• Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmond Bartlett, says preliminary report from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is showing that in 2019, the sector earned between US$3.7Bn and US$3.8Bn, some US$500Mn more than in 2018.
• Speaking at a press conference on January 15 at the JTB offices in New Kingston, Mr. Bartlett said stopover arrivals for the year grew by 8%.
• “The measure of tourism is both arrivals and earnings, but the most powerful part of it is the earnings, which have increased by US$1.8Bn in just over three years,” the Minister said.
• “The best part of our success is in the retention increase that we have had in the dollar,” Mr. Bartlett said, explaining that in 2016, Jamaica was retaining 30 cents in every dollar earned in the industry, but it is now at 40.8 cents, a 30% increase.
• He said the Government moved quickly to ensure an end to the seasonality of tourism, and to make it an all-year activity that provides employment security to workers.

(Source: JIS)

• Fitch Solutions, is broadly neutral on Latin America's major currencies over the short term.
• Most units weakened significantly over the last year, reflecting a rise in domestic political risks and volatility in global markets that favored the US dollar and undermined key commodity prices.
• In 2020, it is expected that depreciatory forces will generally ease, but there is little to support nominal appreciation in the region.

(Source: Fitch)

• Ecuador has become the first sovereign issuer to sell social bonds in the international market, placing $327 million in zero coupon notes to raise money for a housing program.
• The 15-year notes priced at 65.191 to yield 12.25%, down from initial price talk of 12.5%. Ecuador will pay bondholders $400 million when the notes mature in 2035.
• The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said it backed the bond sale with a $300 million guarantee that put international investors at ease and reduced the financing costs for Ecuador.

(Source: Latin Finance)

• The Bahamas may need to tap international debt markets as it confronts the steep cost of recovering from the most destructive hurricane ever to hit the islands.
• The government will probably borrow about $500 million in coming months as it deals with the roughly $3.4 billion in losses and damages from Hurricane Dorian.
• The government is weighing options for how it will raise the debt, with some combination of an international bond sale and local borrowing likely

(Source: Bloomberg)

• British consumers failed to increase their spending for a record fifth month in a row in December, adding to signs of economic weakening that might prompt the Bank of England to cut interest rates this month.
• Official data on Friday showed sales volumes fell by 0.6% from November, defying the median forecast for a rise of 0.5% in a Reuters poll of economists. 
• Sales in monthly terms have not risen since July, the longest such run since records began in 1996, the Office for National Statistics said, adding that food sales fell by the most in three years.
• Sterling weakened and British government bond prices rose as investors increasingly bet on the Bank of England cutting rates on Jan. 30, at the end of its next meeting.

(Source: Reuters)

• Oil prices edged higher on Friday but were set to end the week broadly steady as sluggish economic growth in China, the world’s biggest crude importer, raised concerns about fuel demand and countered optimism from the signing of a China-U.S. trade deal. 
• The world’s second-largest economy grew by 6.1% in 2019, its slowest expansion in 29 years, government data showed on Friday.
• “A well-expected fourth-quarter China GDP rate (6%) provided little clue for oil price trading on Friday morning, and mounting downward economic pressure will perhaps limit oil’s upside in the mid- to long-term,” said Margaret Yang, market analyst at CMC Markets.
• Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 44 cents at $65.06 by 1014 GMT.

(Source: Reuters)

• Despite a 3.4% contraction in revenue, Paramount reported a 5.4% increase (or $2.03Mn) in net profit to $39.54Mn (EPS: $0.026) for the first half of its financial year ending November 2019.
• The result was driven by a 9.1% (or $19.72Mn) reduction in operating expenses, which management credits to its cost containment programs.  The bottom line was also supported by a 268.7% (or $16.6Mn) surge in other operating income which was mainly due to foreign exchange gains.
• The company’s stock price has declined by 23.2% since the beginning of the year to end Wednesday’s trading session at $1.72. the stock currently trades at a P/E of 41.0x earnings which is above the junior market distribution sector of 23.1x earnings.

(Source: Paramount Financials)

• For the six-months ended November 2019, Express Catering reported a 7.9% (or US1.42Mn) increase in its bottom line to US$1.53Mn (EPS: US$0.094).
• This favourable movement was primarily driven by an 8.8% (US$634.14K) improvement in revenues. Additionally, the company reduced finance costs 5.8% (US$9.77K).
• The stock has declined 8.9% since the start of the year, and closed trading at $6.06 on Wednesday. At this price Express currently trades at a P/E of 19.5x earnings which is below the Junior Market average of 24.5x.

(Express Catering Financials)

• Puerto Rico will be allowed access to $8.2 billion in delayed disaster-aid funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the island’s non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• The approval of the funds for the U.S. territory’s recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017, which killed about 3,000 people, comes at an opportune time, as hundreds of earthquakes and aftershocks have rattled the island since Dec. 28. The quakes have damaged thousands of buildings and homes.
• Access to the funds should come as a relief for Puerto Rico after ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday the earthquakes posed a setback in terms of the island’s economic recovery and ability to retain residents and businesses.

(Source:  Reuters)

• Fitch forecast Chile’s real GDP growth of 1.1% y-o-y in 2020, as economic disruptions due to widespread protests and reduced investment resulting from heightened political uncertainty weigh on economic activity.
• The forecast is markedly below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 2.1%.
• Consensus has moved downward in recent weeks and will likely continue to do so as higher frequency data prints begin to reveal the extent of the contraction caused by the social upheaval that started in October 2019.

(Source: Fitch)