• Honey Bun (1982) Limited (HONBUN) announced that its Board of Directors approved the Company to sign an agreement to expand its capacity by leasing a location at MJS Technology Park, Angels, Spanish Town. 

• The company signed a long-term lease agreement for the 160,000 square feet which signifies its optimism about future prospects.

• Honey Bun’s CEO Michelle Chong highlighted that the expansion was necessary as the company’s products are in high demand and that the company has outgrown its current facility in Retirement Crescent, Kingston.

• Deputy CEO Daniel Chong noted that the long-term-lease of the new four-and-a-half-acre property will initially see Honey Bun moving half of its operation from its current Kingston facility and will be operational in the next 7 to 10 months.

• This expansion will more than double its manufacturing capacity and is part of the company’s aggressive growth and expansion strategy.

• The new facility will be between two major highways, giving Honey Bun greater access to markets outside the Kinston and St. Andrew metropolitan area.

• According to Executive Chairman Herbert Chong, the current facility will continue to supply Kingston and St Andrew, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary, while the new Angels facility will service the rest of the island.

(Sources: JSE, NCBCM Research)

• As visitor arrivals continue to grow, the Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is highlighting the need to increase the production of goods and supplies to meet the growing demand in the sector.

• He noted that while the demand for agricultural produce for manufactured goods is escalating, supply is an issue.

• He was speaking at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Expo 2024, held recently at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James.

• The Minister noted that last year, Jamaica welcomed four million tourists who spent approximately US$4 billion. Since the start of 2024, close to 1.5 million tourists have visited the island’s shores, generating foreign exchange earnings of almost US$2 billion.

• He highlighted that increasing local production is critical in enabling the country to retain a larger portion of the tourist dollar, ensure the sector’s sustainability and maximise economic benefits for the country.

• The Minister further emphasised that the country should start looking at the supply side and how it can bring more food, pots, pans, cans and kettles to be utilised in the service of tourism.

(Source: JIS)

• As visitor arrivals continue to grow, the Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is highlighting the need to increase the production of goods and supplies to meet the growing demand in the sector.

• He noted that while the demand for agricultural produce for manufactured goods is escalating, supply is an issue.

• He was speaking at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Expo 2024, held recently at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James.

• The Minister noted that last year, Jamaica welcomed four million tourists who spent approximately US$4 billion. Since the start of 2024, close to 1.5 million tourists have visited the island’s shores, generating foreign exchange earnings of almost US$2 billion.

• He highlighted that increasing local production is critical in enabling the country to retain a larger portion of the tourist dollar, ensure the sector’s sustainability and maximise economic benefits for the country.

• The Minister further emphasised that the country should start looking at the supply side and how it can bring more food, pots, pans, cans and kettles to be utilised in the service of tourism.

(Source: JIS)

• Chile's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate on Tuesday by 75 basis points to 6.50%, in a unanimous decision by its governing board, saying the rate would likely be reduced further.

• The cut is in line with forecasts in a traders' poll last week, which also predicted the bank will reduce the rate to 4.25% within 12 months.

• Chile's central bank raised interest rates from 0.50% in mid-2021 to a cycle-high of 11.25% in late 2022. The bank held at that rate before kicking off monetary easing in July 2023, as inflation began to cool.

• Chile's annual inflation peaked at 14.1% in August 2022 and came down to 3.9% at the end of 2023. It has since gone back up, reaching 4.5% in February.

• The central bank's board on Tuesday added that inflation expectations are aligned with its 3% target, and "rising inflation figures at the beginning of the year and higher imported cost pressures emphasize the need to continue closely monitoring its evolution."

• While Chile faced a sharp economic downturn in 2023 after a rapid post-pandemic recovery, the economy "has succeeded in closing the significant macroeconomic imbalances of previous years," the board said.

(Source: Reuters)

• The World Bank has approved a loan of $750 million to Colombia, to help the country become more resilient in the face of climate change by buoying up renewable energy efforts and reducing carbon emissions, the bank said on Monday.

• The loan looks to boost the development of solar and offshore wind energy and green hydrogen, as well as bolster electric urban transport and multimodal transport, the bank said in a statement.

• "It is important for Colombia to take up the transition toward a more resilient economy, with low carbon emissions and a focus on sustainable management of natural resources," the statement said.

• The loan is the bank's second to the South American country focused on climate change, after a Dec. 2022 loan of $1 billion.

 (Source: Reuters)

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday launched a C$6.0Bn (US$4.42Bn) Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to accelerate the construction and upgrading of housing.

• The fund is one of the many schemes proposed by the government to spur the construction of houses and will be a part of the upcoming budget on April 16.

• The government will allocate around one-fifth of the money to municipalities to build critical infrastructure around houses and the rest will go to provinces and territories to build houses for the middle class.

• Canada faces a housing affordability crisis as a rapidly increasing immigrant population has far outpaced the number of available homes, increasing prices and rents. Additionally, 22-year high interest rates have also recently driven up mortgage costs.

• Of the C$6.0Bn, C$1.0Bn is slated to be allocated to municipalities to support urgent infrastructure needs such as water, sanitation etc. The remaining C$5.0Mn will be for agreements with provinces and territories to support long-term priorities.

(Source: Reuters)

• Inflation fell in six economically important German states in March, preliminary data showed on Tuesday, suggesting that national inflation will continue its downward trajectory.

• "The combined message from the data in Germany, France, Italy and Spain is that the eurozone headline harmonized inflation will undershoot the consensus this week significantly," said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

• Economists polled by Reuters forecast Germany's harmonized inflation at 2.4% in March, down from 2.7% in February.

• German companies' price expectations also fell in March to their lowest in three years, with inflation set to fall below the European Central Bank's target in the coming months, the Ifo Institute said on Tuesday.

• Euro zone inflation is expected at 2.6% in March, unchanged from the previous month, a Reuters poll of economists shows.

• ECB chief Christine Lagarde said in March the eurozone's inflation rate was set to keep falling, while economic growth would start picking up during the year.

• A growing number of ECB policymakers have supported rate cuts, with a June meeting shaping up as the most likely time for action, although there is also a meeting set for this month.

 (Source: Reuters)

• Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the Reverse Income Tax Credit provision is intended for the mass of working citizens who contribute to the Jamaican economy through monthly or regular statutory deductions.

• Closing the 2024/25 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 26), Dr. Clarke said the primary beneficiaries will be persons regularized before the end of the fiscal year, who earn below the income tax threshold, particularly Jamaicans earning close to the minimum wage.

• He noted that there are already approximately 570,000 Jamaicans who earned less than $3 million (approx. 450,000 less than $1.5 million) in 2023 who contributed to the system via Education Tax, National Housing Trust (NHT) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) statutory deductions.

• During his presentation to open the 2024/25 Budget Debate, Dr. Clarke said the initiative means that every registered taxpayer who earns $3 million or under will benefit from a reverse tax credit of $20,000.

• The funds will be made available through an online platform to make the process secure and efficient.

(Source: JIS)

• Brazil's central bank lacks a clear view of the steps it may take at its June meeting, making it more dependent on what the data shows, governor Roberto Campos Neto said on Thursday, as uncertainty weighs on the scale of future rate cuts.

• Policymakers emphasized this week that uncertainties around the pace at which inflation will fall, both at home and abroad, had led them to revise their forward guidance, now anticipating another 50-basis-point cut at one upcoming meeting, in May, having previously flagged reductions on more than one occasion.

• "When we don't have such a clear visibility, it is understood that we become somewhat dependent on the scenario from here until then," Neto told a press conference on Thursday.

• The bank also revealed that "some members" of its rate-setting committee argued that if prospective uncertainty remains high in the future, a slower pace of monetary easing may prove appropriate.

• Economic policy director Diogo Guillen noted at the press conference that while some members drew attention to that point, that "didn't mean other members disagreed with everything that was said."

(Source: Reuters)

• UK-Based InterEnergy, one of the largest private sector power operators in the Dominican Republic (DR), is eager to help Guyana become a premier industrial hub for the region through key reforms at the country’s publicly owned utility company, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).

• According to InterEnergy’s CEO, Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, InterEnergy, which is also active in Panama, Chile, Jamaica and Uruguay, can arm GPL with a game-changing metering system. 

• CEPM is the crown jewel of InterEnergy’s chain of businesses, and the only electricity distribution company where 100% of its customers are managed through remote metering. Remote metering gives customers real-time access to their energy consumption data and easy migration from prepaid to postpaid contracts.

• Additionally, the application would use sophisticated software and smart meters to provide customers with forecasts on temperature and power consumption in a given month. Once installed there would be no need for meter readers and customers could monitor consumption via a smartphone application.

• Following the recent signing of a cooperation agreement with GPL, the CEO said his team of engineers and specialists have been instructed to fast-track a proposal on the technological advancements and investments from which the Guyanese utility company can benefit. 

• Given the significant economic growth Guyana is expected to experience once it has six oil ships in operation by 2027, the CEO said the country will need more energy investments.

(Source: Oil Now)