FIELD PEAS AND RICE; MACARONI PIE
CREOLE BANANA; BREADFRUIT AND SALTFISH
BBQ CHICKEN; BAKED PORK
BBQ PIG TAILS; BAKED SNAPPER
FRIED SNAPPER; GRILLED KING FISH
PLAIN GRAVY; LAMB STEW
COLE SLAW; TOSSED SALAD
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A tourism expert says this country needs to stay ahead with trends and technology in order to be a leader in business tourism sector. Rick Taylor, CEO of The Business Tourism Company in South Africa, was speaking at the opening of the Tourism Development Company Ltd’s (TDC) Business Tourism Workshop at the Hilton Trinidad in St Ann’s on Wednesday. The workshop is a project of the newly established Trinidad and Tobago Convention Bureau. Explaining that trends and technology are key factors in the growing tourism industry, Taylor said: “It is the 21st century. We cannot do the same stuff. We have to go forward and learn new stuff.” He added that the Internet was now the preferred marketing option by many. Tourism Minister Joseph Ross, who opened the workshop, said the conventions and the meeting incentives market now play a valuable role in our tourism industry. He said: “The most recent statistics indicate that business arrivals for Trinidad and Tobago account for roughly 20 per cent of all tourism arrivals, making business travellers the third largest segment, preceded only by the leisure travellers and those visiting friends and relatives.” He said the workshop, which ends today, will provide a comprehensive understanding of the business tourism marketplace, as well as the practical tools in destination management and marketing with which to function in the competitive environment of discretionary business tourism. TDC president and director Ernest Littles said the training being provided by the workshop will lay the foundation for a vibrant business tourism sector. “With the Government’s incentive plan for the upgrade of hotel and guest room stock within the islands, Trinidad and Tobago will be ready for the stronger tourism industry that will emerge from these difficult economic times and can guarantee our guests an even more comfortable stay,” Littles said. The Trinidad and Tobago Convention Bureau is a division within the TDC which focuses on establishing the nation as the meetings and conventions capital of the southern Caribbean. Barely a month in existence, the bureau’s staff is lead by David Constant. |
Finance Minister Audley Shaw (left) and Prime Minister Bruce Golding talk it over. - File In the two years since the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party took the reins of government, Jamaica’s economic fundamentals have gone awry.
The signal decline in the economic fortunes of the broad majority of the population was the more than 25 per cent devaluation of the Jamaican dollar over the period. As a result, wages, savings and other assets, such as houses, are worth less in real terms now than two years ago, even as the public is confronted by a declining economy, rising job losses, a wage freeze in the public sector and bleak economic prospects for the immediate future.
The Golding administration came to office on an election platform filled with promises to expand government spending on free tuition for secondary education, the abolition of hospital fees and massive pay increases for public sector workers, among other things.
Public debt
In the context of the persistent fiscal deficit, large and rapidly increasing public debt and burdensome debt service costs to the national budget, it was always going to be a virtually impossible task to deliver on these promises.
But the administration was determined to follow through despite these constraints and the gathering storm clouds of the downturn in the world economy.
Thus, in its first Budget in 2008 the JLP abolished tuition and hospital fees and proceeded to negotiate huge wage increases starting with the teachers, rather than tighten spending in preparation for turbulent times.
The administration clearly misread the economic signs, as did many governments and business leaders. However, within six months it was obvious that the world was sliding into a severe recession.
At first, Prime Minister Golding and his team, unlike most other governments, were in denial, expressing the view that the impact on Jamaica would be minimal. Jamaica’s macroeconomic situation was sound, they said, and would not be terribly affected by what was happening in the United States and other major economies.
Both the finance and tourism ministers even suggested that the country could actually benefit by, among other things, exploiting its nearness to the US market to increase its market share of American tourists.
As the downturn escalated, the Government continued to waste time, being slow to respond - a point now confirmed by Golding.
The administration waited until as late as December 2008 to publicly acknowledge the extent of the possible fallout in Jamaica.
By that time the damage was being done, as the local foreign exchange market was already drifting with uncertainty spreading about the rising inflation and worsening fiscal numbers.
The reaction of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) was to hike interest rates to halt the free fall of the local currency, a move that annoyed the private sector as they had to face higher borrowing costs on top of contracting consumer demand.
Private capital markets
Also a big factor behind the pressure on the exchange rate was the uncertainty flowing from the loss of access to private capital markets, which was the first hit suffered by Jamaica as the credit crunch spread from the US to global markets.
After a slow reaction, initiatives which had begun to raise new loans from multilateral sources were speeded up to meet upcoming debt payments and to shore up the Bank of Jamaica’s foreign reserves, which were being depleted by speculative demand for foreign exchange.
When 2009 began, the financial blow was quickly followed by the second and more devastating blow to the real economy. This came by way of announcements of the closure of three of the island’s four alumina plants, which soon sent bauxite production and foreign exchange inflows declining by well over 50 per cent.
Still, the vacillation continued. First, the Government denied there was a need to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans to help fill the hole in the country’s foreign exchange caused by the loss of access to the foreign, private capital markets, the drop of more than 15 per cent in remittances, falling tourism inflows and the collapse of bauxite earnings.
Jamaica did not have a balance of payments problem was Golding’s response to queries about a possible return to borrowing from the IMF. Then, as the decline in the local economy deepened, there was a change in posture. Jamaica was conducting exploratory talks with the IMF after all.
Yet, the Budget for 2009-2010 did not reflect the worsening position.
The contracting economy and lower oil prices have lessened inflation pressures in recent months. More important, they have also led to a slide in imports thereby lessening the demand for foreign exchange.
Stability
The expected US$1.2 billion of IMF resources have also brought immediate stability to the foreign exchange market.
As a consequence, the BOJ has reduced interest rates three times since mid-July. The prospects for short-term recovery of bauxite, remittances and other pillars of the Jamaican economy, though, are dim as the US and other major trading partners are not likely to see a quick economic turnaround.
In addition, the Government cannot postpone budgets cuts any longer if it is to reach an agreement with the IMF for the loan, which is crucial to maintaining confidence and avoiding further downgrades of Jamaica’s credit rating, about which it has been warned.
Such an eventuality would put the country at great risk of default or, at least, returning it to cripplingly high interest rates that would bring steeper decline in the economy.
The administration must also resist public sector wage demands that cannot be accommodated, fulfil commitments to divest huge loss-making entities and put forward credible proposals for getting the economy on a growth path.
So far, the JLP has been enjoying a generous honeymoon but with economic hardship rising and the number of people below the poverty line going up, public patience could soon begin to wane.
It does not help that remittances, the most important social safety in recent times, are likely to keep dropping as US and UK unemployment are projected to stay high for an extended period.
It was not a bad idea after all. Well, that is on the matter of the Government abolishing the collection of user fees at public-health facilities and tuition fees in secondary schools.
However, Jamaicans are flashing the warning lights on another major government policy - the return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The most recent Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson polls have found that a clear majority of Jamaicans believe the no-user-fee health policy and the abolition of school fees are good actions by the Government.
The polls found that a combined 62 per cent of respondents regarded the tuition-free policy as either good or very good. At the same time, 66 per cent of respondents said removing user fees for health care was at least good.
Johnson polled 1,008 respon-dents in August. His survey has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.
Since April 1 last year, patients at public hospitals and health centres, except the University of the West Indies, started to benefit from a number of health services free of cost. Health Minister Rudyard Spencer has said the policy has resulted in the saving of more than $1 billion by Jamaicans.
The no-fee policies in education and health, however, have not been without criticisms. The opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has said that the quality of health care, for example, has been com-promised because the policy has not addressed fundamental areas such as access to drug and the provision of equipment for medical practitioners.
In education, school adminis-trators have said they are experiencing difficulties collecting auxiliary fees, which they say are essential to run the institutions. Administrators have said that the tuition fees, which are now paid by government, is not enough to run the programmes of schools.
President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Michael Stewart told The Gleaner that he hopes there will not be a correlation between the number of persons who regard the no-tuition fee policy as good and the willingness of parents to pay auxiliary fees.
“Schools are going to be experiencing greater challenges given the effects of the economic recession, but we hope that parents do their best to support their children’s education,” Stewart said.
Johnson’s survey found that 24 per cent of Jamaicans believe tuition fee education to be at least bad while 22 per cent seem to hold the view that the abolition of user fees for health care should not have taken place.
Meanwhile, despite statements from Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Finance Minister Audley Shaw that Jamaica had no choice but to resume a borrowing relationship with the IMF, most Jamaica’s want another option.
A sizeable 46 per cent of the respondents object to Jamaica participating in the loan programme with the IMF.
At the same time, 38 per cent of those surveyed have seemingly been convinced by Golding and Shaw. They said Jamaica should participate in the programme. The remaining 16 per cent of respondents are sitting on the fence.
Jamaica will be seeking to borrow US$1.2 billion from the IMF under a standby arrangement.
| By Ronald Sanders
Despite uncertainties that mar the Guyana political scene, the country’s economic prospects appear to be brighter than they have been in three decades. Several developments account for this and they bring hope to a country that has been blighted by political turmoil and economic setbacks.
Amongst the developments is the considerable reduction in the ratio of debt to gross domestic product. Guyana has moved from being one of the world’s highly indebted poor countries to a situation in which the Government is managing its debt and has more breathing space in which to take policy decisions of social and economic benefit to the Guyanese people. It is an accomplishment for which Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo deserves full credit. Epitomizing the new economic optimism for Guyana is the formal opening, scheduled for September 14, of a bridge over the Takutu River, the narrowest point at which Guyana and its sprawling neighbour, Brazil, connect. Both Guyana’s President and Brazil’s President Iancio Lula Da Silva will be part of the opening ceremony. The Brazilian government, with the full agreement of the Guyanese government, has built the bridge capable of carrying heavy vehicles to transport containers with a wide variety of commodities as well as people. The bridge is the first step in infrastructure that would allow businessmen from Brazil’s Northern-most State of Roaraima to truck commodities through Guyana to a port on Guyana’s Atlantic coast and then to markets in North America and Europe. What has to follow is a dry-weather road from the bridge on the Guyana side to the town of Linden which is already connected by a highway to Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, on the Atlantic Coast. Then a deep water harbour has to be constructed. But even without the harbour immediately, the bridge and road would give Roraima businesses the access to the Atlantic they now need. The system would be considerably cheaper for businesses that now have to transport goods across the vastness of Brazil to its far-away ports. The Brazilians have a vested interest in financing the building of the harbour. Guyanese businesses would also be able to use the bridge for transporting goods for sale in Brazil provided they are able to establish markets. At the moment, while Brazilian goods are increasing in the Guyana market, largely due to the influx of Brazilians into Guyana, Guyanese exports have been limited to wood, wood products and bauxite. But, there is every reason to believe that exports of rice in particular would be possible. It is estimated that there are about 3,000 Brazilians now operating gold mines in Guyana and making a good living from it while contributing to the economy. They have brought in new technology and are getting higher production yields. Consequently, the government is getting more taxes, and the Guyana Gold Board which purchases the production is selling it on the international market at a profit. Once traffic starts between Roraima and Georgetown, several forms of new economic activity will spring from it, including new villages in areas that are now sparsely populated. The road points the way not only for a cheaper outlet for Northern Brazil to the Atlantic and therefore to Europe and North America, but for a considerable boost to the economy of Guyana. The construction of the road and the harbour will increase employment and production in the Guyanese economy in the near term. Given the sustained economic activity that they will generate, new and lasting employment will also be created. Aligned to the business links to Brazil is the Guyana government’s decision to designate Ogle, an area on the Atlantic Coast of Guyana, as a second International Airport. The arrangements for this are almost complete. Ogle will accommodate flights on aircraft such as those operated in the Caribbean by LIAT and Caribbean Airways as well as the Brazilian airline, Mehta. Ogle is 15 minutes from Georgetown and less than 10 minutes from the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). President Jagdeo is also working feverishly to put together the means to build a hydro-electric power station in Guyana. With its many rivers and waterfalls, Guyana lends itself to hydro-power. Once hydro-power is established, energy costs – now one of the big expenses of doing business and accounting for as much as 20% of GDP – would drop significantly opening the distinct possibility for less expensive production of sugar and bauxite and reduced costs in the mining and timber sectors. Then, there is oil exploration off shore in an area where the maritime boundary with Suriname is now legally settled. The Canadian company, CGX, which has been exploring the area, made some hopeful statements in August. Amongst them was that “the cost estimate to drill the Eagle Deep Well has been reduced significantly to below $70 million from US$90 million” and they were encouraged by the seismic data processed during the first half of 2009. If this leads to the renewal of drilling next year, it would be a further boost to the Guyana economy. However, the prospects for economic improvement are dimmed by political uncertainties. President Jagdeo’s term of office ends in 2011, and his Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) will have to choose a Presidential candidate next year. That candidate will have to be someone in whom the electorate, beyond the traditional PPP support, has confidence both to manage the economy and lead a multi-racial nation. A recent convention of the main opposition, Peoples National Congress (PNC), to elect its leader and other officers turned out to be a fractious affair. While Robert Corbin was re-elected leader, the PNC is now split into many parts with its middle class support severely disenchanted. The main beneficiary of the PNC’s internal confusion appears to be a third party, the Alliance for Change, which promotes itself vigorously as a non-racial grouping dedicated to a one-nation Guyana. But, the telling political battles will be fought next year – first within the two main parties and then at the national level. Within sight of all the parties is the prospect of real economic opportunities for Guyana if the politics can be managed with maturity. |
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| By Horace Helps
KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) — Jamaica’s St Ann Bauxite Partners Ltd plans to return to nearly full production within three months, its principals said. The company now operates at 64 percent of capacity, producing 3 million tonnes of bauxite annually at its mine on Jamaica’s northeast coast. It plans to increase production despite global marketplace challenges that have seen the closure of two other bauxite and alumina companies in Jamaica, company officials said late on Wednesday. “We will have to watch the market as we move forward and are poised to do everything we need to do to continue bringing production up,” St. Ann Bauxite President Larry Holley told company workers at a function that included Jamaican government officials and bauxite industry technocrats. “We have got the capability here for around 4.5 million or more on an annualized basis, and we certainly would like to have all of that production moving,” Holley said. The company employs around 550 workers. “Our workforce now is at 85 percent schedule, so by moving the current workforce back to 100 percent in stages over the next 90 days, we will be able to accomplish the 4.5 million tonnes,” Holley said. Privately held Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp of the United States owns 49 percent of St. Ann, after recently acquiring a share held by Century Aluminum. The Jamaica government holds a 51 percent stake. “We are aware of the current global conditions, but we put in place an aggressive sales program that has seen an increase in the demand for bauxite,” Holley said. The company’s general manager, Pansy Johnson, told the workers that they need not worry about losing employment in an economic climate that has seen job losses islandwide. “We don’t have in place a corporate plan yet, but within the next 90 days, the company will return to full employment. Discussions will be held with the (trade) unions and the employees will be kept informed,” Johnson said. Jamaica’s bauxite and alumina industry has suffered deeply amid the global recession and the drop in metal prices. Its largest bauxite and alumina producer, Alumina Partners of Jamaica, closed its doors and sent home over 1,000 workers. Known as Alpart, it is owned by UC Rusal (RUSL.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) of Russia and Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). The West Indies Alumina Co, whose majority shareholder is UC Rusal, also shut down, putting more than 2,000 employees out of work. Known as Windalco, it has two plants in Jamaica. Jamalco, in the central parish of Clarendon, remains open. It is owned by Alcoa Inc |
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WASHINGTON, USA (AFP) – The US Treasury Thursday eased restrictions on travel and money transfers to Cuba, five months after President Barack Obama announced the measures in a bid to improve ties with the communist island.
The changes to Treasury rules, which take effect immediately, focus on visits by Cubans living in the United States to the island, remittances by Cuban-Americans to their relatives, and telecommunications. The 47-year-old US economic embargo on Cuba however remains. The goal is to “promote greater contact between separated family members in the United States and Cuba” and also to “increase the flow of remittances and information to the Cuban people,” the Treasury said. “Travelers may visit ‘close relatives’ (including, for example, aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins) who are nationals of Cuba,” the statement said, adding that there was no limit on the duration or frequency of the visits. There is also no limit on the amount of remittances Cuban-Americans can send to their “close relatives” on the island, though restrictions remain on sending money to “prohibited” officials in the Cuban government and members of the Communist Party. US-based travelers however are limited to spending 179 dollars a day on their visit to Cuban relatives. It allows US telecommunications network providers to link to Cuba with fiber-optic cables and satellite technology, permits US wireless telephone providers to enter roaming service agreements with Cuban firms, and allows US satellite broadcasts to the island. An estimated 1.5 million US residents have relatives in Cuba and the question of how to deal with the government — headed by Raul Castro after decades of rule by his brother, Fidel — has long been an emotional one for the politically powerful exile community. The Treasury Department also announced a new general license that authorizes “travel-related transactions incident to agricultural and medical sales.” US law permits states to sell agricultural, medical and information technology products on a cash basis to Cuba. Since 2000, such sales have totaled more than three billion dollars. In late August New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson traveled to Cuba on a trade mission aimed at developing agricultural and cultural ties with the Caribbean island. Other US governors have traveled to the island on similar missions. When it first announced the planned changes in April, the White House said the move was intended to encourage expanding democratic and political rights in Cuba, and called on Havana to respond in kind to help ease decades of fierce antipathy. Among other things, the White House called on Cuba to reduce charges it levies on money transfers to family members. |
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by TRACY MOORE
THE BALL is in their court!
That was the word yesterday from Dennis Clarke, general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), regarding the Urban Development Commission’s (UDC) plan to lay off employees.
Clarke also said that while the NUPW met with members of the UDC on Wednesday, it did not meet with its executive director Derek Alleyne as reported in yesterday’s DAILY NATION.
However, he said: “We are waiting now for a meeting after yesterday’s [Wednesday] developments. So the ball is in their court now to get back to us.
“But I don’t know if the UDC will reach a settlement because the only logical stance that could be reached is to ensure that the workers continue to work,” he said.
The two sides have been at loggerheads for weeks, with the union staging a demonstration at UDC’s headquarters in Roebuck Street, The City, on Monday.
Clarke said other statutory corporations were on standby.
Since then both the Barbados Workers’ Union and the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados have shown solidarity with the NUPW in its call for the resumption of negotiations.
Yesterday Clarke again called on the UDC to provide a spreadsheet of the workers affected by the planned layoffs.
“Even the numbers we are not too certain of because they gave us 13 names at the beginning. Then when we went back to a meeting last Friday, they reduced the number to eight workers. The meeting yesterday [Wednesday], they claimed there were not eight but nine workers affected.
“And now they made an adjustment to the nine by about three or so names, so that is why I am saying we need the spreadsheet with the names so we would know exactly what they are talking about.
“Every time it is something different . . . so they will have to put things in writing. Anything other than that, we won’t be talking,” he said.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Alleyne and UDC chairman Gordon Bispham were unsuccessful.
This was the situation outside the Welfare Department on Monday as workers continued their protest. The office was closed yesterday.
by PHILLIPPE AIMEY
AS the Welfare Department remains closed, a secondary school principal is urging Government to find
an alternative unit to distribute welfare grants to help needy children acquire textbooks.
Catherine Jordan, principal of St George Secondary School, said
she believed children who relied on the grants were suffering, especially those who needed the $120
for textbooks.
Speaking about the case of a child who was sent home Wednesday because of a lack of textbooks, Jordan told the WEEKEND NATION:
“I called the Ministry
of Education and the grant for that child is not there yet, so it means
it has not even left
the Welfare Department.
“If that department is having difficulties, provisions need to be made so that the workload is shifted to another Government department. The children will be disadvantaged and the school system as well.”
The mother of the child sent home raised the issue on Starcom Network’s Down To Brass Tacks radio call-in programme yesterday and said she was unable to purchase the books or collect the grant due to the ongoing strike at the Welfare Department over the condition of the building.
She told the WEEKEND NATION following a meeting at the school: “I’ll do what I have to do to make sure my child goes to school on Monday. I’ll get the books because without them
she can’t go to school.”
Jordan said she made the right decision because no one communicated the challenges to the school during the vacation period that began since June 26.
“I will not discuss this particular case but any child that walks in here without a mother or father coming to me to say,
‘I know I had nine weeks but I had some issues
to deal with’, or give me some indication that
the child is not prepared, cannot stay.
This is not a day care centre; communication
is essential,” she said.
Jordan also made reference to situations where parents failed to prioritise simply because of the ‘good school, bad school’ syndrome which reflected in the mentality of the child at school.
“I often tell parents that if they save
a maximum of $15 a week for the nine weeks
of vacation, that would surpass the $120 for the textbook fees. Some of these students often have four new blouses, skirts, shoes and money to buy lunch . . . . The parents need to prioritise.”
National Union of Public Workers general secretary Dennis Clarke says that until the Welfare Department building is declared fit, staff will not be going back.
