• Europe slashed its gas use in August and September as industries cut production in response to soaring prices and scarce Russian supply, although the cuts were unevenly spread between countries.
• Overall gas use in the 27-nation European Union plunged by 14% in August compared with the five-year average for the month, and by 15% in September, according to the latest data from the EU statistics office Eurostat.
• With little call on gas-fuelled heating over the summer, the curbs were delivered by industry and, in some cases, the electricity sector as gas prices hit record highs, driven by Russia's move to cut supplies to Europe following its invasion of Ukraine.
• "That is really industries shutting down or significantly reducing their gas use," said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at think-tank Bruegel, adding that the lasting impact of such closures on Europe's industrial base was not yet clear.

(Source: Reuters)

• The return of British International Investment (BII) to the region will offer a vital new source of finance for countries. BII is the United Kingdom’s development finance institution. It assists in solving challenges in developing and emerging economies by investing flexible capital to support private-sector growth and innovation.
• Addressing the launch of the BII on Tuesday (October 25), at the British High Commission in Kingston, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, welcomed the return of the BII to the region, after an absence of more than 20 years.
• He stated that it opens the avenue for more investments that can help to improve standards of living in Jamaica and can help to transform the lived experience of the Jamaican citizen. It will prioritise investments in the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on sustainable and scalable projects.
• Clarke noted, also, that significant investments will be needed to reduce Jamaica’s dependence on imported commodities, thereby strengthening Jamaica’s resilience against economic shocks from external factors.
• The Minister for the Americas and Overseas Territories, The Rt. Hon. Jesse Norman said the BII is a key part of the UK government’s global plans to mobilise up to £8 billion a year of public and private-sector investments by 2025. This will include BII partnering with capital markets, leveraging the city of London and other funds, to scale up financing for private-sector development.
• BII will also help to usher in a new wave of investments in clean and green infrastructure [and digital transformation], and make investments that bolster financial institutions and businesses, create jobs, and boost trade.

(Source: JIS)

• Fitch Solutions has revised its 2022 and 2023 forecasts for real GDP growth in Guyana to 56.1% and 18.7%. This is from 46.0% and 8.0% previously, as oil production has ramped up more rapidly than initially anticipated which, combined with a higher oil price environment, will sustain more robust growth. 
• Robust demand for energy globally and further development and exploration of offshore reserves will sustain exports and investment in the coming quarters. As such, interest in Guyana’s oil sector will remain strong, attracting continued investment.
• Most notably, fueled by the rapidly expanding oil sector, Fitch also expects the non-oil economy will continue to grow as well. Therefore, in the coming years, greater development of the oil sector will sustain more robust non-oil growth, positioning Guyana as a regional outperformer as additional oil projects come online in the coming years.
• The additional projects will expand the sector’s production capacity and further drive export and investment growth, despite a moderating oil price environment. Greater production will also support the labour market and additional government revenue receipts, sustaining higher spending.
• Importantly, while Fitch’s Oil & Gas team expects that oil prices will fall only modestly in 2023, should the global economy slow more rapidly than anticipated, oil prices could fall more than currently anticipated. This would undermine revenue intake for the government, potentially hindering greater spending plans or the expansion of Guyana's non-oil economy.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday that central banks should keep raising interest rates further to fight inflation until they hit a "neutral" level, though in most cases they have not reached this point.
• Speaking to Reuters in Berlin a day before the European Central Bank is widely expected to raise rates by 75 basis points, the fund's managing director said it would take until 2024 for the positive effect of central banks raising rates globally to be felt.
• The ECB had for months said that its first step will be to raise rates to a neutral setting, where it was neither driving nor restricting growth, but some policymakers are now advocating more aggressive action, saying the ECB should go further to tame inflationary pressures.
• "At this point, we look for getting to a neutral mode, and in most places, we are not quite yet there," Georgieva said in an interview.
• Central banks have to bring rates up because "when inflation runs high, that undermines growth, it hits the poorest parts of the population the hardest."

(Source: Reuters)

• Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday delayed the announcement of a keenly awaited plan for repairing the country's public finances until Nov. 17, two-and-a-half weeks later than originally planned.
• The postponement, Sunak's first policy decision since taking over from Liz Truss on Tuesday, pushed up British borrowing costs in financial markets but by far less than seen in the panic bond selling caused by Truss' September tax-cutting plan.
• Finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced the delay in a televised statement, saying it would take more time to ensure the new plan took into account the latest economic forecasts.
• "The prime minister and I have decided that it is prudent to make that statement on the 17th of November," Hunt said. The plan is expected to set out how the government will plug a budget shortfall of as much as 40 billion pounds ($46 billion). Unlike Truss' plan last month, it will be fully audited by Britain's fiscal watchdog.

(Source: Reuters)

• The Jamaican Government and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion concerning income taxes. 
• The objectives of DTAs are to provide complete protection to taxpayers against double taxation and to allow for the free flow of international trade or cross-border transactions and investments, as well as the transfer of technology.
• The perceived benefits include clarifying each state's taxing rights, avoiding double international juridical taxation, and preventing fiscal evasion with anti-avoidance provisions.
• Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith noted that bringing this agreement to fruition has resulted from deep interest, and the agreement provides a backdrop to the future of business and investment relations that the government aims to foster between both countries.
• Additionally, she highlighted that the prevention or elimination of internal double taxation in respect of the same income, exchange of goods and services, and the movement of capital and persons constitute a significant component in Jamaica’s bilateral investment outlook.

(Sources: JIS and NCBCM Research)

• As Guyana prepares to auction its remaining oil blocks this year, President Dr Irfaan Ali announced that some of those blocks will be set aside for government-to-government partnerships in the future. Therefore, instead of auctioning all of the remaining blocks, an undisclosed number will be kept for state partnerships.
• He alluded to the United Kingdom (UK) being a potential partner that will benefit from this arrangement. He also highlighted that the two countries are seeking to deepen cooperation in the energy sector.
• The much-anticipated auction of the blocks was scheduled for the end of September but it has not occurred yet. An auction will essentially see the highest bidder gain control of a specific area to search for and possibly produce oil and gas.
• The blocks that will be up for auction include those areas that have been relinquished by oil companies searching for oil offshore.

(Source: Newsroom)

• The Cayman Islands remains on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list of 23 countries or jurisdictions that are subject to increased monitoring by the global anti-money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog.
• Just two countries – Pakistan and Nicaragua – were removed from the grey list following the FATF plenary in Paris, France, which was concluded on Friday, October 21st.
• The FATF placed Cayman on the grey list in February 2021, citing as reasons for the move a lack of fines and enforcement actions by Cayman’s regulatory bodies. This automatically led to Cayman also being placed on the European Union grey list in February this year.
• The FATF said, since it was placed on the list, Cayman had made a “high-level political commitment” to work with the FATF and the Caribbean FATF to strengthen its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism regime and had imposed “adequate and effective sanctions in cases where relevant parties (including legal persons) do not file accurate, adequate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information in line with those requirements”.
• Cayman’s Finance Chief Executive Steve McIntosh explains that “this represents significant progress towards the jurisdiction’s removal from the FATF “grey list” and demonstrates the country’s commitment to meeting the highest global standards for transparency, information sharing and the combatting of international financial crime”. Consequently, he remains optimistic that the ongoing efforts by authorities to investigate and prosecute money laundering offences in the jurisdiction will lead to its removal from the grey list in due course.

(Source: Cayman Compass)

• Rishi Sunak will become Britain's first prime minister of colour on Tuesday after he won the race to lead the Conservative Party, tasked with steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.
• One of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, Sunak, 42, will become the country's youngest leader in modern times - and it's third in less than two months - as he takes over during one of the most turbulent eras in British political history. He replaces Liz Truss, who only lasted 44 days before she said she would resign, needing to restore stability to a country reeling from years of political and economic turmoil and seeking to lead a party that has fractured along ideological lines.
• The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to make deep spending cuts to try to rebuild Britain's fiscal reputation, just as the country slides into one of the toughest downturns in decades, hit by the surging cost of energy and food.
• Sunak, who will be appointed prime minister by King Charles on Tuesday, will also have to work hard to hold Britain's dominant political party together after some accused him of treachery earlier this year when he resigned from the cabinet of former leader Boris Johnson, triggering his downfall too. Other Conservatives say he is too rich to understand the day-to-day economic pressures building in Britain and worry whether he could ever win an election for a party that has been in power for 12 years.
• Britain has been locked in a state of perma-crisis ever since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, unleashing a battle at Westminster over the future of the country that remains unresolved to this day.

(Source: Reuters)

• One thing’s clear at the start of the corporate earnings season: Inflation is still a hot topic for companies.
• About two-thirds of companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings in the first two weeks of the season (Oct. 10-21) had representatives mention inflation, according to a conference call transcript search run on FactSet. Among those companies are PepsiCo, Citigroup and Abbott Laboratories.
• “The environment clearly is still inflation-ridden with a lot of supply chain challenges across the industry,” said Ramon Laguarta, chief executive of PepsiCo. The snack and drink maker beat analyst expectations for both revenue and earnings per share as its price hikes buoyed its bottom line, even as some units saw volume declines.
• Recent economic data shows little sign of inflation letting up. The consumer price index increased 0.4% in September, which was a hotter reading than the 0.3% expected by Dow Jones, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. It was at 0.6% without food and energy factored in, which was also above Dow Jones’ estimate of 0.4%. The producer price index, which gauges wholesale prices, also rose 0.4% in September. That was similarly above the Dow Jones expectation of 0.2%.

(Source: CNBC)