Moontown

By Shawn CumberbatchOne of the main agencies charged with steering Barbados through hard economic times has itself become a major victim of the crippling recession.

The Central Bank of Barbados is reporting its worst financial performance in 23 years, including a “significant” $16 million drop in income that has resulted in it recording $9.4 million loss in 2009.

And the major cause is the performance of its investments in the United States (US) securities market.

The disappointing news was divulged in the financial institution’s recently-released 2009 annual report, with Governor Dr. DeLisle Worrell calling the last year “especially challenging”.

Officials said the loss had not impaired the bank’s capital and expected a recovery “from future profits”, but noted the performance had not been good even though it’s expenses dropped by $2 million in 2009.

As it stands, the Central Bank’s major source of income is interest from foreign securities, foreign term deposits and advances to Government. Unfortunately, in a difficult climate where Worrell said the “the deepening global financial crisis had a severe impact on the domestic economy”, this dominant source of earnings declined by $12 million (two per cent) collectively.

“Low interest rates and depressed bond yields together with downward pressure on the Bank’s stock of foreign reserves contributed to a reduction in the Bank’s earnings from its foreign reserves portfolio,” it stated.

“The low interest rate environment led to the early call of $10 million in US Agency bonds, 16 per cent less than the amount called in 2008. To realise some of the capital gains embedded in the Bank’s portfolio due to the low interest rates, $30 million in low coupon bonds were sold.”’

The organisation added that “based on the securities sold and called, a realised capital gain of $1.8 million was recorded in 2009”.

“However, due to the turmoil in the US financial markets, the bank realised a capital loss of $3.3 million on its externally-managed portfolio, as some securities in that portfolio were downgraded and written down, with permanent declines in value,” it said.

At year end the market value of the bank’s fixed income securities portfolio was $847.6 million, inclusive of externally-managed funds and regional government securities, representing an increase of 11 per cent over the previous year.

Short term deposit placements (one to three months) fell by five per cent to $60.5 million, while the bank held no US Treasury Bills at the end of 2009. The reduction in the foreign reserve requirement for commercial banks led to foreign banks reducing their foreign exchange holdings with the Bank by $89.5 million.” (Barbados Today)

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Stiltmen and a shaggy bear spreading the Crop Over cheer on My Lord’s Hill, during the Soca Thursday launch.(Picture by Donnay Deane)

The true spirit of Crop-Over was in the air, when the GoalKeeper Bar on My Lords Hill, St Michael, launched their Free Soca Thursdays limes on Thursday evening.
Stiltmen and a shaggy bear blocked traffic in the usually busy area as they handed out flyers on the event, which will be continuing every Thursday, until August 5.
Sweet calypso tunes filled the air and residents flocked to see what was going on.
Owner of the bar, Antonio Waterman, said they decided to have the limes, as a way of bringing the community together.
“I’ve always heard my father talking about how they used to have street limes back in the day and how good they were, so we wanted to bring back that same concept,” he stated.
The limes, which run from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., will also incorporate various artistes over the next few weeks. Those attending will have the chance to be exposed to the costumes of the j’ouvert bands, and later those of the Kadooment bands.
People attending the launch were also feted to DJ music and live performances by Gorg and Salt. (CT) (Nation News)

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Pastor Evelyn Nurse preaching and praying at Edey Village, Christ Church, last Tuesday night.(Picture by Maria Bradshaw)

by Maria Bradshaw

RESIDENTS of Edey Village, Christ Church, called on church leaders to exorcise what they believe to be demonic forces that have invaded the small, close-knit neighbourhood.
For the past two weeks, residents have witnessed uncanny and unexplained events which led them to believe that evil forces had invaded the community.
It began two weeks ago when a 26-year-old woman went on the Internet and, according to sources, “saw what she was not supposed to see”.

Foreign tongue

While many could not describe what the woman actually saw, they said she immediately started speaking in a foreign tongue and became delirious.
Her family, well- respected members of the community, quickly summoned two church leaders and a group of “prayer warriors”to their home.
The church group spent two days praying around the young woman.
A member of the church group told the SATURDAY SUN that the voice coming from her was not her own, but that of an old man.
“We prayed for two days asking God to spread the blood of Jesus on the young woman and to strike out the demon. After much praying on the second day we heard her say ‘thank you Jesus’ and the demon came out of her body and she fell limp”.
However, another young woman, who lived next door, also fell victim to the demonic forces.
“She was sitting on a chair in her living room when all of a sudden she was lifted high into the air and thrown outside in her backyard. She fell hard on the ground and started speaking in a foreign tongue,” a source said.
The church group also prayed fervently for this second woman.
“By the time we were finished praying for her she had lost a considerable amount of weight and the demon left her body,” the source continued.
But sources say at least four more people in the district were affected and, as a result, a street prayer session was organised for Edey Village last Tuesday night.
The Saturday SUN visited the area and witnessed residents and members of the church walking through the small district singing and praying for almost three hours.

Wake-up call

Pastor Evelyn Nurse, of Bridgefield New Testament Church of God, who led the prayer session, told the residents that the events were a “wake-up call for Edey Village”.
To loud applause and shouts of “Amen”, she told those gathered: “Whatever happened in Edey Village happened for a purpose. We can’t question it. That was the wake-up call for this village. This was a quiet village, but it is not anymore. Edey Village will never be the same again. We pray and ask God for deliverance. God sends warnings and then the destruction. This is a wake-up call.”
It is understood that the street prayers will continue in the village. (Nation News)

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By: Stacey Russell

THE OFFICE of the Supervisor of Insurance and Pensions has confirmed that CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited and sister company British American are doing all in their financial power to honour insurance policies that have matured.
Acting Supervisor of Insurance, Vernese Brathwaite, told the SATURDAY SUN in a telephone interview yesterday, that even though the office had experienced an increase in complaints arising out of the financial debacle of Trinidad-based conglomerate CL Financial, which is the parent company of CLICO and British American, the regulatory institution was not being “bombarded at all”.
“A lot of people want to cash in their policies. Some say they want to put on a house roof [or] they have lost their jobs or they need money to pay bills. Some want to take out pension plans that are locked in and they can’t really get it,” she said.
Brathwaite said that the current trend was for CLICO and British American to pay on policies that had reached maturity, while delaying payment on those that had not.
“The company may be saying that they are only paying maturities, yet a person might be complaining that they have not been paid funds at maturity. We call the company and say, ‘Since you say you are paying maturities right now, because that is what your funds would allow you to pay, why aren’t you paying this particular one, this a policy that has matured?’ Then they would review and pay,” she noted.
She said the office was trying to allay the fears of policyholders because “the company can be bought over by somebody else and be a viable institution again. . . .
“Especially British American – they have asked us to agree that they don’t pay all those claims at one time. There is a particular section under the Insurance Act that allows us to give the company that permission not to be paying claims all the time that have not matured.”
Brathwaite, who stressed that she was not speaking on behalf of the Government or the Ministry of Finance, said: “There is definitely a waiting game until the company gets back on a better footing financially or if the company is put under, for example, judicial management, in which case the judicial manager through the court (the court will make an order) will then take hold of the whole company and then all policyholders’ claims will be looked after.” (Nation News)

THE GLOOMY ECONOMIC climate is not stopping Barbadians from taking to warm skies and sun-kissed shores this summer.
Some travel agents have told the SATURDAY SUN that many locals were induced by favourable airfares this year, the result of increased competition in the airline industry on some North American routes.
Separate telephone interviews conducted with representatives of Going Places Travel, Value Vacations Travel & Tours, Indar Weir Travel Centre and The Travel House Inc. indicated that Barbadians popularly chose North America and Europe and tended to bypass the Caribbean.
Basil King, manager of Going Places booking centre in Lower Estate, St Michael, said, “There is no huge fall-off in bookings for summer. There is quite a lot of European travel. People are going to London and then going on to cruises in the Mediterranean, in addition to traditional North American travel.”
He noted that bookings at his office appeared to be a balance between visits to friends and family and holiday packages that included airfare, hotel accommodation and transportation on the ground.
“I don’t think this summer will be any worse than it was last year. I think it will be quite similar,” King said.
Managing director of Value Vacations, Denise Nichols, said vacationers were headed to “Toronto, New York, Miami, London, but not a lot of them are going to other parts of the Caribbean. Now the flights are so full that you can hardly get anything booked”.
“I think the decline in Caribbean traffic has been affected by high airfares. People don’t seem to want to pay as much money to travel in the Caribbean when they can pay the same or less to go outside of the region.
“And the airfares to some parts of North America are cheaper than in previous years because of the competition between Jet Blue and American Airlines to New York and West Jet and Air Canada to Toronto. The competition has stimulated the market,” she emphasised.
Meanwhile, Indar Weir, managing director of Indar Weir Travel, indicated that travel consumption was not usually determined by mere cost, but by the value that consumers felt they got in exchange of their expenditure.
“Economic challenges only get in the way when people don’t get value for their money. There was some reduction in prices and people grabbed it,” he said, adding that through his bookings, their journeys took them mainly to “New York, Miami, Canada, and the United Kingdom”.
Weir also pointed to a “rapid emergence” of Caribbean cruise travel.
Further, general manager of The Travel House, June Clarke said, “Just yesterday I met with a group that is going to Disney,” as she made the point that two group packages for holidays in Disney World offered by the Travel House this summer were fully booked, and some travellers to that destination had made individual bookings to get there. (Nation News)