After more than two decades in operation, the Caribbean Credit Bureau (CBB) is on the verge of going out of business while a new “foreign-owned” full-service credit bureau is set to take its place, Barbados TODAY has learned. The decision to wind down the operations was made on Friday, following a meeting between founder and […]
Category: Business
Manufacturers have taken a community tack as they launched a fresh ‘buy-local’ campaign on Monday, with the Minister of Transport suggesting that if Barbados is to emerge victorious from its current financial mess, consumers must buy more locally produced goods. It was simply unsustainable for the country to continue to spend millions of dollars annually […]
Four months in office, the Government is already suggesting that investors are regaining an interest in doing business with Barbados, according to Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds. “Since we have brought some settlement to the economy and entry into the IMF arrangement, there are a number of investors lining up showing interest in Barbados,” Symmonds […]
He made slight mention of a former government minister’s criminal liabilities, but Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn has left little doubt that he expects more responsible corporate governance in the wake of the Donville Inniss Scandal. Declaring that it can no longer be business as usual in the way business […]
Investors are being encouraged not to halt their investment due to fear of uncertainty in the Barbados economy as Government restructures its massive debt. The call came from Vice President and Country Head of Royal Fidelity (Barbados) Ltd Jillian Nunes, who pointed out that once the Government’s debt restructuring programme was completed “we will be […]
Government’s debt restructuring offer to foreign creditors could be rejected if it contains terms similar to those presented to domestic bondholders, according to a US-based fiscal analyst. The suggestion is based on conversations between international creditors and Managing Director and Emerging Market Sovereign Analyst with investment firm Oppenheimer Nathalie Marshik, she told Barbados TODAY. The […]
The Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) today announced the election of Edward Clarke, as the new Chairman of the Association’s Board of Directors with immediate effect. Clarke is the Executive Vice President and General Manager-Barbados, Sagicor Life Inc. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and is a Certified Internal Auditor […]
If Barbados’ economic fix with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not work, Barbados may have to consider the dreaded devaluation of its currency, which could leave all Barbadians “poor from day one”, according to a visiting fiscal analyst. The sobering observation has come from Nathalie Marshik, Managing Director and Emerging Market Sovereign Analyst at […]
Trade war or not between the US and China, Beijing’s top diplomat here has hailed a “rapid increase” in trade between the world’s most populous nation and one of the tiniest. In the first six months of this year trade volume between Bridgetown and Beijing reached US$79.8 million, “a rapid increase of 53 per cent, […]
Overseas creditors will have to wait a while longer to know details of the plan restructuring the debts owed them by the Government, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Cleviston Haynes has said. Giving the assurance that the creditors were not being ignored, Haynes said that they would be getting full details in “the […]
If done correctly, digital payments systems could be a major lifesaver for Barbados’ dwindling foreign reserves, a respected economist has told Barbados TODAY. The former head of the Barbados Economic Society (BES) Jeremy Stephen said that should Government’s pilot project for a digital payment system go as planned, it could ease substantial pressure on the […]
The National Insurance Scheme has been forced to use its investment income to pay benefits owing to Government’s half-billion-dollar debt as employer and tenant, the long-time NIS director who is now the Government’s chief economic advisor has revealed. The social security system is also holding in excess of $3.5 billion in Government paper as at […]
The Central Bank today drew a roadmap towards restructuring the Government’s six-billion-dollar debt, offering to swap the vast majority of loans for new debt instruments, suggesting a haircut to creditors and stretching the length of time over which they will be repaid. It’s the best the Government can do under the circumstances, the bank suggested. […]
Prime Minister Mia Mottley has stepped in to quell a potential standoff between the fintech (financial technology) company Bitt and some commercial banks by announcing a digital currency pilot project. Mottley did not give details of the planned mobile wallet pilot project or when it would begin but gave the assurance that it would not […]
Government will slice off half of the money earmarked for the National Insurance Scheme’s Unemployment Benefits Fund to retrain public workers under the planned Retooling and Empowering and Retraining and Enfranchising (RE RE) programme come January 2019. Prime Minister Mia Mottley made this revelation on Tuesday as she addressed the second annual Bitt blockchain conference […]
Some hotels and restaurants are continuing to reap success – and farmers are smiling all the way to the bank – under a farm project financed by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund. The $1.4 million project, which started in 2015, links micro and small business farmers to key hotel and restaurans. Under the […]
From back-to-school, the business community has gone to wait-and-see as it shifts attention to the Christmas period. While confidence seems to be slowly returning to the economy, business owners still expect it to take some time before Government’s ongoing restructuring exercises will pay off for merchants, president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry […]
