• More than 14,000 temporary and long-term jobs are expected to be generated from the planned multifaceted resort development in St. Ann by the Spanish hotel chain, the Pinero Group, which owns the Bahia Principe Grand Jamaica.
• Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Barlett, who met with the Group’s principals in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday (January 24) to discuss the project, said, “It will mean more economic and social benefits for the country and at the community level”.
• Details of the development were formally presented to Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, last year. It will provide a mix of hotel rooms and villas, a Professional Golf Association (PGA)-certified,18-hole golf course, a state-of-the-art fisherman’s village, farms, modern employee residences, and educational facilities, among other facilities and amenities.
• Minister Bartlett commended the Pinero Group for their long-standing commitment to Jamaica, noting that the Bahia Principe, located in Discovery Bay, St. Ann, is Jamaica’s largest hotel, with 1,350 rooms. He further highlighted that the Group is always seeking to expand and invest in the communities in which it operates.
• “What we are seeing here is an electric atmosphere, which is pretty much in line with the organisers’ assessment that it reflects the growth experienced in recent months by the national and international tourism industry and lays the foundation for the consolidation of the sector during 2024,” he further noted.

(Source: JIS News)

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting that economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean will decline from an estimated 2.5% in 2023 to 1.9% this year.
• In its outlook for the world economy this year, envisioning resilient growth led by the United States and a slower pace of inflation, the Washington-based financial institution said that the economic growth in the LAC will rise to 2.5% next year 'with a downward revision for 2024 of 0.4 percentage point compared with the October 2023 world economic outlook (WEO) projection'.
• The IMF said that the forecast revision for the region in 2024 reflects negative growth in Argentina in the context of a significant policy adjustment to restore macroeconomic stability.
• Among other major economies in the region, there are upgrades of 0.2 percentage points for Brazil and 0.6 percentage points for Mexico, largely due to carry-over effects from stronger-than-expected domestic demand and higher-than-expected growth in large trading-partner economies in 2023, it added.
• The IMF now expects the global economy to grow by 3.1% this year, unchanged from 2023 but better than the 2.9% it had predicted for 2024 in its previous estimate in October.
• Worldwide, the IMF believes inflation will ease from 6.8% in 2023 to 5.8% in 2024 and 4.4% in 2025.

(Sources: International Monetary Fund & Trinidad Express Newspapers)

• The central near-term risk to Barbados’s political environment remains associated with the government’s fiscal consolidation plans. Barbados’s 36-month IMF-backed programme (the US$189.0Mn Extended Fund Facility (EFF)) is set to expire in December 2025, just under two years from now.
• The deal, largely aimed at correcting fiscal and external imbalances following the COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to prompt the government to keep fiscal policy tight in the upcoming FY2024/25 budget (April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025).
• The government also appears on track to meet the IMF’s 3.5% of GDP primary surplus target for FY2023/24 while public debt continues to fall.
• These developments are largely in line with the government’s broader medium-term reform programme outlined in the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme running from FY2022/23 to FY2026/27.
• Furthermore, the political environment remains stable thanks to falling inflation, the stability of democratic institutions, and warm ties with major powers. However, crime and drug trafficking are likely to remain a risk to the market’s security environment.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• On Thursday, Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should avoid major spending increases in his next federal budget so they do not hinder the central bank's efforts to bring down stubborn inflation.
• "If there are large spending increases, that could start getting in the way of getting inflation back down to target on the timeline we've laid out," Macklem said in testimony to the House of Commons finance committee. Macklem was responding to a question by a lawmaker about the federal government's upcoming budget, which is due to be released in March or April.
• Overall, government spending at federal, provincial, and municipal levels is now increasing about 2.25% annually, which is not helping bring down inflation. However, if spending in the federal budget stimulates demand, it would be "particularly problematic," he said.
• During the pandemic, the country's budget deficit ballooned to historic highs, and the opposition has repeatedly criticized the Trudeau government for fueling inflation with its spending. The BOC has held its key overnight rate at a 22-year high of 5.0% to tame inflation, even as GDP growth has been lacklustre and inflation has remained well above its 2.0% target. Inflation was 3.4% in December.
• The governor said unexpected developments, such as a sudden supply chain blockage, could still force the central bank to raise interest rates again even though now it is more focused on when it should start to lower them.

(Source: Reuters)

• U.S. worker productivity grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter, keeping unit labour costs contained and giving the Federal Reserve another boost in the fight against inflation.
• Labor market momentum is also fading, though gradually, which could further help to curb wage inflation. First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose to a two-month high last week, other data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday. The number of people on unemployment rolls was also the highest in two months.
• The reports followed news on Wednesday that compensation costs rose in the fourth quarter at the slowest pace since 2021.
• The U.S. central bank left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered a sweeping endorsement of the economy's strength, telling reporters that interest rates had peaked and would move lower in coming months.
• "Inflation is increasingly coming back under control as the economy is more productive, keeping labour costs in check, and the labour market is rebalancing," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York. "This is what Fed officials are looking for to deliver the interest rate cuts the market is clamouring for later on this year."

(Source: Reuters)

• Fosrich Company Limited has advised that its Board of Directors will be meeting on the 6th of February 2024 to consider recommending to its shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting, certain resolutions to facilitate an Additional Public Offering of ordinary shares.
• This is the second time Fosrich is entering the market in less than a year, following its August rights issue to fund the second phase of its new 30,000 square foot Fulfilment Centre at 76 Molynes Road.
• The company over the last two years has reaped success through its entry into the manufacturing and distribution of solid PVC pipes and conduits and has announced that it is partnering with Huawei Fusion Solar to deliver battery energy-storage systems.
• While there is no information to state what the proceeds may be used for, we believe that the funds will be used to support the company’s growth initiatives.

(Source: JSE)

• United Oil & Gas has been granted an extension to its licence to explore oil off-shore Jamaica after receiving an official extension to Jan. 31, 2026, from the Jamaican Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications, and Transport (MSETT).
• The Walton-Morant license covers 22,400 square kilometers and could contain over 2.4Bn barrels of fuel resource, according to the company, citing an audit by Gaffney Cline & Associates. This would be more than one-fifth (1/5^th) of Guyana’s oil reserve, which is the 17^th largest in the world.
• During the license extension, United Oil and Gas will undertake additional technical studies, including piston core sampling and seismic reprocessing, to further de-risk the petroleum system and better define the prospects and leads identified on the license. Additionally, United will continue a farm-out process and re-engage with interested parties.
• United holds 100% working interest in Walton-Morant. However, it is seeking a strategic partner to support its planned work programme, including piston core surveying and seismic reprocessing.

 (Source: Oil & Gas Journal)

• Cashless payments are experiencing promising growth in Trinidad & Tobago, fuelled by the increasing adoption of digital technologies. With this surge towards digital, cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and capitalising on vulnerabilities.
• While this is a global tendency, developing countries like Trinidad & Tobago are also facing a significant rise in phishing schemes, attacks targeting e-commerce, 'free gift' scams and ransomware, among others.
• Despite this challenge and in anticipation of a growing and evolving threat, Trinidad & Tobago has been making tremendous strides in securing the payments ecosystem.
• Recent milestones include the migration of the mag strip debit cards to a Visa Debit Card secured with EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) contactless technology; merchants' rapid transition to 3DS 2.0 secure (an advanced e-commerce authentication protocol pioneered by Visa); and local issuers working closely with Visa Advanced Authorization – a solution that analyses up to 500 unique risk factors to detect fraud faster, and other AI-enabled transactional scoring tools.
• However, more can be done to protect the integrity of payments, while also establishing the infrastructure to drive more innovation. This includes the implementation of tokens, a security technology that replaces sensitive account information with a unique digital identifier.
• In addition, merchants should consider incorporating a transactional risk scoring tool, like CyberSource's Decision Manager, which leverages AI technology to help merchants distinguish between fraudulent and legitimate payment transactions.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspaper)

• The Dominican Republic’s Central Bank (BCRD) reported a 2.4% year-on-year expansion in the economy for 2023, surpassing initial projections and exceeding the Latin American average growth estimated at 2.2% by the World Bank.
• The Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE), a key indicator of robust economic performance, recorded a 4.7% year-on-year expansion in December 2023, marking the highest monthly rate of the year.
• Inflation, on the other hand, showed a downward trend, ending 2023 with an annual rate of 3.57%, the lowest in the last five years. This achievement positions the Dominican Republic below the central bank target range of 4.0% ± 1.0% set in the monetary program and could mean further monetary policy loosening in 2024.
• Notably, BCRD is expected to reduce its monetary policy rate by another 200 basis points to 5.00% by end-2024 through a measured and cautious rate loosening cycle, especially given uncertainty regarding the scope and timing of the US Federal Reserve’s rate cutting cycle. 
• The tourism sector played a pivotal role in economic growth, with tourism income reaching US$9,828.9Mn, a 16.9% year-on-year increase from 2022. Remittances received in 2023 amounted to US$10.16Bn, growing by 3.1% compared to the previous year. Foreign direct investment (FDI) also saw a significant increase, reaching US$4.38Bn in 2023, a 9.2% rise from the previous year. Sectors such as tourism, energy, and real estate stood out in this FDI increase. 
• These optimistic figures position the Dominican economy for favourable performance in 2024, with growth projections of 5%, one of the highest in Latin America. The expectation is that monetary stimulus, public investment, and continued foreign direct investment will further boost economic activity while maintaining inflation within established parameters.

(Source: Dominican Today)

• Private payroll growth declined sharply in January, a possible sign that the U.S. labour market is heading for a slowdown this year, ADP reported Wednesday. Companies added 107,000 workers in the first month of 2024, off from the downwardly revised 158,000 in December and below the Dow Jones estimate for 150,000, according to the payrolls processing firm.
• Only one sector — information services (-9,000) — reported a decline, but hiring was slow across virtually all sectors. Leisure and hospitality posted the biggest increase, with an additional 28,000 workers, while trade, transportation, and utilities added 23,000, and construction rose by 22,000. Services-providing companies were responsible for 77,000 jobs, with goods producers adding the rest.
• The release comes two days ahead of the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show growth of 185,000, against the 216,000 increase in December.
• While the ADP data can provide a barometer for private sector hiring, the two reports often differ, with ADP often undershooting the Labor Department’s numbers. On wage gains, ADP reported a 5.2% annual rise, which has exceeded the government’s measure of average hourly earnings.
• “Wages adjusted for inflation have improved over the past six months, and the economy looks like it’s headed toward a soft landing in the U.S. and globally,” said ADP’s chief economist, Nela Richardson. Midsize establishments, with between 50 and 499 employees, led job creation, adding 61,000. Small businesses added just 25,000.

(Source: Reuters)