After weeks of negative reports surrounding the Caribbean Airlines Board, Finance Minister Larry Howai today appointed a new, Interm Board. The announcement was made at a press conference held today at the Ministry of Finance. Kristle Gangadeen files this report.

Caribbean Airlines made a loss of approximately seventy million dollars for the year 2012. This was revealed by Minister of Finance Larry Howai in the Senate today as he responded to a question posed by Opposition Senator Lester Henry on CAL’s profitability over the last fiscal year. Howai said almost half the multi-million dollar loss was attributed to the Air Jamaica side of operations. While he confirmed an annual fuel subsidy of 40 million for [...]

The members of a panel were discussing the impact, some 20 years later, of the decision to float. They unanimously agreed that the decision augured well for the economy of this country. Professor Compton Bourne, Executive Director, Centre for Money and Finance said that the decision to float the dollar, which was made under the PNM administration in 1993 came about because of weak export performance, low GDP growth, and lack of competitiveness. In his [...]

A bold statement from the new appointed TTMA Head to manufacturers “Reinvest your businesses!” Mr Nicholas Lok Jack made the call at the 57th Annual General Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Monday. He stated that manufacturers must invest to increase capacity and improve productivity if we are to succeed at going to the next level. To this end he is calling on all manufactures to move beyond their comfort level. Caricom, he says [...]

The last six days of industrial action at Petrotrin have resulted in the complete shut-down of the refinery, with resultant gross revenue losses of $100 million TTD for every day that the refinery is down. Petrotrin in a release this afternoon says, prior to  this spate of work stoppages, Petrotrin had been operating at improving performance levels, with refinery through puts of 160,000 barrels oil per day. They have reported production levels at land and Trinmar of [...]

Banks and consumers are being warned of a security breach with credit cards across the Caribbean. The breach which caused a nationwide recall of credit cards in the Bahamas , is said to put other Caribbean banks at risk. That includes commercial banks across T&T. In the Bahamas, banks responded quickly to the credit card breach by reissuing thousands of cards, in an attempt to protect funds of thousands of consumers. And on Thursday, the [...]

An  announcement today by the Banking Insurance and General Workers’ Union (BIGWU) President Vincent Cabrera that negotiations between the Republic Bank Limited and the union have reaped some results from recent negotiations.. Today BIGWU and the Republic Bank Limited signed a collective agreement for some 2,500 workers… According to Cabrera this country faces a lot of challenges…and in particular the finance sector faces the greatest deal of inequality.. Meanwhile RBL’s Head Negotiator and Industrial Relations [...]

A recent analysis of the International Petroleum Industry warns that Trinidad and Tobago’s economy may be in trouble. The analysis by a professional writer at Petroleum Economist, Justin Jacobs suggests that the oil and gas industry has changed drastically and if T&T does not keep up, it will suffer. He says there is an upsurge of shale gas production in the United States and a wave of new Liquified Natural Gas together with other major [...]

First Citizens Bank has been deemed one of the safest banks in Latin America and the Caribbean. The state owned financial institution qualified among the safest in the region by Global Finance 2012. It is being named the only Caribbean bank to be given this compliment. The bank secured a BBB+ &A2 rating from Standard and Poor’s – a Wall-Street based rating agency. Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch are some of the rating agencies [...]

An International Rating Agency which has served our country for years is now being accused of inaccurate ratings. Standard and Poor’s, a Wall Street based rating agency is now to face a Civil Fraud Lawsuit filed against them by the United States Department of Justice. The agency which serves several Caricom countries including our own was accused of inflating the ratings of mortgage investments, causing them to suffer when the financial crisis began. The lawsuit [...]