Caribbean Round-Up

Antigua and Barbuda

The head of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation that ended two-week visit is recommending that the Antigua and Barbuda authorities continue their efforts to strengthen the main engines of growth.

Emine Boz, assistant to the director at the IMF Research Department, in a statement, said that efforts should continue to increase flight connectivity and cruise ship homeporting.

“Operationalizing LIAT would help to further improve intra-regional flight connectivity and implement the recent expansion of other airline companies’ presence in Antigua and Barbuda,” she added.

Last month, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said his administration is going ahead with establishing a new regional airline even as it acknowledged a move by other sub-regional countries to do so.

Boz said that St. John’s should continue to boost tourism during the low season, which would not only smooth hotel occupancy rates throughout the year but also make the country a more attractive destination for airlines.

Barbados 

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has confirmed a dengue fever outbreak in Barbados.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kenneth George, disclosed that there were 518 cases recorded at the end of September. The Ministry of Health classifies a case of dengue fever as both suspected and confirmed.

“These recent increases signal the start of a dengue fever outbreak in Barbados in September 2023. There were no confirmed cases in 2022,” the chief medical officer stated. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has also advised that there have been outbreaks in Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Eastern Caribbean, with dengue virus serotype 2 resulting in some hospitalizations. There have also been recorded rising cases in the OECS, including Grenada.

The World Health Organization recently indicated that increased cases of mosquito-borne disease were likely in Europe, the United States of America and Africa, as a result of climate change. Dengue fever is an acute mosquito-borne febrile illness caused by infection with one of the four known dengue serotypes.

Guyana

Vice President Bharat Jagdeo has announced plans by the government, to implement a policy to tax companies that consume large amounts of electricity during peak hours.

The announcement comes as the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) recently called on consumers to adopt conservation practices as utility company registered its highest-ever electricity generation and demand.

Jagdeo also explained that the over-peaking of electricity consumption was due in part to large electricity CK summers, who were previously self-generating, and are now reconnecting to the national grid following the government’s decision to subsidize electricity costs.

He said that the government will be investing in additional generation capacity of some 30MW of power, expected before the end of the year, adding that the 300MW Wales gas to energy project to come on stream next year, is expected to significantly improve electricity supply as well as reduce costs.

Jamaica 

Jamaica’s Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson says there is a 12 percent reduction in murders for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2023, when compared with the corresponding quarter in 2022. He also reported that all major crimes are down 13 per cent during the period under review.

“Murders are down 12 per cent, which translates to 141 less persons killed. Shooting incidents (are) down nine per cent, rape down 18 per cent and robberies down 17 percent,” Anderson shared.

The commissioner noted that interpersonal violence accounted for 21 percent of total homicides while gang-related murders accounted for 66 per cent of all killings.

“This is a shift from the 70-plus percent (of murders) attributable to gangs as our counter-gang measures take effect,” Anderson remarked.He lauded the police personnel who are dealing with major gang cases, and those who are “making the effort to deal with the collective gang situation where people come together to commit crimes.”

The country’s top cop said illegal guns continue to be the weapon of choice for criminals, with 84 percent of all murders committed by the gun. “In our efforts to combat this, 516 illegal weapons have been recovered this year so far,” he said. The commissioner said the JCF was looking forward to even greater collaboration and assistance from local law enforcement partner — the Jamaica Defence Force, Jamaica.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

The London-based Commonwealth Secretariat said it has rolled out a state-of-the-art software program in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to transform how the country manages its public debt portfolio of US$2.2 billion.

It said the island is the sovereign state of the Eastern Caribbean Economic and Currency Union (ECCU) to adopt the software, known as Commonwealth Merdian, within its national infrastructure.

Last month, the government and secretariat conducted a two-week workshop bringing together various stakeholders from the Debt Management Office, Economic Research and Policy Unit, Treasury and External Audit Unit.

The head of the St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Debt Management Office, Harold Lewis said as debt management operations continue to evolve, the office views the Commonwealth Meridian as a key beneficial tool.

“Meridian, as a web-debt system, now provides us with enhanced and user-friendly capabilities to improve data quality in terms of accuracy, timeliness, and completeness, thereby promoting greater debt transparency,” Lewis said.

Commonwealth Meridian replaces it’s predecessor, the Commonwealth Secretariat: Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), which has helped the island record and manage its public debt since 1998.

Business analyst at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Debt Management Unit, Joanne All-in said that the roll-out of Commonwealth Meridian marks “a significant milestone” in modernizing the country’s debt management operations.

Trinidad 

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley will lead a delegation to Ottawa, Canada, to attend the first-ever Canada-CARICOM Summit later this month. Under the theme Strategic Partners for a Resilient Future, the summit will highlight Canada’s strong ties with the Caribbean, with the aim of strengthening cooperation and charting a better future. Former Minister and High Commissioner to Canada, Dennis Moses, will also be part of the envoy. The summit runs from Oct. 17-19. As part of the delegation’s agenda, Dr. Rowley is expected to call on the international community to provide swift relief to Haiti amid the ongoing crisis there. Haiti’s instability has only worsened since the 2010 earthquake that killed some 200,000 people and is compounded by the prevalence of armed gangs that are ravaging the nation.

It is understood that a multinational response to the Haiti crisis is expected to be one of the key areas of focus in Canada as the prime minister, alongside other CARICOM Heads of Government, have repeatedly called for global powers to assist in Haiti.

Browne said these efforts have borne fruit, with the United Nations Security Council recently adopting a resolution to authorize the creation of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti. The MSS will be led by Kenya, which has pledged 1,000 officers, although it is unclear how many boots will be deployed in total. The unit, however, may take months to establish.

— Compiled by Devika Ragoonanan