Daily Archives: 03/18/2014

Barbados opposition leader says more hardship ahead

03/18/2014 – 6:53 pm

Barbados opposition leader says more hardship ahead …as new taxes announced.

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley

Opposition Leader Mia Mottley warned Barbadians they can expect more taxes to be imposed during the coming fiscal year as a result of the revenue-raising measures announced by the Finance Minister.

Editor’s Note: The Barbados dollar is FIXED at US$1 = BDS$2.. The eight Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)  states have a fixed rate US$1= $2.66 EC$.   Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana have floating currencies.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tuesday March 18, 2014, CMC – The Barbados government says it intends to sell off some assets as it moves to reduce the fiscal deficit by March next year.

Finance Minister Chris Sinckler presenting the Appropriations Bill in the House of Assembly on Monday announced a raft of new tax measures, including an increase in gasoline prices and the sale of the Barbados National Terminal Limited to help ease the financial burden facing the Freundel Stuart government.

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By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Caribbean news, Economics/Finance, Personalities, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Former Jamaica finance minister wants fixed exchange rate

03/18/2014 – 6:06 pm

Former Jamaica finance minister wants fixed exchange rate

Audley Shaw
Since March 2013, the Jamaica dollar has lost 12.2 percent of its value, moving from Jamaica $97.34 to US$1 to Jamaica $109.02 to US$1.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Tuesday March 18, 2014, CMC – The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw has called on the government to fix the exchange rate in the interest of economic stability.

Shaw, in a presentation at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus on Thursday, said calls for a competitive exchange rate are nothing more than a euphemism for further devaluation which he points out has brought little gain so far.

“Are we seeing more exports as a result? No, in fact exports are down, not up. That is supposed to be one of the benefits of devaluation.  Shouldn’t we then be fighting to maintain a stable or fixed exchange rate because the bigger negative impact is on our debt? It is time for us to start asking where is the positive impact of this continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, if all we have are negatives, then I suggest that we need to look at fixing the exchange rate, even for a period of time.”   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Business, Caribbean news, Governance, Personalities, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Hoarding, low sugar performance blamed for rising exchange rates

03/18/2014 – 5:38 pm

Hoarding, low sugar performance blamed for rising exchange rates

Money

Currency Exchange

March 18, 2014 | BY KNEWS |

Guyana’s rising exchange rates may be blamed on a number of prevailing factors, including reduced proceeds from sugar and a steep drop of gold prices on the world market.

Over the past months, the exchange rate of Guyana dollar to the US climbed from $200 to US$1 to just over $210, a worrying trend for businesses and the administration.  It is not likely to drift down in a hurry, analysts have said.

While banks were advertising trading on average between $204 and $209, businesses have been complaining of hardships in acquiring significant amounts.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Agriculture, Business, Economics/Finance, Government, Guyana, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)
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