• During his contribution to the 2024/25 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 21, Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness announced that the toll-free period for use of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP) will be extended to July 1, 2024.
• The extension is being granted to facilitate the conclusion of negotiations with TransJamaican Highway Limited (TJH), which operates the East-West Highway from Caymanas to May Pen, under a Concession Agreement.
• In the meantime, the Prime Minister reminded that the Government intends to move further westward from Williamsfield in Manchester to Hodges in St. Elizabeth. The extension will include a Northern Mandeville Bypass, a Spur Tree Bypass, a Southfield Bypass, and a Black River Bypass.
• TJH has the Right of First Refusal to operate the new May Pen to Williamsfield Highway and has exercised its right under the Concession Agreement by making an offer to the Government of Jamaica.

 (Source: JIS)

• Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, has reiterated his continued support for implementing the Blue Transformation approach in the Region.
• Blue Transformation is an approach aimed at redefining the region’s relationship with aquatic foods and proposes a vision of sustainable aquaculture production, effective fisheries management, and improved value chains.
• Minister Green, speaking on March 19 at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) four-day regional conference in Guyana, said priority must be given to diversifying the livelihoods of small-scale fishers and fish farmers.
• The Minister highlighted that the country is implementing a fisheries development programme with two components – promoting community-based climate resilience and modernising licensing and registration systems.
• “As such, we are using the technology to develop what we call Irie Fins, a Jamaican fisheries aquaculture information system where our fishers, fish farmers, and vessels can register using their mobile devices,” he added. He further also highlighted strategies being used in Jamaica to increase yields in aquaculture and encourage diversity among artisanal fishers.

 (Source: JIS)

• The Bahamas’ prospects for continued tourism growth depend on bringing 2,000 hotel rooms, or 15% of its total pre-COVID inventory, back on line swiftly with the industry at “maximum capacity”.
• Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, stated that the country must “address capacity” if its largest industry is to maintain the post-pandemic growth momentum, adding: “We have to get those rooms out of order back in order.”
• Apart from the loss of the now-demolished Melia Nassau Beach Resort’s 694 rooms and the closure of Atlantis’ Beach Towers property for redevelopment into the Somewhere Else concept (a new resort set to open in 2024 on Atlantis Paradise Island), the BHTA president said a “significant” amount of inventory has also been lost in Grand Bahama, largely stemming from the closure of two of the three properties that form the Grand Lucayan complex.
• Voicing optimism that hotel developers and operators are working to “reverse” these trends, Mr Sands explained that The Bahamas has withstood earlier negative international media coverage of its crime woes and US/Canadian travel warnings with bookings for the upcoming Easter period and winter tourism peak “meeting or exceeding the expectations” of many resorts.
• However, Mr Sands said increased room inventory - both among hotels and vacation rentals - remains critical to maintaining tourism and the wider economy’s momentum by providing sufficient accommodation to meet the still-surging demand for a Bahamas vacation.

 (Source: The Tribune)

• Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) cut interest rates in a split decision, joining regional peers that have been easing monetary policy as inflation slows.
• Banxico, on Thursday cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 11%, as forecast by 26 of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Three analysts expected the bank to keep the key rate unchanged.
• Notably, deputy governor Irene Espinosa voted to leave the rate unchanged, while the other four board members all backed the reduction, the bank said in its policy statement.
• Future decisions “will take into account the progress in the inflation outlook and the challenges that prevail,” the bank said. “It will also consider the incidence of both the restrictive policy stance that has been maintained and that prevailing in the future on inflation throughout the horizon in which monetary policy operates.”
• Consumer prices rose 4.4% in February from the previous year, down from 4.88% a month earlier and roughly half the peak of 2022. Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like fuel and is closely watched in Mexico, also came down to 4.64% last month. Banxico targets inflation at 3%, plus or minus 1 percentage point.
• The latest Citibanamex survey published Wednesday shows economists see both headline and core inflation slowing to 4.1% this year, before reaching 3.71% and 3.69%, respectively, in 2025. They also forecast the key rate to fall to 9.5% this year and 7.5% by the end of 2025.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Investors are flocking to U.S. medium-term government bond funds and helping push their assets to record highs as uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's policy path prompts them to seek the sweet spot between income and protection.
• According to Morningstar Direct data, U.S. medium-term government bond funds, which include Treasuries and debt issued by government-linked agencies, attracted $9.8Bn in the first two months of this year. That compared with just $2.3Bn for long-term government funds and an outflow of $3.5Bn from short-term government bond funds.
• Assets under management (AUM) at U.S. medium-term government bond funds stood at a record $252Bn at the end of February, up 2% this year, the data showed. By contrast, the AUM at U.S. short-term and long-term government bonds had dropped 3.8% and 2.7% to $93.4Bn and $158.3Bn, respectively.
• The rush into medium tenors has been driven by shifting expectations for Fed policy. In early 2023, as the Fed's swift policy tightening caused the yield curve to invert, investors sought short-term bonds for their yields. Bond prices move inversely with yields. So, as talk of rate cuts grew in the second half of last year, investors flocked to long term bonds whose yields would tend to fall more, hence boosting their prices and yielding capital gains.
• The scenario has changed again this year. As the Fed contemplates cutting rates but inflation remains sticky, markets have gone from pricing six rate cuts in 2024 at the end of December to now expecting just three rate cuts - reshaping investor strategies in the bond market once more.
• "Some of this uncertainty in the rate path could be a driver of moving towards the middle of the curve, as investors want to have duration exposure but don’t feel confident enough in the Fed path to be long on the yield curve," said Michael Parnell, senior strategic research analyst at Verus.
• "Medium-term bond funds could continue to attract more flows over the next few quarters as they present a nice income opportunity and an appealing risk and reward profile for price action relative to duration, culminating in an attractive total return opportunity," said Karen Manna, portfolio manager at Federated Hermes.

(Source: Reuters)

• Britain's economy is moving in the right direction for the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates, Governor Andrew Bailey said on Thursday as two of his colleagues dropped their votes for a rate hike.
• The BoE's committee of interest rate-setters voted 8-1 to keep borrowing costs at their 16-year high of 5.25% as the two officials who had previously called for higher rates changed their stance.
• British government bonds rallied immediately after the announcement, and the sterling fell against the dollar and the euro.
• Investors slightly increased their bets on interest rate cuts through 2024, with a 76% chance of a first cut in June and a reduction of 75 basis points now fully priced in by December. Bailey said there had been "further encouraging signs that inflation is coming down" but he also said the BoE needed more certainty that price pressures were fully under control.
• "We're not yet at the point where we can cut interest rates, but things are moving in the right direction," he said in a statement. The BoE decision follows the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement on Wednesday that it remained on track for three interest rate cuts this year, prompting stock market rallies.
• The European Central Bank has tried to cool talk about a run of rate cuts for the eurozone as investors increasingly consider the fight against global inflation to have been won.

(Source: Reuters)

• Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the generation of ideas is key to driving continuous changes that facilitate the constant emergence of innovations in the local hospitality industry.
• Speaking during the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI) Career Expo 2024 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James, on March 15, Barlett noted that ideas are what drive tourism; changes lead to growth, and where there is innovation, there is value added.
• The number of tourists traversing countries globally over the next 25 years is projected to increase by 1.5Bn. Against this background, Minister Bartlett said the industry will require innovative thinkers to continually add value to the wide-ranging outputs.
• Mr. Bartlett, who highlighted the “endless opportunities” that Jamaica’s tourism industry can potentially provide, pointed out that, the value-added component accounted for 11.0% of the sector’s 2.9% growth recorded last year. He expressed his excitement about the prospects enabling the Jamaican economy to see the benefit of US$5Bn in earnings by 2025.

(Source: JIS)

• JBG has announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its hatchery assets located in Iowa, USA for US$23 million.
• These assets were previously purchased in March 2016 from Welp Inc. and were held through the Company’s subsidiary, International Poultry Breeders Hatcheries, Inc.
• The transaction is part of the company’s strategy to consolidate its assets and to increase the efficiency of JBG’s vertical integration in the United States.
• JBG’s US Operations reported segment profits of $2.98Bn for Q3 2023 which was 8.2% (or $226Mn) above last year’s segment result. This increase was driven by increased volumes of poultry meat and eggs, as well as the implementation of cost management initiatives.

(Sources: JSE & Company Financials)

• The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) said it is now actively mobilising financing to continue its Special Development Fund (SDF), regarded as an integral element of its poverty reduction and sustainable development efforts.
• The region's premier financial institution said that currently near the end of its tenth four-year cycle, the SDF has disbursed over US$2.1Bn in development financing during its current phase, driving significant progress in regional economies. To sustain its impact beyond the present cycle, the CDB is undertaking a replenishment exercise, aiming to increase contributions from existing donors and enlist new contributors.
• The SDF, as the largest pool of concessionary funds from the Caribbean Development Bank, remains crucial in addressing poverty and human development challenges throughout the Caribbean region
• The CDB said SDF initiatives focus on enhancing the lives of the population of its borrowing member countries (BMCs). It said from 2013 to 2022, the SDF trained about 8,850 teachers, built over 2,760 classrooms, and improved learning for around 343,400 students. The fund also financed training initiatives for nearly 11,160 stakeholders in agriculture, boosting productivity. Projects impacting roads, transportation, water, and sanitation have benefitted over one million citizens in the region.
• The CDB noted that key sectors that have benefitted from investments and interventions include education, climate change, capacity building in government and national institutions, poverty reduction, water security, economic infrastructure and connectivity. 'Yet, despite this progress, Caribbean economies remain vulnerable to external forces, with persistent inequalities and pockets of poverty.
• With its mandate focused on poverty reduction, an adequately financed SDF will continue playing a vital role in addressing the region's key development challenges,' the CDB added.

 (Source: Trinidad Express Newspaper)

• The U.S. Congress on Tuesday laboured against a tight deadline to write a massive bill, funding military, homeland security and a range of other government programs following a deal reached by congressional leaders and the White House. Failure to act by midnight Friday would mean that many federal offices will be ordered to begin shutting down some operations.
• The package was expected to cover about three-quarters of the $1.66 trillion in discretionary government spending for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The last sticking point in closed-door negotiations was funding for the Department of Homeland Security, as a surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has become a significant issue in the election rematch between Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
• It was unclear whether a fifth stop-gap funding bill since September might be sought to keep federal agencies operating seamlessly until the large bill can be enacted into law. President Biden promptly welcomed the deal, posting on X: "The House and Senate are now working to finalise a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately."
• In addition to Homeland Security and the Pentagon, the bill would fund the State Department and other agencies, including the Treasury Department's Internal Revenue Service as it prepares for its April 15 taxpayer filing deadline. Earlier this month, Congress funded several other agencies, including the Agriculture, Transportation, Justice and Interior Departments.
• However, more fights lie ahead as the nation's $34.5 trillion national debt grows. Biden and House Republicans earlier this month laid out proposed budgets for the next fiscal year, which begins in October, which offered sharply contrasting priorities.

(Source: Reuters)