In a break with tradition, the government of St Vincent and The Grenadines, in the absence of a budget for 2021, received approval from Parliament to borrow EC$125 million for capital expenditure for next year. Public Sector Investment Loan No. 2 Act 2020, presented by Minister of Finance, Camill...

The National Bank of Belize (NBB) has solicited the expertise of Barbados-based financial technology firm Bitt to create and launch a digital wallet that will complement the bank’s mobile banking services. “NBB is licensing a digital currency infrastructure from Bitt to support retail and busines...

The Government of Jamaica is to roll out a broadband expansion programme, dubbed the National Broadband Initiative, which will seek to provide Internet connection to every household by 2025.  According to Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Daryl Vaz, the Government will make access to th...

Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says since its borders reopened in June, they have welcomed 300,000 visitors yielding some US$150 million. According to Bartlett, if the current arrival trend is sustained over the winter season, then about 30% of the 170,000 workers directly employed in...

The Government of Jamaica has initiated action to institutionalise fiscal transparency and strengthen its fiscal responsibility framework by way of an Independent Fiscal Commission. This was effected through tabling a Bill to that effect in the House of Representatives. According to Finance Minis...

Commencing November 30, sub-regional carrier LIAT will be resuming its commercial services by providing services to a limited number of destinations and routes. According to a November 25 press release, “The airline will operate flights 5 days per week to 7 destinations across the LIAT network. T...

The Government of St Lucia will introduce a tourism levy effective December 15, 2020 to aid in the financing of the industry marketing and development. In a two-tier system, guests will be charged either US$3 or US$6 per person per night depending on a room rate below or above US$120. A rate of 5...

Jamaica has recorded 3,586 new company registrations for the period January 1 to November 11, 2020. That’s according to data produced by the Companies Office of Jamaica and released on social media by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke who noted that “in the middle of the pandemic and record econom...

Under the theme, "YOUth at the Centre of CARICOM's Energy Future", young people from across CARICOM member states will join energy experts, thought leaders and policymakers at the CARICOM Energy Month (#CEM2020) Virtual Youth Forum set to take place on Friday 13 November 2020 at 1 PM AST. The eve...

Extract: "Fortunately, CARICAD was able to pivot to remote work for all staff members using the remote policy that was already in place. The internal experience on remote work was compared with information available from other sources. "The analysis offered perspectives and discussion points t...