• The World Bank Group approved a US$35Mn Development Policy Credit to support Guyana’s efforts to strengthen financial sector development and fiscal management to better prepare the country to benefit from its newly discovered oil and gas reserves and transform its oil wealth into human capital.
• This financing provides critical support to our reform agenda and efforts to strengthen institutions and build a resilient economy that is capable of withstanding both external and domestic shocks. These reforms will be the keys needed to guide the management of oil revenues for the benefit of present and future generations,” said Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
• While currently, nearly one in four people in Guyana live in poverty, experts estimate that GDP will surge when commercial production of newly-discovered oil and gas begins. In response, the government has embarked on a series of reforms to diversify the economy and turn oil windfalls into human development and sustainable growth in the long term.
• This particular financing focuses on strengthening financial stability and enabling sound financial development to promote macroeconomic stability and long-term growth. In particular, it will support banking reforms and depositor protection, the establishment of a deposit insurance scheme, implementation of new insurance law, and the country’s anti-money laundering efforts.

 (Source: Guyana Chronicle)

• Barbados will run wide current account deficits over the coming years as machinery and food imports outweigh service exports, principally from tourism.
• It is expected that stable FDI inflows and support from multilateral lenders will provide stability to support Barbados’ external account.
• Fitch Solutions, forecast that Barbados will maintain a significant current account deficit of 3.4% of GDP in 2019 and 3.5% of GDP in 2020, following a deficit of 3.5% in 2018.

 (Source: Fitch)

• Tensions between the US and Iran escalated at the beginning of this week following reports that Tehran will cease to abide by restrictions implemented in the 2015 international agreement limiting its ability to produce nuclear weapons. 
• Iran will increase uranium enrichment activities "based on the country's needs" and could exceed limits imposed by the 2015 deal in as little as 10 days, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran's nuclear agency, said Monday.
• Iran's latest threat comes at a time of heightened conflict with the U.S., days after two oil tankers were disabled by what the U.S. has said forcefully was an attack orchestrated by Tehran. 
• The country's provocative statement on uranium enrichment serves as the first evidence that Iran may violate the nuclear agreement, brokered by the Obama administration and from which President Trump has removed the U.S.

(Source: US News)

• President Donald Trump has already given the global economy trade wars. Now there are signs he may be gearing up for a currency war, too.
• With a series of tweets on Tuesday aimed at the European Central Bank and an announcement by Mario Draghi, its president, that he was prepared to cut interest rates further below zero in response to Europe’s slowing growth, Trump made a rare American presidential intervention into another economy’s monetary policy.
• “Mario Draghi just announced more stimulus could come, which immediately dropped the Euro against the Dollar, making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA. They have been getting away with this for years, along with China and others,’’ Trump stated.
• By targeting Draghi directly and responding in real time to an overseas central bankers’ policy pronouncement, Trump was dialing up the heat just as his own Federal Reserve was gathering in Washington to decide on rates in a decision expected Wednesday, June 19, 2019.

 (Source: Bloomberg)

• The All Jamaica Consumer Price Index recorded an inflation rate of 0.8% for May 2019 according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Bulletin.
• This movement was mainly attributable to a 0.5% increase in the index for the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ division. The increase in this division was chiefly as a result of the 1.1% increase in the index for the class ‘Vegetables and Starchy Foods’ due primarily to increases in the prices for some agricultural produce such as cabbage, lettuce, and yam.
• Additionally, the ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ and ‘Transport’ divisions also registered increases in their index of 3.7% and 0.5% respectively.
• For the period under review, the calendar-year-to-date inflation rate rose by 1.6%, the point-to-point by 4.8% and the fiscal year-to-date by 0.9%.

 (Source: STATIN)

• For the six-month period ended April 30, 2019, CAC 2000 Ltd. reported a profit of $3.07Mn (EPS: $0.02) which represents a 94.3% drop relative to $53.65Mn (EPS: $0.42) which was recorded for 2018.
• The deterioration in performance can be attributed to a fall-off in revenues (17.2%), whilst a decline in interest income (71.3%), together with losses experienced in other operations of the business amounting to $2.53Mn contributed to an upswing in net finance costs of 206% above the prior year. Growth in general administrative expenses of 8.5% also contributed to performance.
• The stock has fallen 24.6% since the start of the calendar year. CAC 2000 Ltd closed yesterday’s trading session at $12.76 and currently trades at a P/B of 3.36x earnings which is below the Junior Market Distribution Sector average of 3.70x.

 (Source: CAC 2000 Ltd Financials)

• A visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission concluded that economic growth strengthened in Guyana in 2018 with broad-based expansion across all major sectors.
• According to a report from the Washington-based organization, real GDP grew by 4.1% in 2018, up from 2.1% in 2017, led by the construction and services sectors. “Inflation remained steady at 1.6% at end-2018, on the back of stable food prices and exchange rate”, the IMF said.
• The IMF said that for 2019, the mission projects real economic growth of 4.4%, driven by continued strength in the construction and services sectors ahead of oil production in 2020, and a strong recovery in mining.
• The IMF cautioned that the authorities here do not foresee any significant spillovers from the crisis in Venezuela at present. However, the influx of migrants into the hinterland and rural areas could put socio-economic pressures on the local communities.

(Source: Guyana Chronicle)

• Dominican Republic’s Stock Market is growing at a brisk pace but needs a “push” to compete with that of other economies. The statement is by Santiago Camarena, executive vice president of Alpha Inversiones, one of the leading securities traders.
• Despite recognizing that the country still has “all the products in the world,” Camarena stressed that Alpha is promoting the stock market so that the customer begins to find investment products which are in turn are tailored according to their needs.
• The executive expects that once the regulations of Law 249-17 of the Stock Market are approved, private companies will venture into initial public offerings (IPO).

 (Source: Dominican Today)

• President Trump said in a tweet Monday night that U.S. immigration agents are planning to make mass arrests starting “next week,” an apparent reference to a plan in preparation for months that aims to round up thousands of migrant parents and children in a blitz operation across major U.S. cities.
• “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Trump wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
• Large-scale ICE enforcement operations are typically kept secret to avoid tipping off targets. In 2018, Trump and other senior officials threatened the mayor of Oakland, Calif., with criminal prosecution for alerting city residents that immigration raids were in the works.

(Source: Washington Post)

• India is slapping back at the United States with new tariffs on $240Mn worth of American goods starting Sunday.
• Apples, almonds, lentils, walnuts and some chemical products will be hit with levies of up to 70%.
• The long-threatened move is retaliation for President Trump’s move to take away India’s preferred trade status, which he made two weeks ago over objections to its protectionist policies.
• The tariffs come just days ahead of a scheduled meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-20 summit.

 (Source: New York Post)