*** IMF HAPPY WITH ST KITTS. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team visited St Kitts & Nevis from 12-21 May for the fifth and final review under the country’s three-year Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). At the conclusion of the visit, team leader Judith Gold said: “The economic recovery in St Kitts and Nevis has gathered momentum, with real GDP growth at an estimated 3.8% in 2013 reflecting a pickup in tourism, a strong expansion in construction activity related to large Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) inflows, a substantial increase in public sector investment, and impetus from the People Employment Program (PEP)”. The purpose of…

Guyana has amongst the most tempestuous politics in the Caribbean, with animosity between the political parties fuelled by the split of the population between those of East Indian origin (43%), who mostly vote for the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), and those of African origin (30%), who mostly vote for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). However in the row between Guyana and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which has seen Guyana stripped of the third test match between the West Indies and New Zealand, unusually APNU has supported the PPP/C government. The row with the WICB, over Guyana’s…

Back in April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned about “rising challenges” in the Caribbean, particularly for the tourism-dependent economies. This past month has seen that view endorsed by international credit rating agencies, with downgrades for Barbados and Bermuda and warnings of a possible downgrade for The Bahamas because of delays in introducing value added tax (VAT) and a reduction in its proposed rate. On the other hand, the IMF has indicated genuine satisfaction over progress in Jamaica. Moody’s early June three-notch downgrading of the Barbados government bond rating to B3, with a negative outlook, coincided with a visit to…

Important new agreements signed by the Cuban state oil company with two Russian oil companies have stirred US interest in Cuba, both from those concerned about security implications, and from business frustrated by sanctions. In late May officials from the Cuban state oil company, Cupet, signed five agreements in Russia with the companies, Zarubezhneft and Rosneft, for the exploration of hitherto unexplored territory to the north of the island, and the development of a logistical base for oil processing in the new Special Development Zone in the upgraded port of Mariel, to the west of the capital, Havana. Rosneft will…

Following the swift approval by the Dominican Republic (DR)’s congress of a new law setting out a pathway to naturalised citizenship for the children of non-resident foreign nationals born in the DR, the government led by President Danilo Medina has moved quickly to launch a national immigration regularisation plan as set out by the law. The hope is that the plan and the new law will allay the domestic and international concerns that the controversial September 2013 ruling by the DR’s constitutional court (TC), which denies the children of undocumented foreign migrants born in the country before 2010 the right…