Where is the official report on Barbados' economic performance in the second quarter?
And what about the reverse tax credit?
Mottley, the Member of Parliament for St Michael North East, asked the questions after Thompson had moved the first reading of two bills intended to make Barbados more attractive to international companies.
Mottley said she had no problem supporting any amendments to legislation that would make Barbados a more attractive jurisdiction, but she was still concerned about the silence from the Government when it came to plans to deal with the current economic situation facing Barbadians.
"We knew we could not reach certain expenditure targets. Changes should be made, and the public informed," she told the Lower Chamber.
"This is a public matter, and I have heard the Prime Minister talk about cuts. Where are those cuts being made, and how?" Mottley asked.
Thompson made the comments while debating the validation of two bills, the Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Provisions and Validation) Bill 2009, and the International Financial Services (Validation) Bill, 2009.
Claiming that the Government's increase in tax was preventing new companies from entering Barbados' financial services sector, Thompson also noted that this was a huge blow, since such entities provided 60 per cent of the total amount of corporate tax paid into the treasury.
"I don't support the level of taxation," Thompson said. "Over time we have seen how this sector has grown to be a major plank in the Barbados economy as a significant foreign exchange earner, so dealing with it requires very sensitive handling. We simply can't afford to alienate this sector and stifle its activity."
“I trust and hope that the Government, in all sincerity can tell the public of Barbados when they can expect to receive the Income Tax return and the reverse tax credits. We do not want the public of Barbados, and I certainly hope that the Government does not want the public of Barbados to believe, that this is a Government prepared to put in place a regime for holding companies for international businesses, but is not prepared to address the legitimate concerns of ordinary Barbadians in relation to the receipt of income tax returns and reverse tax credits.”
On another note, Mottley said that the pensioners are also worried this week about whether they will get their cheques, because the postal workers were striking, because one of their motorcycles was stolen again.
“The motorcycles they use are not owned by the Government of Barbados, but the postmen and we would have been the ones to put in place an interest free loan because we would have recognised that you should not ask a man to buy his tools of trade...,” she said.
"This party will move forward as a united force, recognising that we have a deeper obligation to the people . . . . We have a duty to put an alternative vision to the people of Barbados, as well as to defend them, and I think that we are all agreed in here that this is what we will do and we will do vigorously," Mottley promised.
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley swept away all doubts about her leadership of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) with a convincing victory at the Roebuck Street, Bridgetown party headquarters last night.
Marshall told the media that "after a full and frank discussion, the parliamentary group has reaffirmed its support of Mottley as political leader and Leader of the Opposition", and that she would lead the BLP into the next general election, constitutionally due in 2013.
“There is no creativity in their approach to economic management, they continue to rely on a failed, one-size-fits-all, IMF type economic prescription while the cold, hard results of their failure stare them in the face.” She said that the Government had no proposals on how to counter job losses and restructure the economy and was expecting to face a jobless recovery from the recession.
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley presented a dismal outlook on the Barbados economy on Sunday, predicting more job losses, a further decline in tourism, and increases to the cost of living. She was also highly critical of Government’s handling of the international business, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.
Mottley told the BLP membership that Government was facing severe financial constraints with departments shaving expenditure and finding it difficult to make payments to businesses. She cited the Immigration Department as an example, saying that the office had run out of regular passport stock meaning that Bajans were facing difficulty with the issuance of passports.
Noting that Government had to raise revenue, Mottley said, “So do not be surprised for instance if bus fare are not increased to between $2.50 and $3 despite his [Prime Minister David Thompson] telling the IMF that he has no intention of raising bus fares.” She also expected that the price of natural gas to go up in line with the recent increase in water rates and a proposed hike in electricity rates.
The reverend also told the gathering that the BLP "had never been known to be part of this open warfare" and he advised" it must not become part of the party now".
The Barbados Labour (BLP) was yesterday urged to settle any "perceived leadership problems" in the party, if it wants to win the Government again.
The advice was given by Reverend Wayne Kirton during a sermon at the start of the annual BLP conference at the Barbados Community College.
To loud applause from those in attendance, Reverend Kirton let it be known that "the perceived leadership struggle is not going to do this party any good. If the perceived leadership struggle boils over, the Barbados Labour Party will remain in opposition for another term".
He strongly advised the members to support party leader Mia Mottley.
In his address, chairman George Payne also called on the rank and file of the party to rally behind Mottley.
"We have an elected political leader - an undisputed leader. We are rallying behind our leader. They are spreading rumours all over the place that this body wants to take over and this body wants to come back. We don't know anything about that."
“I am not only talking from the perspective of the construction, but part of the extreme difficulty that we had that delayed the project for years, was the whole issue of the fact that the boardwalk was to cross people’s property. And some of the people who are now having the benefit of increased traffic to their properties, and having their properties exposed and beautified by the presence of the boardwalk, gave the greatest resistance to the construction,” she stated.
“We negotiated with some of them for years, and I personally had to go and meet with them and plead with some of the property owners to give it their support. Some of them even threatened to sue the Government, and carry them to court in an effort to stop the project.”
People have no idea what we went through to get that project to thestage where it is today that Barbadians can enjoy it,” she continued.
Opposition Senator Elizabeth Thompson made this disclosure on Wednesday evening during debate in the Upper House of Assembly. She went on to add that people are now able to view and enjoy the boardwalk, but they did not understand how difficult it was to get the project underway and finalised.
The newly constructed boardwalk has enhanced the overall beauty of the South Coast, while also significantly increasing the value of the property along that stretch.
She also revealed that there were also plans in the making for a similar project on the West Coast, but they had encountered even sterner resistance from the owners of the affected properties.
Such an accomplishment would bring several issues into play with respect to the distribution and retail trade in Barbados.
These issues include:
(1) the current sources of food items by the established importers;
(2) the pricing of the imported items; and
(3) the relative quality of imported food items by private and Government agencies. Of course, there are other issues but space does not allow their treatment.
Apparently the Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce has found by whatever means "that every single time an item was brought in . . . by a state enterprise, the price of the item fell between 40 and 50 per cent". The question is: is it the same item from the same source, with the same taxes applied at the port of entry?
Unfortunately, Mr Minister, the supermarket business is not as simple as import and put on a shelf for sale. There is something called credit on which a supermarket really depends and which the Government must be prepared to offer if it wants to intervene in the market to deliver some food items at 50 per cent lower cost to the consumer.
The success of the initiative by Government depends not only on price but moreso on quality. It is always possible to source an inferior good and sell it at a lower price but the Barbados market is a lot more sophisticated than is being suggested.
“You can’t have two members of one Cabinet bringing two different stories to the people of Barbados,” he continued. “The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and its leadership needs to come clean with the people of Barbados. Either they’re going to build a new hospital or they’re not going to build it, but you cannot be saying two different things at the same time and confusing the people of Barbados. Healthcare is not the DLP’s play toy,” he said. “This is about people’s lives and people’s ability to access healthcare,” he stressed.
Duguid was speaking during a press conference at the Opposition office in Parliament yesterday afternoon. He said the BLP supported the construction of a new hospital, noting the advanced age of the island’s premiere health facility, which meant it was now out of date. To this end, he said the party intended to construct a new hospital whenever it regained control of Government.
“When is the DLP going to take healthcare seriously and really do something about improving healthcare in Barbados?” Duguid asked.
Duguid then characterised the healthcare system in Barbados as being in crisis and a state of confusion, noting that people were having significant difficulty in accessing quality healthcare at the QEH and it was getting worse despite promises from Government to fix the situation.
The plan, for the 25 top earners at seven companies that received exceptional help, will on average cut total compensation this year by about 50 percent. The companies are Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and the financing arms of the two automakers.
Some executives, like the top traders at A.I.G., will face tight limits on their pay. In addition, the top-paid employees at all the affected companies will face new limits on their perks.
The plan will also change the form of the pay to align the personal interests of the executives with the longer-term financial health of the companies. For instance, the cash portion of the executives’ salaries will be slashed on average by 90 percent, and the rest will be replaced by stock that cannot be sold for years.
But while the plan would pare compensation substantially from what the highest-paid people at the companies might have received under normal circumstances, it would still permit multimillion-dollar pay packages.
Her comments came in the House of Assembly yesterday morning as she made her contribution to the debate.
“I don’t believe that the Government can intervene on every aspect of the responsibilities of a parent relationship, but I am also cognisant and conscious that there are circumstances where a child’s behaviour is such that it requires other forms of intervention.”
That, she explained, is why the Edna Nicholls Centre was formed, because to simply suspend a child, stopping that child from going to school, did not resolve any issue. But, she said by putting that child in a structured environment gave trained professionals the opportunity to find out what it is that caused the initial problem.
However, Mottley explained that it was never intended that the Edna Nicholls Centre would be the end all of the process, because under the Education Act they can only hold the child for three weeks with the possibility of an extension.
As such, she said that they always recognised that Barbados needed another type of institution which she said the former Attorney General and Member of Parliament for St. Joseph, Dale Marshall was working on before they left office.
“You need an institution that allows for parents or ultimately a combination of persons through the courts, not because the child has committed a criminal act yet, but because the child’s behaviour is such that it is so disruptive to a school environment.
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Others pay meteorologists to forecast weather that will affect the price of oil and wheat. And still others hire corporate executives to provide an inside view of companies and industries.
Insider trading, however, can be difficult to prove, said Leslie R. Caldwell, the co-chief of the white-collar crime division at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
The line between buying legitimate research, trading rumors and gossip, and illegally paying for market-moving information can be complicated.
The S.E.C. has tried to combat insider trading for decades, relying mainly on tips and reports of suspicious trading in a single stock.
Two years ago, the commission began to install sophisticated data-mining software that examines trading records, looking for patterns of trades across stocks that appear suspiciously profitable.
Federal securities laws put limits on the race for information. Corporate executives are not allowed to give investors market-moving tips about their companies.
Companies must disclose critical news, like quarterly earnings, to everyone at the same time.
Investors who try to lock in guaranteed profits by, say, paying to see a news release an hour before a company posts it are engaging in illegal insider trading.
The United States and a number of other major emitting countries have concluded that it is more useful to take incremental but important steps toward a global agreement than to try to jam through a treaty that would be either too weak to address the problem or too onerous to be ratified and enforced.
Instead, representatives at the Copenhagen meeting are likely to announce a number of interim steps and agree to keep talking next year.
Negotiators have accepted that it is all but inevitable that representatives of the 192 nations in the talks will not resolve the outstanding issues in the brief time remaining before the Copenhagen conference opens in mid-December.
o officials are now narrowing expectations and defining the areas where there is agreement, such as the need to halt and then reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, although how and by whom remains the subject of intense dispute.
Negotiators are also discussing what form any declaration that emerges from Copenhagen might take and how to ensure that any promises made there are kept.
Among the chief barriers to a comprehensive deal in Copenhagen is Congress’s apparent inability to enact climate and energy legislation that would set binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
Euro-zone governments know they will soon have to start reducing the huge deficits and public debt they incurred to rescue banks, absorb the social cost of recession and stimulate growth.
Otherwise, the European Central Bank will feel obliged to raise interest rates faster and further, crimping economic recovery.
But while Germany’s new center-right coalition is preparing to restore fiscal discipline starting next year, France’s public finances are still heading over a cliff. Italy, Spain, Greece and Ireland all face an alarming rise in their debt levels.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has just announced a 2010 budget with a record deficit of 8.5 percent of gross domestic product. On top of that, Mr. Sarkozy plans a big issue of public savings bonds to finance high-tech industrial projects.
Mr. Sarkozy has made some unpopular structural changes, like declining to replace one out of every two retiring civil servants. But all the savings achieved were wiped out by the cost of cutting the value-added tax on restaurants — a populist measure whose benefits have not been fully passed on to consumers.
In answer to another question, he said the American financial regulatory system was “inadequate” at managing the immense inflows of cheap money from China and other countries that had huge trade surpluses.
In his prepared remarks, Mr. Bernanke acknowledged that trade imbalances had declined sharply as a result of the crisis, mainly because trade itself plunged, but he warned that American foreign indebtedness would aggravate the imbalances once again unless the United States reduced its soaring federal budget deficit.
“The United States must increase its national saving rate,” he said. “The most effective way to accomplish this goal is by establishing a sustainable fiscal trajectory, anchored by a clear commitment to substantially reduce federal deficits over time.”
Speaking at a conference of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Mr. Bernanke said Asian countries had bounced back from the global recession faster than the rest of the world and had become the engine of the global economic recovery.
The Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations (CTUSAB) has appealed for a change in policy, calling the decision not to renew the contracts of Nigerian nurses "ill-advised" and pointing out that the pass rate of nurses from the Barbados Community College was low.
It said that while it supported the idea of giving priority to Barbadian and other Caribbean nurses in the recruitment programme, the QEH had benefited from hiring Nigerian nurses.
"CTUSAB is satisfied that the recruitmentof specialist nurses from Nigeria and general nurses from St Vincent and the Grenadines was a step in the right direction towards solving the issue of a nursing shortage at the QEH," the statement, signed by general secretary Dennis DePeiza, said.
"The Congress believes that having not stabilised the number of nurses required to provide the expected quality health care, that the decisionnot to renew the contracts of the approximately 48 Nigerian nurses by successive Ministers of Health was ill-advised.
"The Congress holds the view that the decision has served to exacerbate an already critical situation."
The authorities needed to ensure that patient care was not compromised in the short term by having a well-planned and managed system for the phasing out of the Nigerian and other non-Barbadian nurses from the system, CTUSAB argued.
The average employee in its high-risk investment banking arm is likely to take home £240,000, with the top 20 staff in line for payments of between £1m and £5m.
The payouts by the investment banking division — from a total pay and bonus pot of £4 billion — would top the deals awarded at the peak of the financial boom in 2007 and are 66% higher than those paid last year.
RBS, then headed by Sir Fred Goodwin, had to be rescued from collapse by the Treasury last October with an initial injection of £20 billion. The taxpayer now has a 70% stake in the bank.
Any suggestion of bumper bonuses will put RBS on a collision course with UK Financial Investments, which oversees taxpayers’ investments in banks. It would have to approve the payments.
The RBS plans are the latest sign that the bonus culture is returning to the City just a year after the financial system was saved from collapse.
The banks that have survived the financial crisis are now making huge profits in areas such as debt and currency trading, where instability in the global economy has created opportunities.
Some traders in specialised areas are making bigger profits than before because of the chaos created by the collapse. After a series of forced mergers, there are also fewer competitors in a number of areas, allowing the banks to charge clients higher fees.
RBS is expected to lobby hard to be allowed to make the payments, claiming that dozens of its top performing executives have been poached by rivals offering even bigger pay deals.
Almost a third of the bank’s wealth management staff in Singapore walked out last week over fears they would receive lower than expected bonuses.
That's according to Peter Phillips, spokesperson on transport for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP).
His comments followed a recent visit to the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal by Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley and other party officials.
"The travelling public will be greatly disadvantaged by this move as they will be forced to adjust their travel schedule," said Phillips.
"This action will undoubtedly affect people, especially those working split shifts in the hotel industry.
Pensioners, in particular, will feel it and generally, Barbadians will now spend longer hours on the road commuting from one point to another in order to transact their business.
Phillips noted that while new arrangements for schoolchildren introduced by Government were welcomed, it was clear the administration could not afford them.
"The travelling public must now be justifiably upset," he said. "We welcome the announcement by the PSVs that they will not be cutting back their services and will pick up any slack on the routes, even though they have had to contend with increased costs.
This afternoon I am going to discuss some of the implications of Moody’s Investor Service most recent rating of Barbados.
It is with mounting concern that the people of Barbados learnt this week of yet another downgrade of the Barbados economy, this time by Moody’s Investor Services. We are now one level away from losing investment grade status.
Were this to happen, it would be more difficult and more expensive for our country and our companies to borrow funds on the international capital markets. This will in turn have a negative affect on our debt profile and the short-term expansion of growth in the economy.
It is now clear that the Barbadian economy is in serious difficulty as it continues down the slippery slope from prosperity to crisis. Unfortunately, we are yet to see any clear leadership by the Government to stabilize the economy.
It is also clear that not enough is being done to protect jobs, to keep prices down, or most importantly to rescue existing businesses, large and small, during this turbulent period.
Our leader has already said that the Barbados Labour Party stands ready to play its part. I reiterate her call to the Government during the Budget debate for the appointment of a Joint Select Committee of Parliament to assist in tackling the problems facing our country.
A Breakfast Meeting, which is yet to be convened, cannot replace the national mobilization required to bring our country back from the brink.
I wish to repeat that the Barbados Labour Party stands ready to play its part, as what is at stake is the future welfare of our dear country and our people.
In his speaking notes, presented on Tuesday to the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's (JCC's) economic forum, he said the "time has come" to commence negotiations with the London Club of creditors.
At stake is "a restructuring deal with private holders of Jamaican foreign debt which accounts for approximately 60 per cent of total external public debt", according to Livshits, while he expects "the same procedure could be considered with relation to sovereign creditors - both multilateral and bilateral".
"I am aware that Jamaica already has an experience of dealing with the Paris Club of sovereign creditors having signed seven restructuring agreements between 1984 and 1993 for a total US$1.1 billion in sovereign debt," stated Livshits.
The London Club is an informal group of international private creditors while the Paris Club is a group of public lenders that negotiate over sovereign debt.
In 2000, the London Club agreed to write off 36.5 per cent of Russia's US$32-billion, Soviet-era debt and reschedule payments over 30 years following a seven-year grace period. Then, Russia's debt-to-GDP ratio was 100 per cent.
Jamaica's debt ratio stood at 115.8 per cent on April 1.
At the end of July 2009, Jamaica's external debt stock stood at US$6.28 billion ($559.3 billion), or approximately 44 per cent of its total debt.
This year? Dilly-dallying, even waiting just a few days, could carry a steep price. Fares, though still lower now than at this time last year, are rising each day, a trajectory that began more than a month ago.
A JetBlue flight to Orlando that was $524 on Sept. 24 was $614 on Thursday, and a Continental flight from Newark to San Francisco that was $504 on Sept. 18 was $770.
In recent weeks, some flights have risen even more. From New York, a round-trip American Airlines flight to Chicago that cost $354 on Sept. 14 was $540 on Thursday, a 52 percent jump, according to Yapta.com, which tracks fares.
Airlines now have an advantage in the endless game of cat-and-mouse with travelers. Because of the recession, they have been grounding planes. Fewer seats for sale gives them more power to set prices, since they are less desperate to get even modest fares to help fill up planes.
The number of domestic seats for sale is down 5 percent this month, compared with October last year, and they are down 21 percent from October 2000, according to OAG, an aviation-data firm.
It is with great regret that the people of Barbados have learnt of yet another downgrade of the Barbados economy, this time by Moody’s Investor Services.
We are now one level away from losing investment grade status. Were this to happen, it would be more difficult and more expensive for our country and our companies to borrow funds on the international capital markets.
It is clear that the Barbadian economy is in serious difficulty and we are yet to see any clear leadership by the Government to stabalise the economy. It is also clear that there is not enough being done to protect jobs, neither to keep prices down nor to rescue the existing companies during this turbulent period.
The Prime Minister and his Ministers must now remain on the ground and work around the clock utilizing the skills and energy of ALL Barbadians to stop this economic free fall. The Barbados Labour Party stands ready to play its part, as what is at stake is the future welfare of our dear country and our people.
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Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Barbados' Government bond ratings following several years of deterioration in credit metrics.
The Baa2 foreign currency Government bond rating and the A3 local currency Government bond rating were downgraded to Baa3 and Baa2, respectively.
The resulting one-notch differential between the local and foreign currency ratings is based on the depth of the local financial market, which makes the hypothetical risk of a default slightly lower in local currency than in foreign currency. The outlook is stable.
Moodys has also downgraded Barbados' country ceiling for foreign-currency bonds to A3 from A1 and the country ceiling for foreign-currency bank deposits to Baa3 from Baa2. Both ratings have a stable outlook.
Since the last rating change in 2000, Barbados' Central Government debt stock has more than doubled and is expected to well exceed 100 per cent of GDP by the end of this year, from 65 per cent in 1999.
Relative to revenues, the debt burden has increased significantly and is well above the average for the same rating category.
In its World Economic Outlook released this month, the IMF projected Jamaica's economic growth at only 2.1 per cent in 2014, which comparatively is the fourth worst among the 32 developing nations in the western hemisphere.
Venezuela is expected to have the lowest growth rate at 0.4 per cent whilst Panama is expected to have the highest growth rate at 6.5 per cent in that year.
Jamaica's low growth will cause it to drop from sixth to the fifth worst among the 32-nation group between 2009 and 2010. Interestingly, Jamaica's growth in 2014 is expected to be half the average growth of the 32-nation group at four per cent.
The IMF noted that developing economies are showing signs of recovery from the global downturn.
"Emerging and developing economies are further ahead on the road to recovery, led by a resurgence in Asia - in general, emerging economies have withstood the financial turmoil much better than expected based on past experience, which reflects improved policy frameworks. However, gains in activity are now being seen more broadly, including in the major advanced economies. Financial market sentiment and risk appetite have rebounded, banks have raised capital and wholesale funding markets have reopened, and emerging market risks have eased," said a joint note by Jose Vinals and Olivier Blanchard of the IMF.
"The triggers for this rebound are strong public policies across advanced and emerging economies that, together with measures deployed by the IMF at the international level, have allayed concerns about systemic financial collapse, supported demand, and all but eliminated fears of a global depression credit supply is even more bank-dependent.
The consequences of our failure to engage in an export push to diversify our economy when the world economy was strong should now be clear for all to see.
There will, of course, be severe challenges in implementing such an export push in the midst of the worst international financial and economic crisis since the great depression, when even the exports of the so-called Asian Tigers have suffered from falling global demand.
Nevertheless, we maintain that a country which had a current account deficit of over 20 per cent of GDP in 2008, and that doesn't produce a drop of oil, has no choice. It is only through growing our exports of goods and services in the international market that we can grow our economy fast enough to escape our current debt trap.
We therefore believe that the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's first National Economic Forum, which takes place today and tomorrow, is extremely timely.
Air Passenger Duty (APD) doubled on 1 February. Some passengers are having to pay extra despite buying their tickets previously.
Some airlines have said passengers cannot fly unless they have paid the extra cost in advance while others are meeting the charges themselves. Others are letting people pay on arrival at the airport.
Why has this come about?
Chancellor Gordon Brown announced in his pre-budget statement on 6 December that duty on passengers flying out of British airports after 1 February 2007 was to double.
Most airlines raised their flight fares once his announcement was made.
Why has the government raised the duty and given less than two months' notice?
The Treasury says the aviation industry is not meeting its environmental costs so a decision was taken to introduce the duty increase swiftly.
A spokesman said the chancellor had taken into account economic and social as well as environmental factors.
He said the Air Passenger Duty was not a tax on passengers but a tax on airlines for the number of passengers they carry. It was up to the airline to decide whether they pass that levy on to passengers.
BBC NEWS/UK/ 1 February 2007
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When I was a boy growing up in St. Lucy there were hundreds of people from St. Andrew, St. Lucy, St. Peter and northern St. James who had never seen Bridgetown. Speightstown was their city because they could not afford the bus fare to travel to Bridgetown. For the most part they lived and worked where they were born.
What is particularly puzzling about the reduction in service is that this decision was made before the Transport Authority has become operational.
For a Government to condone such a move outside of the ambit of a national transportation plan smacks of either ignorance or recklessness. But once again this Government has chosen to put the cart before the horse.
This ad hoc approach to the management of our affairs might be appealing to some in the short term, but it is doing untold damage to our economic stability. Furthermore, it boggles the mind that the government would seek to dispense new entitlements like free transportation without the means to pay for it.
It has not escaped our attention that the IMF has recommended, once again, an increase in bus fares. This latest move to reduce operating costs by reducing service to the public is therefore nothing short of sleight of hand on the part of the Government.
What you must ask yourselves is how long the $1.50 fare will hold?
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The planned action by the Transport Board for certain routes being serviced every two hours, announced last weekend, will cause unnecessary stress and hardship to the travelling public.
The travelling public will be greatly disadvantaged by this move as they will be forced to adjust their travel schedule. They are already complaints about the affected the irregularity of buses in many communities.
This action will undoubtedly affect people, especially those working split shifts in the hotel industry. Pensioners in particular will feel it and generally Barbadians will now spend longer hours on the road commuting from one point to another in order to transact their business.
This Government must stop asking the people of Barbados who can barely make ends meet – to be on the frontline of the Government’s adjustments. It is wrong.
We therefore urge the DLP not to listen to the dictates of the IMF and refrain from imposing similar pain on the people of Barbados, as it did between 1991 and 1994.
"Well if that is the case, go straight to George Street and stay there. Our address is 111 Roebuck Street. We have a tradition of how we do things in this party . . . ,"
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But the Opposition spokesman on justice senator AJ Nicholson says he is disappointed that the Prime Minister’s comment has come only after criticisms by Britain’s Supreme Court president Lord Nicholas Phillips.
More than a week ago, Lord Phillips said too many of Britain’s top Privy Council judges were being bogged down with cases from CARICOM countries.
Senator Nicholson says the Opposition remains committed to advancing the CCJ as Jamaica’s final appellate court since some local matters are not consistent with ideologies in the United Kingdom
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In addition to the economists working on the proposal, some heavyweights support the concept, including the Nobel laureate Edmund S. Phelps, Dani Rodrik of Harvard and former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich.
One version of the approach, to be unveiled next week by the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-oriented research organization, would give employers a two-year tax credit if they increased the size of their work force or added significant hours of work (for example, making a part-time worker full time).
In addition to the economists working on the proposal, some heavyweights support the concept, including the Nobel laureate Edmund S. Phelps, Dani Rodrik of Harvard and former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich.
One of a number of ideas being discussed, the policy is intended to encourage companies to start hiring again by making it cheaper to add new workers. It has raised concerns, though, that employers might try to exploit the system.
The International Energy Agency made that prediction in a report Tuesday on global greenhouse gas emissions. Because of slower economic growth, the agency slashed, by 5 percent, its estimate of how much greenhouse gas emissions will be produced in 2020.
But the energy agency also cautioned against complacency, stressing that reaching a deal in climate talks to be held in Copenhagen at the end of the year is crucial to limiting the rise in global temperatures.
Another reason for cautious optimism, the report said, is that China will be able to slow the growth of its emissions much faster than commonly assumed because of its rising investment in wind and nuclear energy and its newfound emphasis on energy efficiency.
But avoiding some of the worst consequences of climate change will still require significant and rapid investments in clean technology, and more meaningful cuts in carbon emissions, the report said.
“This gives us a chance to make real progress toward a clean-energy future, but only if the right policies are put in place promptly,” said the agency’s executive director, Nobuo Tanaka.
As a result of the economic slump, global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, are expected to decline by 3 percent this year, the steepest drop in the 45 years according to figures compiled by the agency.
That compares with an average growth of 3 percent a year over the last decade.
Their decision follows publication of the OFT’s latest study into the £8 billion market, which highlighted three problem areas: lack of clarity over charges, difficulty in switching banks and concern over the way banks charged for unauthorised overdrafts. The OFT said the existing system did not work well for consumers.
To improve clarity over their charges banks have undertaken to provide an annual summary of the cost of their account for each customer. This is designed to help customers work out if they are getting value for money.
Banks have also agreed to make charges prominent on monthly statements, provide average credit and debit balances, which will help consumers to assess the possible benefits of switching banks, and provide a range of illustrative overdraft charges for different scenarios.
In order to smooth the switching process banks will be acting to minimise any problems arising from transfer of direct debits. They are also putting together a new consumer guide and website to improve awareness of the automatic switching process.
He made the suggestion last night during a town hall meeting at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
At present only Barbados and Guyana use the CCJ as their final appeals court.
The Bruce Golding Administration had consistently opposed a similar move.
While making no direct reference to Jamaica's negotiations with the fund, the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) yesterday released a discussion paper in which it argues that 31 of 41 of countries with current IMF agreements have been subjected to harmful monetary and fiscal policies.
That has been a fear of many Jamaicans since the Government announced plans to resume a borrowing relationship with the IMF.
However, Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Finance Minister Audley Shaw have sought to allay the fears by arguing that the IMF has changed since its 'one size fits all' stance of the 1970s and 1980s.
Golding and Shaw have further argued that the IMF no longer 'prescribes the pills' but allows countries to develop their 'individual prescriptions' to cure their ills.
Jamaica's letter of intent should be with the fund before the end of this month with an agreement expected to be in place by November.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, in a move that came earlier than many economists had expected and reflected the relative strength of the nation’s economy, raised its main cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 3.25 percent. The action reverses some of the series of rapid-fire cuts that the bank had made to the cost of borrowing in a bid to shelter the economy since September 2008, when Lehman Brothers’ collapse set off the global credit crisis.
Those aggressive cuts, by a combined 4.25 percentage points to a level last seen in 1960, plus a set of government stimulus measures, were widely credited with helping Australia become one of the few industrialized countries to avoid a major slump over the past year.
Yet a sobering reckoning of some sorts seems inevitable; and it is difficult to see how both can be winners.
And that is the paradox. China holds approaching $3 trillion in dollar assets, so she cannot afford to see the dollar collapse. Longer term, China does want to become less reliant on the dollar as a place to keep its savings.
Yet the financial tectonic plates are shifting – fast. Yesterday the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, articulated what must be weighing on the minds of many Western policy-makers. A legacy of the current crisis "may be a recognition of changed economic power relations".
In other words, the recession has accelerated the rise of China. The brutal truth is that for most of the next decade China's economy will grow by more than 10 per cent a year; America's by less than 2 per cent.
China will soon be the world's largest economy, and largest creditor nation, a position enjoyed by a pre-eminent America in the 1950s. China will also be the largest consumer of oil, which will help push trading in it and other commodities towards a "basket" of currencies.
Now America is the world's greatest debtor, she can no longer sustain her role as protector of the world's only reserve currency in the long term.
It is not hard to see the motivation for oil exporters to move away from the dollar. The value of the US currency has fallen sharply since last year's meltdown. And fears are growing, in the light of a spiralling US government deficit, that a further depreciation is likely. They do not want to sell their wares in return for a currency with an uncertain future.
China too stands to make a significant loss if the value of the dollar falls. For China, however, the timing is much more sensitive. Beijing needs to reduce its dollar holdings, but if it does so too quickly it will bring about the very devaluation it fears. This explains why Chinese officials appear to want this transition to take place gradually over the next decade.
The financial crisis has left it hobbled with significant government and household debts and sharply reduced prospects for growth. Developing nations such as China, Brazil and India, on the other hand, have weathered the economic storm significantly better. So while this latest proposal is born of financial calculation, it is also a reflection of a new economic world order.
"We are concerned about the number of people who are commenting publicly that the size of the deficit is $6.2 billion. The true size of the deficit is 8.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or $94.5 billion," the party's spokesman on finance Dr Omar Davies told a press conference at the PNP's headquarters in Kingston on Friday.'
Davies, a former finance minister, said he was not suggesting that anyone was deliberately understating the size of the deficit, but said it was important "that we clearly express the full amount so that everyone can appreciate the seriousness of the situation which we are facing."
He said the estimates and revenue budget presented in April were predicated on the premise "that everything that could go right would go right" with the divestment process, but the worsening economic situation had blown the estimates out of whack.
Meanwhile, Davies has again called for the Government to outline the conditions being asked of Jamaica by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said although he knows of the conditions he did not learn them from the Government, as mostly generalities have been presented.
It is a blatant and absolute untruth to state that this was ever a policy contemplated by the Barbados Labour Party or myself.
To do so would be to bring us in conflict with our human rights obligations and by extension our Constitution (given the Caribbean Court of Justice decision in Boyce and Joseph).
In addition, it would have been an act of economic sabotage against the Barbados economy given its heavy reliance on tourism and foreign investment – one that would have had worse consequences than the British Travel Tax that Prime Minister Thompson has now gone to the United Kingdom to fight.
Indeed, the only initiative ever undertaken by the BLP Government at that time was to implement an Advanced Passenger Information System that allowed for pre-screening of all passengers against the databases of Interpol and the American Government, as was stated last week by Mr. Dale Marshall.
Caught in a vise of shrinking revenue and stubbornly high public spending, the Caymans averted a fiscal crisis this week by securing a $60 million overseas loan.
But the Foreign and Commonwealth office in Britain, which oversees the Caymans and can veto foreign lending requests, has delivered an ultimatum: The rest of the $284 million the Cayman government says it needs will not be forthcoming until this offshore financial center imposes spending cuts and considers some form of direct taxation on businesses here and its 57,000 residents.
For a tropical paradise that has never taxed income, property, corporate earnings, retail sales or capital gains, such a suggestion borders on heresy.
The Caymans have built their prosperity less on tourism, like most other Caribbean islands, and more on serving as a tax-free home for 9,253 hedge funds and many more banks and companies that pay small fees to establish the Caymans as their official domicile while operating mostly elsewhere around the world.
With the explosion of global finance, the Cayman model flourished, and fees from financial institutions, together with tourism, made up as much as half of government revenue. Duties on imported goods accounted for the other half.
In June, the full effect of the financial crisis touched shore with the effect of a hurricane. A drop in financial and tourism revenue transformed a projected surplus into a deficit of about $100 million — a huge gap for an annual budget of some $800 million — and the leader of the Cayman government, W. McKeeva Bush, warned of a fiscal crisis.
However, the chancellor, attending the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Istanbul, warned of practical difficulties and said such a tax would be rejected if it worked to Britain’s disadvantage.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, aims to bring forward proposals for a worldwide bank tax. He told the meetings that a “Tobin tax” on financial transactions, favoured by Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, was not practicable.
A broader bank tax, with proceeds paid into a fund for international development and to be used to mitigate the effects of future crises, could work, he said. A team under John Lipsky, an IMF deputy managing director, is to work on it.
The chancellor also said that the G7, the group of leading advanced economies, would still have a role, despite the rise of the G20 as a larger rival body. He dismissed the idea of a smaller G4 to represent America, China, Japan and Europe.
Speaking to Congress, Mr Bernanke said: “All federal financial supervisors and regulators — not just the Federal Reserve — should be directed and empowered to take account of risks to the broader financial system as part of their normal oversight responsibilities.
“An oversight council made up of the agencies involved in financial supervision and regulation should be established.”
The council could work to identify risks to financial stability, address gaps in regulation and co-ordinate efforts to protect the financial system.
Mr Bernanke said that the Fed was “well suited” to supervising financial institutions whose failure could damage the economy but said the broader task of monitoring and assessing systemic risks might “exceed the capacity of any individual supervisor”.
Mr Bernanke’s comments suggested a change in tone. Economists said this might be calculated to reduce opposition in Congress to the Obama Administration’s proposal to give the Fed a pivotal role in policing the economy. The proposal is part of a broader financial regulation reform plan.
It must be noted that a comprehensive tax reform is part of Government's strategy to substantially reduce the fiscal deficit over the medium term. A fiscal deficit is reduced in two basic ways: 1) increase taxes and 2) lower expenditure; of course they can occur together which is the intention of the Government.
Therefore the Prime Minister must be aware that increasing taxes may result from increasing the rate of tax or broadening the base of the tax.
Whatever the nature of the comprehensive overhaul of the tax system, it has one clear objective, to increase the amount of taxes collected by the Barbados Government.
As stated last week, there is one way out of a recession - growth. In fact an economy goes into official recession after two quarters of economic decline and comes out of recession officially when it experiences two consecutive quarters of economic growth; so logically the only way out of recession is economic growth.
The scholarship winner, who celebrated her 21st birthday in July, received her primary education at Hillaby/Turners Hall Primary School.
She subsequently attended Queen's College and the Cave Hill Law Faculty from September 2006 where she graduated with Upper Second Class Honours in the LLB programme at the end of the 2008/09 academic year.
The scholarship winner, who celebrated her 21st birthday in July, received her primary education at Hillaby/Turners Hall Primary School.
What's more, only a third of existing public sector debt will see any significant reduction in interest costs going into the next fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2009, which means that government expenditure on interest payments, which will total $178 billion this year, at best, can be slashed by $20 billion for the next fiscal year.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that "new wage settlements for teachers and nurses add a further $16 billion annually to the public sector wage bill not including retroactive payments".
The wage bill for the current fiscal year is expected to reach $125 billion, or 54 per cent of non-debt expenditure.
In April, Prime Minister Bruce Golding in defence of the public sector wage freeze equated each additional $1.5 billion needed for salaries to the laying off of 1,000 workers, implying that over 10,000 jobs would have to be made redundant to meet the additional salary requirement for teachers and nurses.
"Will the process lead to job cuts? That can hardly be avoided," Golding said of the public sector modernisation plan he says will be implemented next year.
There are currently 117,000 paid government workers, of which 41,353 are registered on the Civil Service Establishment order.
The latest snapshot of the nation’s job market released by the Labor Department on Friday amplified the notion that the recession has probably ended, as a technical matter.
Though the job market continued to worsen, the pace of deterioration remained markedly slower than earlier in the year, when roughly 700,000 jobs a month were disappearing.
Yet the report added to the sentiment that the economic expansion, which is probably under way, will be weak and tentative, with scarce paychecks and anxiety remaining prominent features of American life well into next year.
The continuing hard times in the job market seems likely to increase pressure on the Obama administration and Congress to consider another dose of federal stimulus spending, even as the government grapples with deficits projected by some economists to exceed $10 trillion over the next decade.
Nettleford chaired the Committee of Advisers on Government Structure which produced its report in 1992.
The report proposed that the size of the Cabinet be cut to 11 core functions and that a new structure of government seek to maximise the benefits of interaction between the state, private sector and civil society.
"It is still relevant," Nettleford said of the recommendations in the report.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding told Parliament, during his contribution to the debate on the First Supplementary Estimates early yesterday morning that job cuts were coming for the public sector, and that reports on how to rationalise the government operations would be utilised in this process.
Declaring that it is time for Jamaica to make a paradigm shift, Prime Minister Bruce Golding early this morning outlined his administration's plan for changes in the size and function of government that, he said, will lead to greater efficiency and reduced costs.
The plan, Golding told a marathon sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament, will involve job cuts, including positions in the Cabinet. However, he did not say how many of the public sector's 117,000 positions would be affected.
He pointed out that the total cost of the government establishment is $157 billion, but said that that doesn't include the cost of providing services.
Golding, though, was clear that the public sector "wage bill burden cannot be sustained" and as such the administration had no choice but to trim the size of Government.
He gave as justification for this proposal the fact that functions are duplicated in some government departments and added that many of the forms that are now required to do business with the Government will be consolidated.
The finance minister also announced an increase in departure tax from $1,000 to $1,800.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has given the clearest signal that the axe will swing through the public sector, chopping many jobs.
"We will have to trim the size of government," Golding told Parliament early this morning.
He said the cost of government is too huge and that the state cannot afford to keep paying its 117,000 employers and remain viable.
"Cutting jobs by themselves will not lead to efficiency," Golding said.
The final cut of figures for US GDP, published by the US Commerce Department, showed that, during the second quarter, the world's biggest economy contracted by 0.7 per cent.
This was a lower rate of contraction than the 1 per cent previously reported and was also better than the 1.2 per cent contraction which Wall Street had expected.
The improvement was due, the Commerce Department said, due to improved consumer and business spending - both of which helped make up for a record decline in the amount of stock held by US companies.
In its Global Financial Stability Report, an assessment that has brought widespread praise from economists as a thorough analysis of the system’s health, the I.M.F. praised the mixture of bank rescue and stimulus packages. But it said the policies had not changed the fundamental dynamic by which debt-burdened banks and consumers present a drag on economic growth.
To head off a new chapter in the crisis, the I.M.F. called on governments to adopt regulations to strengthen bank capital and establish effective policies to clear bad loans off bank balance sheets. It also called for “great care” in winding down crisis-driven rescue policies to avoid bringing on a new crisis.
Broadly speaking, the I.M.F. said, the global economy still suffered from a shortage of credit, thanks to the crisis at the heart of the Western financial system, which stemmed initially from huge losses linked to the U.S. mortgage market. Now, loan write-offs linked to a grinding recession are amplifying the problem.
Even though banks are returning to profitability, the I.M.F. said, incoming cash will not be enough to compensate for the losses.
Asked for her remedy, she said: "The problem is that there is too little economic information coming from the Government.
We have asked the Government to establish a parliamentary committee on finance and economic affairs because it is only when we have access to information that we can be constructive.
She further said small businesses in Barbados were "catching hell at keeping people employed" - a point she raised during her more than 70-minute address during which she told the audience that small businesses were in trouble and whereas they were "springing up all over the place" in previous years they were now "shutting down".
"A year ago we told the Government that they should have issued a stabilisation bond to be able to take up some of the excess money they had in the economy from the sale of the BS& T and RBTT shares, they didn't do it then, now they're having hell being able to borrow money. . . . This is a Government being driven by misplaced priorities," Mottley stressed.
LAST WEEK I wrote that "having failed to adopt an aggressive growth strategy early in 2008 to counter the obvious negative economic signs at the time, the government is now virtually locked into an IMF-type austerity programme that would be accompanied by job losses, heavy foreign borrowing, renewed inflation
in 2010 and a significant loss of foreign reserves".
The Barbados economy is obviously in a deep hole as its overseers stand over it wondering "what is the way out".
In times of recession, the ability to earn foreign exchange is compromised by weaker international demand, and the overseers must be able to spot this reality and act accordingly.
It must be recalled that the Government was encouraged to borrow from foreign sources immediately after assuming office and the public response was expected. The IMF is now encouraging the same Government to borrow some $600 million this fiscal year and $500 million the following year.
This is to provide the balance of payments support that is required when there is a deliberate strategy to fuel growth by domestic demand and, of course, to meet foreign debt repayment, which peaks in 2010. All of this was known for several years!
Earlier this month I indicated to Barbadians that I would be starting a monthly address to the country to address issues of significant national import. I have taken this step as we recognize there are too few opportunities for the alternative views of the Opposition to be heard by the people of Barbados.
Today I will address the latest IMF Article IV Report and its implications for Barbadians.
After determining that the Barbados economy is in deep recession, there were seven recommendations which are put by the IMF as potential options for the Government of Barbados to execute a medium-term fiscal consolidation, in other words consolidate Government’s position in relation to its expenditure and its revenue.
It must be made clear at the outset that the Government of Barbados is at liberty to reject each and every one of these recommendations. However, what is incontrovertible is that the measures are dire because the underlying situation is dire.
What is clear is that even these measures are rejected, the Prime Minister must outline to the country alternative measures to stabalize this economy if we are not to jeopardize the vast gains of the recent decade in terms of the quality of life of Barbadians.
The Barbados economy is one shock away from tipping point. You will only have these kinds of measures being recommended to the country, if the situation was drastic.
"There is going to have be some increase in borrowing," Finance Minister Audley Shaw told journalists at yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing.
"$24-25 billion will have to be raised," he added.
The finance minister said he did not have a choice but to resort to the market.
Shaw conceded that the Government had failed to realise its projected $16.8-billion Budget cut, saying it was only able to reduce its expenditure by just over $10 billion.
Financial analysts have reacted with surprise that the Government planned to spend $561.4 billion instead of the projected $555 billion, after repeatedly promising to slash the expenditure budget.
Shaw said a reduction in revenues had triggered a two percentage points increase in the fiscal deficit, moving it from 6.6 to 8.6 per cent.
He said following this week's trip by a local team to Washington, an IMF contingent is scheduled to arrive in Jamaica in the middle of October.
"They will be coming to Jamaica to dot the i's and cross the t's, after which the Government will put together the letter of intent," Shaw asserted.
The MP for St Michael North East said that now Arthur has had time to rest, he would start operating fully in relation to the entire team of the BLP for the 2013 elections.
According to Mottley, the Government has a vested interest in diverting attention from the dire economic issues facing the country now by trying to talk about the BLP.
But in addressing a fund-raising event in Toronto, Canada, last Saturday evening, Prime Minister David Thompson yesterday warned the Opposition Leader not to attempt to speak for the former Prime Minister.
"Only Owen Arthur knows what is in his head, and what his intentions are," Thompson said.
"As a person who has been down that road before, I would caution Miss Mottley to prepare for the worst case scenario of having to meet her political maker across the battlefield," the Prime Minister added. (BA)
If they could summon at least half of Obama's passion - if not eloquence - to inspire public confidence, then we would probably witness pessimism giving way to a new hope for the transformation of CARICOM into a seamless regional economy, despite today's worsening economic gloom.
It is, essentially, a shared responsibility of the CARICOM members to use their information agencies and communication facilities to help sensitise the public on policies, programmes and decisions to which they had committed.
Of course, the Community at 36, struggles along in a situation where, for example: meetings of cabinet ministers responsible for information and communication no longer take place; CARICOM's Bureau of Management remains a poor mechansim for advancing decisions between ministerial councils and heads of government; the quasi-cabinet system that was expediently established to forestall the creation of a high-level empowered administrative structure, seems to be in urgent need of revamping, if not abolition.
In the absence of a standing governance mechanism, vested with executive authority, to drive the process of implementation and provide guidance for the heads of government, CARICOM will continue to drift in a sea of uncertainties about the future of its single economy project, needed more now than ever, at this time of global economic crisis.
Though differences persist, administration officials said a rough consensus had been reached on broad lessons from the crisis. The firmest area of agreement at the two-day meeting this Thursday and Friday is likely to be on the need for higher capital reserve requirements at banks and other financial institutions.
Requirements on capital reserves — safety cushions against losses — are at the heart of the risk-taking behavior of financial institutions. Higher reserve requirements mean that institutions have less latitude to leverage their investments with large amounts of borrowed money.
The third and most difficult area of discussion involves how to prevent the kind of huge global economic imbalances that many analysts believe were central to the bubble-and-bust cycles of the last several years.
The biggest imbalance of the past decade has been the gap between the soaring indebtedness of the United States, with its consumer economy, and the mounting surpluses of China and other countries whose growth has relied on exports.
Export-dependent countries plowed trillions in surplus profits back into the United States over the decade, supplying a flood of cheap money that kept interest rates low and aggravated the huge speculative bubble in American home prices.
Britain is warming to the proposal on the grounds that it will help financial institutions to divert more cash into building capital reserves.
This month Gordon Brown blocked a proposal by President Sarkozy of France to cap individual bonuses, arguing that it would be unenforce-able. However, the Prime Minister is supporting a compromise solution to set a maximum percentage of profits that banks and other financial institutions can spend on bonuses.
The details are being finalised by the Financial Stability Board, which was established at the London G20 in April, and will be presented at the Pittsburgh summit on Friday. Three new pan-European supervisory bodies, which would be responsible for the day-to-day supervision and enforcement of the common rulebook, are proposed.
British officials confirmed yesterday that Mr Brown would present detailed proposals on a crisis insurance scheme in Pittsburgh. A leaked G20 document also called on the IMF to play a significant role in overseeing policies to rebalance the world economy.
“We understand the gravity of the climate threat,” Mr. Obama said, but noted that the push for change comes in the midst of a global recession. “And so all of us will face doubts and difficulties in our own capitals as we try to reach a lasting solution to the climate challenge.”
Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations secretary general, appealed to the leaders to set aside their national interests and think about the future of the globe.
“Instead of demanding concessions from others, let us ask how we can contribute to the greater good,” he said, describing the talks as moving at “glacial” speed. “The world’s glaciers are now melting faster than human progress to protect them—and us.”
Industrialized nations, while agreeing on cutting emissions in the long term — by 2050 — have failed to agree on a crucial midterm target for carbon emissions cuts by 2020. They have pledged to roughly go halfway toward meeting the ambitious target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — a 25 percent to 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020 — which environmental advocates say is not enough.
Developing powerhouses like China and India have agreed on the need to trim emissions, but reject mandatory limits, and demand financial and technical support in exchange.
Having failed to adopt an aggressive growth strategy early in 2008 to counter the obvious negative economic signs at the time, the Government is now virtually locked into an IMF-type austerity programme that would be accompanied by job losses, heavy foreign borrowing, renewed inflation in 2010 and a significant loss of foreign reserves.
But even if the Government raises some of the money, Barbadians can anticipate some austere fiscal measures that would include, though not be limited to, (1) raising the VAT rate to 17 per cent, (2) increasing prices for utilities and other public services, (3) selling Government assets and (4) cutting capital projects.
The real danger comes when the Government seeks to "commit early to decisive fiscal measures particularly in the area of expenditure restraint", especially if it is unable to raise $600 million in foreign borrowing this fiscal year and $500 million the following fiscal year. The foreign borrowing is to come principally from the multilateral institutions.
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley told the media yesterday that the local economy was “one shock away from tipping point” with 4 200 jobs lost between January and June this year and the same period last year alone, while the island’s international reserves fell by a worrying $691 million between June last year and this year.
“The Prime Minister announced in July that he would be drawing down $90 million of our Special Drawing Rights and what that signalled to us immediately was that Barbados was running out of options and that the next stage after that could well be an IMF programme,” Mottley said.
Quoting from the IMF document, she said there were seven key fiscal recommendations that if implemented could have severe negative consequences on the local economy and, more importantly, individual Barbadians and businesses because they called for many millions of dollars to be cut.
These recommendations included raising value added tax by one to two percentage points, reducing Government’s wage bill, cutting spending on goods and services, and adjusting prices of utilities and other public services.
There is “absolutely” no power struggle in the Barbados Labour Party (BLP).
Opposition Leader Mia Mottley said yesterday that the apparent re-emergence of former Prime Minister Owen Arthur as a major voice in national affairs was welcomed by her and the BLP.
Speaking to the media during a news conference at the Opposition’s Office in Parliament’s West Wing, Mottley dismissed talk of a possible leader tussle between herself and Arthur as merely an attempt by the ruling Democratic Labour Party government to distract Barbadians from the “dire” situation facing the local economy.
“We welcome the fact that Mr. Arthur has indicated that he is running again, we also welcome the fact that he will be a key and integral part of the Team and I have said so from day one,” she said.
“I think it can only enhance the Barbados Labour Party’s Team effort, I think it can only make a positive difference in the country rec-ognising that it had a government that was working, it will have a government again that is working and that would be a substitute for a government” that is not working, she said.
Britain is clocking up debt at a rate of £6,017 per second as the Government struggles to balance the books. With tax receipts plummeting because of the recession, state borrowing grew by £16.1 billion last month — almost twice the entire budget for the 2012 Olympics.
Net borrowing for the first five months of the financial year stood at £65.3 billion, compared with £26.1 billion at the same stage last year. Total borrowing soared past the £800 billion mark for the first time and total state debt as a proportion of national output reached 57.5 per cent.
Just to pay the interest on its ballooning debts the Government must find more than £30 billion a year — about £500 for every man, woman and child in the country.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that tax receipts in August dived by 9 per cent compared with August 2008, while public spending rose by almost 3 per cent.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Balls detailed more than £2 billion of cost savings worth 5% of the total schools budget.
The schools spending blueprint, which Balls revealed days after the prime minister first admitted that cuts needed to be made, will put pressure on other cabinet ministers to give details of savings in their departments.
“It is going to be tougher on spending over the next few years,” said Balls. The squeeze will begin after 2011.
Warning of post-election pay curbs, he added: “If we are going to keep teachers and teaching assistants on the front line, that means we are going to have to be disciplined on public sector pay, including in education.”
Teachers’ salaries have risen by 19% in real terms since 1997. Balls said that while teachers’ pay was set by an independent body, he was keen to ensure wage rises in the next three-year deal starting in 2011 were kept low.
Why does Minister Chris Sinckler think he is immune from following accepted restructuring procedures in the termination of public officers from the UDC, while his boss, Prime Minister David Thompson goes all out to save jobs at LIME? Could it be that a political agenda is in play at the UDC?
For a Government agency to offer non-pensionable workers four weeks pay and now, an ex gratia payment of two and a half weeks pay per year, both contrary to the Statutory Boards Pensions Act of six weeks for each year of service - is further proof that something untoward is afoot.
But rather than the Minister being chastened by the public outcry, he displayed a level of arrogance and insensitivity at a DLP branch meeting last weekend that indicates the lengths to which he is prepared to go to get his own way at the UDC.
To comment publicly on an ongoing dispute is something that surely even he must recognize is against best practices in industrial relations.
It said that the island's output is contracting, as the global financial crisis has "depressed tourism, brought Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to a sudden stop, and weakened public finances".
"Consequently, unemployment has risen to double-digit level," the Washington-based financial institution said.
"While the underlying balance of payments is expected to remain weak, international reserves are expected to increase marginally in 2009, on account of the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) allocations and the large government bond issue abroad," it added.
The IMF said while various indicators suggest that the actual exchange rate is close to its equilibrium level, the current global shocks have put strains on the country's economy.
Fiscal adjustment plan
The IMF called on the Barbados government to "commit early on to decisive fiscal measures," particularly in expenditure restraint, adding that it would also be important to develop contingency plans, "in the event that the economic recovery was delayed and fiscal pressures persisted".
It lauded the administration for moving ahead with implementing the recommendations of the 2008 Financial Sector Assessment Program Update..
“From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point,” he said, adding that “it’s still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time, as many people will still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was.”
The cautiously optimistic assessment came at the conclusion of a speech by Mr. Bernanke at the Brookings Institution marking the anniversary of the market crisis that was precipitated by the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.
Mr. Bernanke said the consensus of forecasters was for moderate growth for the rest of this year and next, particularly as credit markets thaw, consumer confidence takes time to heal, and the federal government begins to unwind a series of federal spending and lending programs intended to mend the economy.
Mr. Bernanke and other top officials, including the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, have warned that winding down the programs too early could lead to another round of problems.
Historians now generally agree that, during the Great Depression, the early withdrawal of government programs in the 1930s led to deeper economic problems throughout that decade.
On the other hand, waiting too long could fuel significant price increases and lead to a return of corrosive levels of inflation.
The airline said today that it hopes that further voluntary schemes, including urging workers to go part time, will be sufficient.
British Airways has told its temporary cabin crew that their contracts will be terminated at the end of next month as the airline steps up its cost-cutting drive.
A total of 125 non-permanent staff were e-mailed yesterday and told that they would cease to be employed from October 31.
A further 140 full-time cabin crew have accepted voluntary redundancy and will leave the company at the same time.
BA has been negotiating the job cuts and new contracts with trade unions since before the summer but the talks have failed to reach a resolution.
The International Air Transport Association revised a June forecast of a $9 billion industry-wide loss in 2009 and said the pain would continue into next year, with an expected loss of $3.8 billion in 2010.
“The global economic storm may be abating, but airlines have not yet found a safe harbor,” said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the association, which includes 230 of the world’s largest carriers. “The crisis continues.”
The news came as Japan Airlines announced plans to cut 6,800 jobs, trim routes and quickly secure emergency funds from an overseas carrier, stepping up restructuring efforts amid mounting losses that threaten to pull the flag carrier under.
Global revenue is set to drop by 15 percent to $455 billion, though it is expected to stabilize by next year as airlines continue to park aircraft and reduce flight frequencies in order to keep seats filled.
Still, the association warned that it could take at least three years before revenue returns to the peak of $535 billion seen in 2008.
“Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them,” Mr. Obama said in a speech at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan. “They do so not just at their own peril, but at our nation’s.”
“I want everybody here to hear my words,” Mr. Obama said. “We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.”
It was one year ago that Mr. McCain declared “the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” a remark Mr. Obama instantly seized upon to portray his Republican rival as out of touch with hardships facing Americans. The argument helped Mr. Obama win the White House, where he inherited an economic crisis. Now, he fully owns it.
Opposition Leader, Mia Mottley, on Saturday, September 12, 2009 - announced several new initiatives to step up its activities and strengthen the Barbados Labour Party’s voice on issues of national and topical concern.
In addition to the recent appointment of Arthur Holder to the Shadow Cabinet, Miss Mottley has announced the appointment of national spokespersons in four new groupings on the Economy, Governance, the Social Sector and Physical Development & the Environment to supplement the work of the existing Shadow Cabinet. A member of the Shadow Cabinet will coordinate each of these four groups.
“I have asked Noel Lynch, Indar Weir and Ian Gooding-Edghill to also speak on the Economic Sectors,” she said, “Rev. Joseph Atherley and Desmond Sands on Governance.
Dr. Jerome Walcott, Trevor Prescod and Santia Bradshaw on Social Issues and Roger Smith and Peter Philips on Physical Development and the Environment.
These spokespersons will also be using the BLP’s weekly address on VOB to raise and discuss issues of national concern to Barbadians.
And I will be addressing the country each month on radio as the difficulties facing our people must be articulated and solutions found,” she said.
Miss Mottley revealed that the Party would, from October, be taking its message on the road directly to Barbadians in a series of local outdoor meetings titled “Live and Direct”.
In a Press release yesterday, the BLP leader said the party would be stepping up its activities and strengthening the BLP's voice on issues such as the economy, governance, the social sector, physical development and the environment.
She said the appointment of spokespersons in these areas would supplement the work of the existing Shadow Cabinet.
"I have asked Noel Lynch, Indar Weir and Ian Gooding-Edghill to also speak on the economic sectors; Rev. Joseph Atherley and Desmond Sands on governance; Dr Jerome Walcott, Trevor Prescod and Santia Bradshaw on social issues; and Roger Smith and Peter Philips on physical development and the environment.
The Opposition Leader said the spokespersons would also be using the BLP's weekly VOB address to raise and discuss issues of national concern to Barbadians.
She said she would be addressing the country each month on radio to articulate the difficulties facing people and seeking to find solutions.
The persistent stories of long waits for attention in the Accident & Emergency Department in spite of pledges that this would be fixed are disheartening.
However, the delay in making a decision on whether to refurbish the existing hospital or build a new one has gone on for too long, particularly when Prime Minister David Thompson made an unequivocal statement on this matter in his first Budget last July. He said then that Cabinet had "agreed to the expansion of the QEH on its present site, estimated to cost over $400 million, and we have begun to identify funding for this upgrade and expansion".
He noted that his Government had taken the decision to sell its shares in the Barbados National Bank and the Insurance Corporation of Barbados, then worth about $200 million, and "the proceeds of these sales will be used to fund part of the upgrading and expansion of the QEH". Added to this, investors had "offered to raise philanthropic capital contributions for this upgrade and expansion of the QEH".
The next word on this matter came from then Minister of Health Dr David Estwick. He said: "The plan is for a new purpose-built facility that would give us state-of-the art health care for the next 30 or 40 years, with few or no problems."
He said, too, that Cabinet was to decide "very, very, very soon", as expansion at the QEH site had been ruled out by climate and engineering experts because of its unstable substructure and high level of risk to flooding and earthquakes.
This apparent contradiction on whether the QEH was going to be refurbished or a new hospital built was later clarified by Thompson. He said the QEH would be expanded at its present site. Estwick was later replaced by Donville Inniss in a Cabinet reshuffle.
"It will take a while to get through this, and it will take us longer because we're going to do it right," Mr. Geithner said during an afternoon hearing of the Congressional Oversight Panel that monitors the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Mr. Geithner projected an upbeat tone, saying that the administration's handling of TARP, originally established under the George W. Bush administration, helped pull the economy "back from the edge of the abyss."
Panel member Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican, a strong TARP critic, said the program was intended to bail out troubled financial institutions, not failing Michigan automakers.
Mr. Geithner added that the administration is starting to unwind a number of the transactions with bailed-out financial institutions first implemented last autumn in the wake of the financial crisis and expects to receive a further $50 billion in repayments from banks over the next 18 months.
Instead, the focus at the organisation's meeting in Vienna was to be on persuading members not to sell more oil than their quotas permit.
Kuwait's Oil Minister, Sheik Ahmed Al Abullah Al Sabah, said OPEC's markets monitoring committee would suggest to the 12-country group that oil output targets be held steady at the organisation's meeting Wednesday in Vienna.
The recommendation offers further indication that ministers from the bloc - supplier of roughly 35 percent of the world's crude - are turning their aim toward encouraging member discipline. Compliance with the output limits, which are designed to support prices, has been waning.
United States benchmark light sweet crude for October delivery was hovering at around $71 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The level is well within the range that OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, and others, have said it would like to see.
The central bank also left its £175 billion, or $290 billion, program of buying bonds intact, following an agreement by finance ministers of the Group of 20 last weekend to leave such stimulus measures in place until there is broad evidence that the global economy is well on its way to recovery.
“The U.K. is a very long way away from withdrawing stimulus,” said Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “There are still very significant obstacles to long-term growth. The recovery will be slow and prone to relapses.”
Indeed, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said earlier this month that Britain’s economy had started growing again, and the British Chambers of Commerce raised its forecast for economic growth next year to 1.1 percent from 0.6 percent. It also cut its estimate for unemployment as the government’s stimulus packages start taking effect.
Consumer confidence rose to the highest in more than a year in August and services expanded at the fastest pace since September 2007 that month. But while Germany and France have already returned to growth, Britain’s economy is held back by a still weak housing market, rising unemployment and banks that remain reluctant to lend despite government pressure, because they are grappling with rising loan losses and higher capital requirements.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the move will help small businesses, especially those that have demonstrated a history and a culture of meeting their obligations. He said that the bill was part of a broader effort by Government to address some of the systemic institutional challenges to the establishment and growth of small businesses in Jamaica.
The prime minister said he had instructed the minister of finance to make the bill cover credit history going back up to seven years before the bill becomes law.
This, he said, will allow persons and businesses who are paying their debts on time to use a good credit history as collateral without their having to start from scratch when the bill goes into effect. He said the bill will seek to establish assets other than traditional real estate, as viable collateral for those seeking loans. These other forms of capital could include moveable assets as well as intellectual property, Golding said.
Ticket prices should rise steadily over time to deter air travel and ensure that carbon dioxide emissions from aviation fall back to 2005 levels, the Committee on Climate Change says. It believes that airlines should be forced to share the burden of meeting Britain’s commitment to an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050.
Industry estimates suggest that the average passenger would pay less than £10 extra per return ticket when aviation joins the EU emissions trading scheme in 2012. This would depend on the price of allowances to emit CO2, which is expected to rise over time.
In a letter to the Government published today, the committee says that an increase in global temperatures is inevitable and that developed countries must pay for the consequences. It says that the EU trading scheme does not go far enough and could result in airlines making windfall profits.
Under the scheme, airlines will be given free carbon permits covering 85 per cent of their emissions and will have to buy permits for the remaining 15 per cent. The committee says that they should have to pay for all their emissions. This would more than double the cost to passengers.
The Greenskies Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups, estimates that the EU scheme would add £4 to the cost of a return ticket from London to Madrid and £18 for a round trip from London to Los Angeles. These would rise to £10 and £40 if the committee’s proposal was accepted.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the value of British exports rose 5 per cent on the month to £19.187 billion - its fastest increase since January 2008. The weak pound bolstered sales of goods to both non-EU and EU markets.
But analysts said that the figures gave further hope that the economy was picking-up. Today's trade figures follow a report from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, one of the foremost independent economic forecasters, which indicated the British recession was over.
The group estimated that Britain had climbed out of the slump to enjoy economic growth in the three months to August.
A further boost came today when Moody's, the rating agency, announced that Britain's top-notch triple-A credit rating is unlikely to be downgraded if the Government cuts public spending.
It said that Britain — and the US — continued to be "resilient".
Ross Walker, economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "There are signs of underlying improvement and the fact that both exports and imports are picking up is indicative of the global recovery beginning to gain a bit of traction."
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said that the underlying data "provided support to mounting hopes and expectations that the economy will return to growth in the third quarter".
A more than 10% increase in the price of diesel, kerosene and gasoline at this time is unconscionable.
It is another example of poor and insensitive leadership destined to put more pressure on the economy and on Barbadians.”
This was how the Opposition Leader and Political Leader of the Barbados Labour Party, Mia Amor Mottley described the most recent increases in the price of petroleum products taking effect from midnight last night.
Miss Mottley renewed her attack against the automatic flow through mechanism for prices given the extremely difficult economic conditions facing the country.
She stated, “Imposing a 10% increase at this time on top of all of the other increases that households and businesses have had to face recently times can only lead to further price increases and more jobs going being lost.
The National Union of Public Workers NUPW) has given the Urban Development Commission (UDC) until tomorrow to respondto its concerns over staff layoffs or face enhanced industrial action.
Not only is the union seeking reinstatement of severed workers, but it also wants negotiations to continue with a spreadsheet of the workers affected by planned layoffs.
If the UDC failed to return to the negotiating table or failed to provide the exact number of workers affected with their names in writing, Clarke said, there would be action before the end of the week. However, he did not reveal what kind.
This as Tesheira presented her second budget in as many years. It lasted three hours and seven minutes in the Parliament Chamber, Red House, Port-of-Spain. During her presentation, Opposition MPs, including Subhas Panday, were heard saying the budget did not contain any new initiatives. Prime Minister Patrick Manning was seen putting his finger on his lips, advising Opposition MPs to remain silent and listen.
The budget, in which the Government projects it will spend $44.3 billion from October 1, 2009, to September 30, 2010, was predicated on a “conservative” oil price of US$55 a barrel, and a natural gas price of US$2.75 per million cubic feet.
Minister Tesheira said the projected deficit was $7.7 billion, or 5.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. Confirming an $11.5 billion budget shortfall in last year’s package, Tesheira said that was caused not only by the decline in oil and gas prices, but also reduced prices of other petrochemicals.
According to industry sources, Jamaica could support 50,000 hotel rooms, some 20,000 more than the current total inventory. Bartlett agreed with the figure, but said without double-digit growth in stopover visitors, such an ambitious offering could not be supported.
Bartlett said the goal his ministry was pursuing was to reach five million stopover visitors and US$5 billion in foreign exchange earnings from the sector by 2020. Current growth levels would only result in three million tourist visits by 2015, however, he noted, only a million more than current annual visits.
The question as to how many rooms the market can support is central to a coordinated approach to tourism planning, acknowledged Bartlett, and will have far-reaching implications for the development of the economy generally as the productive and service sectors that serve tourism operators need to be aware of what future demand will look like in order to make investments to build capacity.
"You need to determine optimal earnings and arrival levels to address unemployment and to quantify and coordinate linkages," said Bartlett.
The relative party standing remains unchanged since Johnson's survey findings published in June last year. Furthermore, neither party has increased its support among potential voters during the past 14 months.
Johnson found that the JLP and the PNP have each gained only one percentage point on their electability, well within the poll's plus or minus three per cent margin of error.
In no mood for election
Despite its lead in the recent polls, the Portia Simpson-led PNP may have to wait longer before popping champagne bottles, because the electorate is in no mood for a general election at this time.
Fifty per cent of the 1,008 persons interviewed by Johnson's polling team during the first two weeks in August did not agree with the suggestion that Prime Minister Bruce Golding should call an early general election. Thirty-nine per cent agreed, while 10 per cent did not offer an opinion.
If, indeed, a general election were called, it would perhaps be a close fight -as in 2007 when the JLP won by a four-seat margin - because respondents see hardly any difference between the parties in several respects.
“Deficits are inevitable in a recession, because revenues received are lower, as well as you need to spend more into targeted sectors of the economy to get the biggest impact on growth, poverty-reduction and business activity.
Targeting the budget deficit at low-income earners and the social safety net will not be enough to get the economy going, say financial analysts.
More effort must be placed at improving confidence of higher-income earners and getting people to begin spending and rebuilding the economy, they are saying.
“Low-income earners are much more frugal than policy-makers think, and we need to get confidence levels up for higher-income earners and corporate customers to purchase cars and invest in factory and stock to generate growth and demand,” said head of Securities and Asset Management at CMMB, Brent Salvary.
“I don’t think targeting the stimulus at low-level income earners will help much, because consumers need to start spending on larger commodities, such as on their homes, factory construction, or real estate asset repairs, which will generate employment, economic activity and provide the infrastructure for future productivity and growth.”
The finance ministers of the world’s richest countries are backing the UK’s plans for global economic recovery.
A draft proposal outlining a system of deferred bonuses for bankers and continued public spending was agreed at today’s meeting in London.
The agreement is a victory for Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling who have been resisting calls, led by France, to cap bonuses, claiming they were unenforceable.
In the proposals bankers will be rewarded for long-term success with deferred payments, instead of upfront bonuses.
Speaking at the summit this morning Brown pledged an end to the system of payouts, which reward failure and encourage risk, saying they were ‘an offence’ to the taxpayer.
The G20 ministers’ draft communiqué has also adopted Brown’s calls to continue fiscal stimulus, despite forecasts of positive growth.
Some countries, including France and Germany, are already emerging from recession, and want to implement "exit strategies" to scale back the spending introduced to combat the downturn.
Brown heralded the tentative recovery, but warned world leaders that withdrawing measures too early would be an ‘error of historic proportions’.
He claimed the fiscal stimulus programmes of increased public spending and tax cuts had prevented the world’s economies plunging into depression on the scale of the 1930s and must be sustained into 2010.
THE VIEW THAT an opposition party has every right to criticise Government policies without preparing alternative policies is one that I never shared.
This does not mean that the alternative policies have to be shared with Government, especially given the adversarial nature of local politics, but on becoming the Government, it should be clear that there was preparation for governance.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Labour Party seems to be woefully unprepared for the tasks at hand.
Since 2007, there was clear evidence that the world economy was heading for recession, yet Barbados recorded its lowest unemployment rate ever. I can still recall conversations with Owen Arthur about the need to start repositioning the economy to meet the challenges in 2008 and beyond.
Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence that was around for over two years, I repeat that "the Government seems to have found confused ways of resolving clear problems; increase taxes to increase spending power; more taxes to lower prices; borrow more to reduce the national debt and fire people to lower unemployment".
Voicing her strong support for Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, Thompson was highly critical of the performance of Government in its first 20 months, especially in terms of cost of living, housing, and its treatment of the public sector.
The Senator cited a reshuffle of Cabinet in less than a year and the frequent shake-ups of boards of management at statutory corporations, like the Barbados Tourism Authority, the Urban and Rural Development Commissions, and the Sanitation Service Authority, as signs that all was not well in the administration.
Thompson also said that under the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) the price of food went up by 18 per cent in the first year, and that people were being surprised at the cashier when they saw how expensive food was.
The former St. James South Member of Parliament then said that the DLP was producing a lot of “sweet talk” on the issue of housing, but was not building houses that were affordable by poor people, and was failing to deliver them at anywhere near the pace they had pledged.
The latest audit of T&T’s natural gas reserves, announced yesterday, noted that the country’s reserves declined by just under ten per cent or from 1,623 billion cubic feet (bcf) to 15,374 (bcf).
This translates to proven reserves of just over ten years, with probable and possible reserves extending commercial production to 20 years into the future under current production levels.
The gas survey completed by the Houston-based gas consultancy firm Ryder Scott LP showed that this decline topped nearly a decade of decline as proven reserves fell more than 25 per cent since 2002.
Responding to the results and the need to increase gas supplies for future demand, Energy Minister Conrad Enill said six blocks were expected to be offered for competitive bidding in 2010 and exploration soon after.
“The new proposals in the new tax regime can be expected to inform bid rounds that are currently being planned,” he said. “In this regard, four blocks in the north coast marine area and two blocks on the east coast are to be offered for competitive bidding in the first fiscal quarter of 2010.”
The Shadow Chancellor accused Mr. Brown of being in "complete denial" over the mounting bill of the financial rescue packages, and agreed with Britain's neighbours that it was time to look for an exit strategy.
Britain has been irritated by calls from Germany and France to start reducing the amount of support as their economies have shown signs of an economic upturn.
Britain's own economy has not been doing so well, and today a respected international economic body warned that Britain would lag behind the rest of the world in coming out of recession.
This prediction, and the dissonant voices in the EU, come at an awkward time for Mr. Brown, who has been striving to present a united front with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy before EU finance ministers meet in London tomorrow to prepare for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in three weeks' time.
The three leaders have publicly put their names to a joint letter that says: "The crisis is not over and the labour markets will suffer... over the months to come. Together we must send a message from Pittsburgh that we are fully and firmly resolved to implement our stimulus plans."
But furious rows continue behind the scenes over how and when to start tightening fiscal and monetary policies as countries recover at different rates.
Alistair Darling warned against prematurely scaling back the bailout in an interview. The Chancellor said: "My view is the biggest single risk to recovery is that people think the job is done."
Speaking to an auditorium filled with party stalwarts including Opposition Leader Mia Mottley, Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Thomas, Cynthia Forde, Senator Elizabeth Thompson, and former BLP MP for the constituency Rudolph “Cappy” Greenidge, Weir, who was unopposed, said entering into political life was a difficult decision.
However, he voiced a commitment to fighting political victimisation, which he said had people running scared.
However, he supported the policies of the Opposition Leader, specifically the practice of early nominations, which he argued allowed new candidates time to prepare their campaigns and generate support in their constituencies.
In terms of plans for the constituency, Weir, who born and resides in the parish of St. Philip, said he wanted to see a transformation of the King George V Memorial Park into an entertainment and sporting arena.
He also said the people of St. Philip had a need for housing and that he was interested in seeing the development more projects that will benefit its residents
The allocation, equivalent to $250 billion, was made on August 28 and will be followed by an additional, albeit much smaller, allocation of $33 billion on September 9. With the two allocations totaling roughly $283 billion, the outstanding stock of SDRs would increase nearly ten-fold to total about $316 billion.
There are no notes or coins denominated in SDRs, nonetheless the SDR does play a role as an interest-bearing international reserve asset. The allocation of SDRs by the IMF boosts member countries’ reserves because SDRs can be turned into usable currencies.
Once the SDRs have been added to a member country’s official reserves, the country can voluntarily exchange its SDRs for hard currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, euro, yen, or pound sterling, through voluntary trading arrangements with other IMF member countries.
Some countries have already volunteered to set up trading arrangements that will facilitate the buying and selling of SDRs.
SDR allocations respond to G-20’s call
It was at its April summit in London that the Group of Twenty (G-20) industrial and emerging market countries called for an SDR allocation of $250 billion. The proposed general allocation was approved by the IMF’s Board of Governors on August 7, 2009, and came into effect on August 28. The allocation is based on a long-term global need to supplement IMF members’ existing reserve assets and it provides liquidity to the global economic system.
The G-20 had also called for urgent ratification of a long-pending amendment to the IMF’s Articles of Agreement. This so-called Fourth Amendment was proposed to enable all Fund members to participate in the SDR system on an equitable basis and correct for the fact that countries that joined the Fund after 1981—now more than one-fifth of the current IMF membership—have never received an SDR allocation.
The official, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center on Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said she “strongly recommended” giving the drug only to people already seriously ill, or to their family members who are pregnant, have asthma or have other conditions that could be life-threatening if they caught the flu.
Giving the drug to healthy people wastes the world’s limited supplies of Tamiflu and increases the chances of drug-resistant strains developing, Dr. Schuchat said, and the disease centers are working with camp associations and local health departments to discourage the practice.
Dozens of camps have had swine flu outbreaks this summer. Some closed, others set up infirmaries, and some have had camp doctors write Tamiflu prescriptions or asked parents to send children with the drug.
The practice is controversial because public health authorities consider it selfish and dangerous. Although there is a national stockpile of 50 million courses of Tamiflu, it will not last into the coming flu season if many healthy Americans start taking the drug.
Isolation in the close quarters of camps is almost impossible, Dr. Siegel said, and he gave his own family as an example for a reason to use prophylaxis. His son’s bunkmates had flu, he said; if his son had caught it, he might have brought it home to his 4-year old brother, who has asthma.
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Calendar of EventsWe are disappointed that the Prime Minister and DLP Parliamentarians and Ministers, have not declared their assets as promised.
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