IMF deal now sealed

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - JAMAICA will get nearly US$2 billion in loans over the next four years from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under the Extended Fund Facility approved by the IMF yesterday. Nearly US$1 billion in funding...
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Venezuelans hold rival May Day marches as vote dispute drags on

CARACAS (Reuters) – Opposition and government supporters flooded Venezuelan streets in rival May Day marches yesterday as a continuing dispute over the results of last month’s presidential vote kept political tensions high in the OPEC nation. On Tuesday, opposition deputies were beaten i...
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Thirty more Peace Corps trainees arrive

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News -The delivery of health and education is to get a further boost with the arrival of yet another batch of United States Peace Corps volunteers. The American embassy here announced, through a press release, that 30 more Peace Corps trainees arrived in Georgetown today...
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OECS economies: stuggling against the tide

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Stabroek News - Last week, Prime Minister Kenny Anthony of St Lucia presented his Budget for the year 2013-14, an event that followed a three-week strike by the country’s civil servants in protest against the government’s wage offer for a triennium ending in 2013. The...
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JAMAICA-BUDGET-Reactions to PM budget presentation

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - Leader of the main opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Andrew Holness has praised Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for what he says is a level of maturity in promising to consider suggestions from the opposition concerning the 2013/2014 budget. During her contribution...
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JAMAICA-ECONOMY-IMF approves new facility for Jamaica

WASHINGTON, CMC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday said it had approved US$932.3 million loan under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Jamaica. The four-year EFF will support the Jamaica government’s comprehensive economic reform agenda and forms a critical part of a tot...
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Strong earthquake felt in Leeward islands

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck near St. Kitts and Nevis on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of death of damage on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country. The U.S Geological Survey said that the quake, which occurred at 2.53 am (local t...
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‘Be ready for natural disasters’

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - Citizens must make themselves ready to deal with disasters and not depend on the Government, head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), Dr Stephen Ramroop, said yesterday. Ramroop was speaking at the eighth session of the Inter-Governmental Coordina...
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Call for better tsunami warning systems

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - In the Caribbean and western mid-Atlantic, tens of thousands of lives are at risk and millions of dollars are at stake if a tsunami strikes and therefore all communities must implement more efficient warning systems. So says Christa von Hillebrandt Andrade, manager of the U...
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