• Effective July 1, 2025, the National Housing Trust (NHT) will raise the loan limit for individual borrowers to $9Mn, up from $7.5Mn.
• For two co-applicants, the combined maximum loan limit will be increased from $15Mn to $17Mn, and for three co-applicants, it will move to $23Mn from $21Mn. Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, announced the increases during his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 20.
• He said further, that for individual mortgagors purchasing a unit priced at $14Mn or less, the NHT will provide a loan of up to $12Mn, subject to availability.
• “We have given a policy directive to the NHT that all their resources should now be directed at producing houses that are around this price point. The NHT will not get involved in any new development of houses above this price point. Now, you won’t always get the houses at exactly $14Mn but you have to be within that target range,” he said.
• Also, for the construction of houses by individual contributors, the Prime Minister informed that the individual construction loan limit will be increased to $11Mn. For two co-applicants, it will be $17Mn and for three applicants, $23Mn.
• Additionally, he said that effective July 1, 2025, the NHT will reduce the wait time to access home improvement loans from 10 years to seven years. The loan limit for this benefit will be increased to $5Mn, up from $3.5Mn.

(Source: JIS)

• Over the next two years, the National Housing Trust (NHT) will commence construction of more than 19,575 solutions across all parishes, says Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness. He said the Trust will also continue to acquire lands for new developments.
• The Prime Minister was providing details on initiatives being undertaken by the NHT to improve housing access and affordability, during his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 20. He noted that 12 projects, representing 11,322 housing solutions, are at the contract stage or have started construction.
• Dr Holness informed that planning and design are also under way for schemes consisting of 10,598 solutions, including 5,000 solutions in Longville IV, Clarendon.

(Source: JIS)

• Microfinance company, Access Financial Services Limited (AFS) has reported that following a cybersecurity incident detected on February 27, 2025, all systems are now fully operational, and normal operations have resumed. ​
• In a release shared on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), the company acknowledged that unauthorised access to its network, which contains personal data, may have occurred. “While we cannot confirm that data was stolen or exfiltrated, we can confirm that personal data was accessed by persons outside the organization”, the statement read.
• The cyber-attack on AFS, has renewed concerns about cybersecurity in Jamaica, which hasn’t spared government entities. Most notably, the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) fell victim to a phishing attack in 2024, according to media reports, while PetroJam and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) were also hit in 2023.
• AFS’ cyberattack highlights the urgent need for stronger cybersecurity frameworks across Jamaica’s public and private sector companies, as businesses and government agencies remain vulnerable to the evolving threats.

(Source: JSE and NCBCM Research)

• The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) forecasts regional economic growth of 2.5% in 2025, excluding Guyana, with overall growth reaching 4.6% when Guyana’s oil-driven expansion is included. Despite a steady outlook, the bank’s Director of Economics, Ian Durant, warned that geopolitical tensions, climate risks, and delays in critical infrastructure projects could hamper economic performance.
• Economic expansion in 2025 is expected to be driven by continued strength in tourism and construction. Service-exporting economies are forecast to grow by 2.2%, while commodity exporters are set to gain momentum.
• Regional GDP growth, excluding Guyana, slowed to 1.7% in 2024 from 2.5% in 2023, as post-pandemic recovery momentum eased. Fifteen of CDB’s borrowing member countries (BMCs) surpassed pre-pandemic output levels. Guyana led regional performance with a 43.5% expansion, while Haiti remained in crisis, suffering its sixth economic contraction due partly to political instability and inflationary pressures.
• Service-exporting economies experienced a slowdown, with growth at 1.6% compared with 2.8% in 2023. Tourism arrivals remained strong, exceeding pre-pandemic levels in several BMCs, while construction was another key economic driver, bolstered by infrastructure investments and private-sector developments.
• While inflation moderated and unemployment declined in most countries, Hurricane Beryl’s devastation across multiple BMCs underscored the region’s vulnerability to climate shocks. Fiscal positions strengthened, with most BMCs achieving primary surpluses, though public sector wages and infrastructure spending increased. Although debt levels increased in nominal terms, the regional debt-to-GDP ratio declined to 50.9% from 55.6% in 2023, and five BMCs – Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica and Suriname – received sovereign credit rating upgrades.
• That being said, the outlook for 2025 is not without risks, including potential slowdowns in major trading partners, geopolitical uncertainty and climate-related disruptions. Delays in infrastructure execution could also dampen growth.
• The CDB identified three main priorities for action in 2025: strengthening climate resilience, with a focus on disaster preparedness and climate-proofing infrastructure; promoting economic diversification by modernising trade infrastructure and improving the institutional framework that supports and regulates businesses; and enhancing fiscal discipline through effective policies and institutional reforms to ensure sustainable growth and debt stability

(Source: Barbados Today)

• Cooling Mexican economic activity and inflation data on Monday supported expectations that Latin America's second-largest economy is headed towards a technical recession and fueled bets the central bank will move to keep cutting borrowing costs later this week.
• Battered by a devastating drought last year and falling investor confidence, Mexico's economy shrank 0.2% in January from December and contracted 0.1% from January 2024, national statistics agency INEGI said. The news comes after the economy shrank in the final quarter of last year - its first quarterly GDP slump since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Analysts have told Reuters that a recession is likely as U.S. President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs wreak havoc on growth that was already weakening. A first-quarter contraction would mark a technical recession, defined as two straight quarters of negative growth. "We now think a recession is unavoidable," JPMorgan said in an analysis note after Monday's economic activity data.
• JPMorgan said consumer prices were beginning to respond to economic activity's "weak backdrop" and expects the Bank of Mexico to deliver a second consecutive 50 basis-point cut to the benchmark interest rate, taking it to 9%. Inflation in the first half of March came in slightly below market forecasts on Monday, hitting 3.67% on an annual basis, INEGI said, down from 3.74% in the previous month and below the 3.75% expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
• Inflation remains within the Bank of Mexico's 2% to 4% target range, which coupled with weakening economic activity has allowed the bank to lower borrowing costs. "The economy is becoming more sensitive to tighter financial conditions and a less favorable external backdrop," Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief Latin America economist Andres Abadia said in a note to clients.
• Mexico's annual core inflation, which some consider more reliable as it strips out volatile food and energy prices, slowed to 3.56% in mid-March from 3.63% a month earlier. Economists expected 3.57%, according to the Reuters poll. In the 15 days alone, headline consumer prices were up 0.14% whereas core inflation hit 0.24%, both slowing slightly from the previous month. After lowering interest rates by half a percentage point last month, the central bank stated it would consider similar adjustments in the future if inflation kept cooling. "The drop in core services inflation and weak activity seal the deal on a 50-bp cut," Kimberley Sperrfechter of Capital Economics said.

(Source: Reuters)

• New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called a snap election for April 28, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who "wants to break us so America can own us."
• The comments showed the extent to which relations between the U.S. and Canada, two long-time allies and major trading partners, have deteriorated since Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened to annex it as the 51st state.
• Although the next election was not due until October 20, Carney is hoping to capitalize on a remarkable recovery by his Liberal Party in the polls since January, when Trump began threatening Canada and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation.
• Upon being sworn in as prime minister on March 14, Carney had said he could work with and respected Trump. On Sunday (March 23), however, he took a more combative approach.
• "We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump's unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty," Carney told reporters after the Governor General - the personal representative of King Charles, Canada's head of state - approved his request for an election. "Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada. President Trump claims that Canada isn't a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen."
• The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Carney's remarks. Trump on March 6 delayed a broad 25% tariff on some Canadian goods for 30 days. He has since imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and threatened reciprocal tariffs on additional goods, including Canadian dairy and lumber, on April 2.

(Source: Reuters)

• Markets opened higher on Monday, March 24, powered by gains in U.S. stocks, while U.S. Treasury yields climbed after Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump's tariff plan may use a more targeted approach than previously thought, boosting risk appetite. Ahead of President Trump’s next big trade move, his administration invited companies to weigh in on the economic barriers they faced abroad.
• The list of complaints was both sprawling and specific. In hundreds of letters submitted to the administration in recent weeks, producers of uranium, shrimp, T-shirts and steel highlighted the unfair trade treatment they faced, in hopes of bending the president’s trade agenda in their favor. The complaints varied from Brazil’s high tariffs on ethanol and pet food to India’s high levies on almonds and pecans, to Japan’s longstanding barriers to American potatoes.
• Trump has promised to overhaul the global trading system on April 2, when he plans to impose what he is calling “reciprocal tariffs” that will match the levies and other policies that countries impose on American exports. The president has taken to calling this “liberation day,” arguing that it will end years of other countries “ripping us off.”
• The president had floated the idea of also announcing sector-specific tariffs on cars, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors that same day. On Monday, Trump said that he would be announcing tariffs on cars “very shortly,” as well as pharmaceuticals in the “not-too-distant” future.
• That said, Trump himself will ultimately determine the contents of the April 2 announcement. The action aims to shrink a US$1.2Tn global goods trade deficit by raising U.S. tariffs to levels charged by other countries and counteracting their non-tariff trade barriers.

(Sources: Reuters and the New York Times)

• Sagicor Select Funds Limited (SSFunds) has advised that it has filed an application with the Supreme Court of Jamaica on March 17, 2025 seeking an order to convene a meeting of shareholders of the Sagicor Financial Select Fund and the Sagicor Manufacturing and Distribution Select Fund (each “the Fund” and collectively, “the Funds”) to vote on the proposed conversion of the Funds into Unit Trusts pursuant to a court-approved scheme of arrangement.
• The filing of this application follows the Board of SSFunds’ decision on May 8, 2024, to pursue the conversion of the Funds into Unit Trusts registered with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and governed by the Securities (Collective Investment Scheme) (CIS) Regulations, 2013 (CIS Regulations).
• The proposed conversion seeks to resolve the issue of the SSFunds’ shares consistently trading at a significant discount to their net asset values (NAV) on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE). Simultaneously with the application to the Court, the Company will prepare an application to the Financial Services Commission (“FSC”) to register the two Unit Trusts.
• Should the Court approve the application to convene a meeting of shareholders of each Fund, and the requisite majority of shareholders in each Fund vote in favour of the Resolution to convert the Funds to Unit Trusts, a second Court hearing will be held seeking the sanction of the Court to approve the Scheme. Once the Court grants the Order approving the Scheme and that Order is filed with the Registrar of Companies the Scheme will become effective.
• As at March 19, 2025, Sagicor Select Funds: Manufacturing & Distribution and Financial closed at $0.45 and $0.89, respectively, 21.1% and 27.8% below their respective NAVs.

(Source: JSE)

• Local entrepreneurs are being encouraged to participate in and engage with brokers and buyers during the Outsource2Jamaica 2025 (O2J2025) Conference, slated for the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James on April 10.
• The annual event, to be held under the theme ‘Driving Excellence: Talent, Technology and Transformation’, is expected to showcase Jamaica’s immense potential as a hub for business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and information technology-enabled services (ITES).
• Speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Vice President for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Logistics at the Port Authority of Jamaica, Gloria Henry, highlighted the growth opportunities available in the BPO and allied industries for both current participants and newcomers to the sector.
• Ms. Henry noted the positive outcomes resulting from buyers previously engaging with industry service providers in Jamaica and subsequently deciding to establish their centres.
• “We have been able over the years to generate over half a million US dollars per year out of some of these transactions, and close to half a billion dollars in investment has been, so far, outsourced to Jamaica,” she said.
• Ms. Henry acknowledged that “there are a number of entrepreneurs who are looking at the industry, seeing the opportunities and may be a little reluctant to get in”. Consequently, she said the conference “is an opportunity for them to engage with brokers and buyers”.

(Source: JIS)

• The Trump administration on Monday, March 17, 2025, quietly rescinded an order that had blocked a major Dominican sugar producer with political ties to President Trump from shipping sugar to the United States because of allegations of forced labour at the company.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection modified a “withhold release order” that had been issued in 2022 for raw sugar and sugar products made by the Central Romana Corporation, blocking exports to the United States from the company. The Customs website now lists the order as “inactive.”
• Labour rights groups expressed frustration at the change, saying that Central Romana, whose sugar had been sold in the United States under the Domino brand, had not significantly improved its labour practices.
• A U.S. official, who declined to be named because the person was not authorized to speak publicly, said that the decision to rescind the rule and allow the company to begin exporting had not followed established processes. The official cited Central Romana’s powerful ownership and said that the decision was most likely made at the top levels of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
• However, Hilton Beckham, an assistant commissioner of public affairs for Customs and Border Protection, confirmed that the order had been modified, saying that the decision followed “documented improvements to labour standards, verified by independent sources.” She declined to disclose those sources, citing confidentiality reasons.
• That said, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and MSMEs (MICM) in the Dominican Republic welcomed the decision, whilst the Ministry of Labor highlighted that this move reflects confidence in the Dominican Republic as a key trade partner.
• Minister Víctor Ito Bisonó emphasized that the decision enhances global confidence in the country and aligns with President Luis Abinader’s efforts to promote sustainable and competitive trade. He added that this progress bolsters the nation’s image and expands opportunities for Dominican exports.

(Sources: Dominican Today & The New York Times)