• Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett believes the push to reimagine Caribbean Tourism is key to ensuring the industry’s resilience. Addressing the Council of Ministers at the Caribbean Tourism Organization's (CTO) Caribbean Week in New York, on Tuesday, June 18, Minister Bartlett expressed his support for implementing changes that will benefit the region.
• “Tourism remains the lifeblood of the Caribbean and as such we must do everything in our power to ensure that the industry is resilient. As we continue to grow, post COVID-19, it is important that we take a deep look at how we are operating and how we need to operate in the future to respond to the changing demands and potential disruptions,” said Minister Bartlett.
• Held during Caribbean-American Heritage Month, Caribbean Week covered the CTO’s business proceedings, which included meetings of the Board of Directors and the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism.
• “The call by the Secretariat of the CTO to actively look at reimagining the organization is welcomed as the region looks at finding strategic ways to increase our partnerships, creativity and opportunities to benefit us all. The pandemic showed us that we must do away with competition and move towards co-petition to grow exponentially to benefit livelihoods within our communities,” Minister Bartlett said.
• The CTO’s primary objective is to supply its members with the services and information required for fostering sustainable tourism that benefits the Caribbean people economically and socially.
• From this year's discussions, plans are underway, with the aid of a consultant, to explore methods for reinventing the organization. It was agreed that a working committee be set up to ensure input from Caribbean destinations in the strategy development.

(Source: JIS)

• The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has advised that effective July 1, 2024, it will no longer exchange coins of the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Great Britain Pound (GBP), and Euro (EUR) at its banking counter.
• This decision signifies a notable change in the Bank’s currency exchange services, intended to tackle persistent operational issues.
• The BOJ considers the exchange of foreign currencies as a public service and, for many years, has exchanged CAD, GBP and EUR coins for Jamaican Dollars. However, due to limited repatriation options for non-USD foreign coins, providing exchange services for these currencies has become more challenging recently.
• As a result, after giving value for these coins at its banking counter, the Bank cannot obtain value in return.
• Furthermore, the decision to cease accepting non-USD coins is consistent with the practice of central banks in the Caribbean region that are faced with similar difficulties.

 (Source: BOJ)

• The Dominican Government, through the Ministry of Finance, has issued green bonds for the first time in its history, totalling US$750Mn.
• These bonds achieved a rate of 6.70%, approximately 15 basis points lower than what would have been achieved with other non-thematic financing instruments of a similar term. Jochi Vicente, the head of the Treasury, explained that the funds obtained from this issuance will be used for green expenditures, as outlined in the country’s first Reference Framework for Green, Social, and Sustainable Bonds.
• This initiative implies savings for public finances due to the lower financing cost and supports projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change, to which the Dominican Republic is highly vulnerable. These projects will help protect public infrastructure and the population from climate-related impacts.
• The green bonds received demand from foreign investors in global capital markets that was six times higher than the amount issued. This significant interest demonstrates confidence in the Dominican Government’s commitment to environmental protection, social needs, and sustainable development, as well as the robust performance of the Dominican economy.
• Additionally, this operation was complemented by the repurchase of US$1,009Mn of an external bond maturing in 2025. To facilitate this repurchase and to cover part of the 2024 General State Budget financing needs, RD$105Bn of an external bond in local currency maturing in 2036 and US$500Mn of a reopening maturing in 2031 were issued.
• These operations have significantly impacted the debt portfolio of the non-financial public sector by decreasing the percentage of foreign currency financing and increasing the average maturity time of the global bond portfolio.

 (Source: Dominican Today)

• The Panama Canal authority said on Wednesday, June 26, that recent rains boosted water levels, allowing heavier ships with larger cargo loads to transit the canal's Neopanamax locks.
• The maximum ship depth for the key global waterway will be set at 47 feet (14.33 m) effective immediately, and on July 11, will deepen to 48 feet (14.63 m), the canal authority said in an advisory to clients. This however is still below 50ft which is the highest ship depth allowed in the Neopanamax locks.
• The authority also opened up another transit slot for Neopanamax ships for booking dates after Aug. 5, bringing the total number of available slots in both Neopanamax and Panamax locks to 35 slots from the historic average of about 36.
• The latest changes should provide more flexibility for shippers, some of whom have turned to alternative routes to move goods as the canal has suffered a series of restrictions due to drought.

(Source: Reuters)

• Sales of new U.S. single-family homes dropped to a six-month low in May as a jump in mortgage rates weighed on demand, offering more evidence that the housing market recovery was faltering.
• However, the sting from the largest decline in sales in more than 1-1/2 years, reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, was softened by a sharp upward revision to data for April. The revised data shows sales rising instead of falling as previously estimated. Supply was the highest in more than 16 years.
• New home sales declined 11.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000 units last month, the lowest level since November, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said. The percentage-based drop was the biggest since September 2022. The sales pace for April was revised up to 698,000 units, a nine-month high, from a previously reported 634,000 units.
• New home sales are likely to remain weak. According to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, week-over-week (WoW) seasonally adjusted loan applications for home purchases rose 1% last week. Sales plunged 43.8% in the Northeast and slipped 4.5% in the West last month. They plummeted by 12.0% in the densely populated South and 8.6% in the Midwest, which is viewed as a more affordable region.
• National house prices are, however, steadily rising. The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported on Tuesday that single-family home prices increased 6.3% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in April. There were 481,000 new homes on the market at the end of May, the highest level since January 2008 and up from 474,000 units in April.
• At May's sales pace it would take 9.3 months to clear the supply of houses on the market. That was the most months since November 2022 and up from 8.1 months in April. Rising supply could improve housing affordability.

(Source: Reuters)

• The European Central Bank (ECB) could gradually reduce interest rates if inflation falls as expected, two ECB policymakers said on Wednesday. The ECB cut rates in June for the first time in the current cycle but has made no explicit commitment about its next move.
• Bank of Italy governor Fabio Panetta and his Finnish peer Olli Rehn confirmed this view, with only the slightest difference in tone between them.
• "The current macroeconomic picture is consistent with a normalisation of the monetary stance," Panetta told a Bank of Finland conference. "The ECB duly started this process a few weeks ago and, in the baseline scenario, it will pursue it gradually and smoothly."
• Rehn said current market expectations - which are for one or, more likely, two rate cuts by the end of the year - were "reasonable" but only "on the condition that the disinflationary process will continue as projected".
• The ECB sees inflation oscillating above its 2% target for the rest of this year, but sees a downward trend restarting next year, with price growth moving to 2% by the close of 2025. Markets broadly expect rate cuts in September and December, taking the ECB's deposit rate to 3.25% from its 4.0% peak. The ECB’s most recent cut to 3.75% occurred on June 6.

 (Source: Reuters)

• Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett welcomed the news that United Airlines has increased its total flights to Jamaica by over 50% since 2019. The disclosure was made during last week's meeting with the Airline’s top brass, the Minister and his Senior Executives at United’s World Headquarters.
• United Airlines is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. It operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States, connecting six continents from its seven US mainland hubs.
• “Jamaica continues to be in high demand and this increase by one of the largest US airlines proves that the partnership between the destination and airline has been fruitful and is strong. We pride ourselves on being one of the most connected destinations through our network of airline partners who form a core part of driving our tourism growth,” said, Minister Bartlett.
• In 2024, United Airlines plans to significantly expand its flight schedule to Jamaica, particularly to Sangster International Airport (MBJ). This marks a 15% increase from 2023, with up to 34 weekly flights scheduled from five of United's hubs. MBJ remains a crucial destination for the airline, ranking as its third-largest Caribbean location.
• “Without airlift, we cannot grow our tourism product and so we rely on these types of partnerships to create mutually beneficial outcomes. Jamaica is in a good position regarding its phenomenal post-COVID growth and with this consistent demand for the island, we are optimistic about our tourism outlook,” said, Minister Bartlett.
• Summer is gearing up to be very robust as some of the Airlines’ hubs, New York/Newark, Houston, Washington D.C./Dulles, Chicago, and Denver, experience strong load factors for travel to Jamaica. This augurs well for Jamaica's tourism sector, building on the record-breaking year of 2023 to meet its goal of earning US$5 billion from five million tourist arrivals within a targeted five-year period ending in 2025.

(Source: JIS &NCBCM Research)

• Diaspora members are encouraged to sign up for government business missions as the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce commences engagements in some non-traditional markets in July.
• Over the past year, the Ministry has led export and investment business missions to the Caribbean, the United States, Canada and London.
• “This year, we’re doing a lot of non-traditional markets. So next month, we’re doing Latin America, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, and at the end of August into early September, we will be doing Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone,” Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) President, Shullette Cox, advised.
• Cox further emphasized that the objective of the business mission is two-fold. “We’re not just going there talking about Jamaica and what a wonderful place we are to invest. We are also bringing with us, business people from Jamaica whom we will put in contact with business people in those countries with a view to exporting to [those territories] or developing business partnerships,” she stated.
• This year’s Diaspora Conference was held from June 16 to 19 under the theme ‘United for Jamaica’s Transformation: Fostering Peace, Productivity, and Youth Empowerment’.

 (Source: JIS)

• As heavy rains continue to pummel Chile, cutting off areas of the country and damaging thousands of homes, one community is dealing with a tailings dam rupture that has sent heavy metals throughout the community and nearby water supplies.
• A tailings dam belonging to copper miner Las Cenizas in central Chile began overflowing overnight on June 13 due to heavy rains and put nearby water sources, including the La Ligua River at risk of "adverse effects," Chile's environmental SMA agency said in a statement.
• Residents of Cabildo, an agricultural area known for producing avocados are worried about the impact the overflow will have on their livelihood. Citizens expressed their worries in meetings with government officials and representatives from the mining company, which were working to rebuild the containment wall that overflowed.
• After yielding 0% growth in 2023, Chile’s growth is expected to pick up to close to 2% in 2024 and 2-2.5% in the medium term. This growth will be supported by Chile’s comparative advantage in renewable energy production, as it is the world’s largest copper producer, second largest lithium producer, and richly endowed with solar and wind resources.
• However, if current weather conditions persist, it could impact Chile’s economic growth by reducing copper output and agricultural production.

 (Sources: Reuters & NCBCM Research)

• Bahamas’ initiative of allowing visa-free access to 157 countries has significantly boosted tourism, leading to unprecedented growth in the sector.
• This visa-free policy has been instrumental in establishing The Bahamas as a prime destination for various travel segments like business, luxury, and event travel. By making it easier to access the island, The Bahamas has simplified travel logistics and positioned itself as a top global hotspot in the tourism industry.
• In 2023, the total number of tourists reached 9,654,838, setting a new record and surpassing prior expectations. This number represents a 38% increase from 2022 and a 33% surge from the previous record set in 2019.
• Further, the significant uptick in tourism was supported by a 17% increase in foreign air arrivals, totalling 1.72Mn in 2023 compared to 1.47Mn in 2022. This growth highlights The Bahamas as a premier travel destination.
• Additionally, April 2024 saw a remarkable increase in cruise tourism, with 3.21Mn cruise visitors, up 14.8% from 2.80Mn in April 2023. Cruise tourism plays a crucial role in the Bahamian economy, contributing about 40% to the GDP and generating over US$2Bn annually from visitor spending.

(Source: Travel and Tour World)