Caribbean & Central America - February 2016 (ISSN 1741-4458)

*** US SAYS BAHAMAS’ CRIME STATISTICS “FRIGHTENING”. On 14 January, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Nassau, Lisa Johnson, told a media briefing that crime in The Bahamas is “a difficult problem” and that “the statistics are frightening”. There were 149 murders in the country in 2015.

The previous week, the US embassy had warned US citizens not to use jet ski operators on New Providence because of several sexual assaults on American tourists in The Bahamas, and the fact that the jet ski industry was only “loosely” regulated. The US embassy says that five US citizens were sexually assaulted by jet ski operators in the last 18 months, although the most recent rape case did not involve someone from the industry.

The day after Lisa Johnson’s intervention, Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell complained on a radio talk show about a “sometimes aggressive and intrusive” approach by the US towards The Bahamas. Mitchell’s complaint appears to have been about the public advice to US citizens not to patronise jet ski operatives. Mitchell said: “We have advised them in the past that it is better, if there are issues that need to be resolved, to work in partnership and behind the scenes because it all does cause unnecessary responses in public, which are to no one’s good.”

A gun was used in the majority of the 149 murders committed in 2015, and The Bahamas has raised the issue of the importation of illegal weapons from the US. Lisa Johnson, however, said “you’re not going to find the answer to your gun problem in US legislation or change in policy”.

*** ANTIGUA TO ABOLISH INCOME TAX. As from April 2016, Antigua is to abolish income tax in line with the ruling Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party’s 2014 election pledge. Personal income tax (PIT) was introduced by the United Progressive Party administration in 2005 and brings in EC$37m (US$13.7m) annually. Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is also finance minister, told parliament: “The loss of $37 million from the elimination of the PIT will be partially substituted by an increase in the Revenue Recovery Charge from 10% to 13%, which is expected to yield an additional $20m in revenue.”

*** SURINAME TURNS TO THE IMF. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced in late January that it had been approached by the Suriname government about the possibility of receiving financial support for its economic reform programme. The reason given was the sharp fall in global commodity prices. In a statement issued on 22 January, the IMF said: “Together with our sister organisations – the Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank – we stand ready to help Suriname meet the economic challenges it is currently facing.”

In its most recent (January 2016) Quarterly Bulletin, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) noted: “In 2015, oil, bauxite, and gold prices were on average US$50 per barrel, US$1,676 per metric ton, and US$1,168 per troy ounce, representing a decline in price of 50%, 10%, and 30% respectively, relative to average prices in the previous year.” The bauxite industry has declined significantly. Between 1994 and 2007, bauxite contributed 70% of total exports, 14% of government revenue, and 12% of GDP. It now contributes just 13% of total exports, 5% of government revenue, and 5% of GDP. In November 2015, Alcoa closed its local bauxite company, Suralco.

Suriname’s economic growth, which the IMF estimates to have averaged 4.4% in the last 15 years, was down to an estimated 1.5% in 2015. At the end of November 2015, the debt-to-GDP ratio had increased from 13% a year earlier to 40%.

• “As from April 2016, Antigua is to abolish income tax in line with the ruling Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party’s 2014 election pledge. Personal income tax (PIT) was introduced by the United Progressive Party administration in 2005 and brings in EC$37m (US$13.7m) annually. Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is also finance minister, told parliament: ‘The loss of $37 million from the elimination of the PIT will be partially substituted by an increase in the Revenue Recovery Charge from 10% to 13%, which is expected to yield an additional $20m in revenue.’”