Barbados is on a countdown to a target that will place the country’s dollar in a position to once again assure local and international investors of its firmness as a currency in which to invest. The aim is to return the island’s foreign exchange reserves to and above the Bar$1 billion mark that ensures the exchange rate of Bar$1 equaling 50 cents the US remains unchallenged. The Prime Minister recently spoke of the reserve target last Sunday when she signed a US$100 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to finance a macroeconomic program

(Source: CaribbeanLife News)

Market sentiment took a hit after U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25% from the current 10%. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said it was "highly unlikely" he would accept China's request to hold off on the increase, which is due to take effect on January 1. The president's comments come ahead of a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Argentina at the end of the week. 

(Source: Investing.com)

(Bloomberg)  The global economy is headed into the final stretch of 2018 in weakened shape, handing investors renewed reason to question how much central banks will be able to tighten monetary policy next year. Fresh data from the world's third and fourth largest economy on Monday added to the concern. A manufacturing gauge in Japan dropped to the lowest since early 2016, and business confidence in Germany fell for the third month. The slowdown comes against the backdrop of volatile markets and a burgeoning trade war that has implications for monetary policy worldwide. The  European Central Bank has a crucial meeting in December where its due to confirm the end of next asset purchases, a key crisis era tool. The US federal reserve looks set to raise interest rates again next month but may be more cautious in 2019. 

(BBC) Theresa May has hailed the draft agreement on post-Brexit relations as "right for the whole of the UK" and insisted a deal "is within our grasp". The political declaration that outlines how UK-EU trade, security, and other issues will work has been "agreed in principle" according to the European Council. London and Brussels have already agreed to the draft terms of the UK's exit from the EU on the 29th of March 2019. The prime minister told MPs it would deliver what the Brexit people voted for. The agreement sets out the broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and the EU will have after Brexit. Some of the wording of it is non-committal and allows both sides to keep their options open. The markets responded positively to this development with the British pound gaining 0.8% to close at $1.28, the strongest in more than a week, while the Euro climbed 0.2% to close at $1.14 today. 

(Bloomberg) Tariff measures imposed by the Group of 20 countries reached a record and now cover $481 billion worth of global trade, according to the World Trade Organization. Ahead of U.S.-Chinese talks at next week’s G-20 summit, the group’s member countries added 40 trade-restricting measures since mid-May, compared with 39 during the preceding six months, the WTO said in a report published Thursday. According to WTO Director-General, Roberto Azevedo says " further escalation remains a real threat, and that if we continue along the current course, the economic risks will increase with potential effects for growth, jobs and consumer prices around the world. 

S&P raised its long- and short-term local currency sovereign credit ratings on Barbados to 'B-/B' from 'SD/SD' (selective default) on November 16, 2018. The agency also assigned a B- local currency issue rating on the domestic debt issued in the exchange and raised their transfer and convertibility assessment on Barbados to B- from CC. The improvement in the rating is due to the new administration completing its local currency debt exchange, initiating a local economic recovery plan and receiving approval from multilateral lending institutions for new sources of financing.

(S&P Capital IQ) 

In the 6 months ending September 30, 2018, the company earned $1.74Bn (EPS: $0.36) in profit which translates to a 4% increase over the $1.67Bn (EPS: $0.34) earned over the same period last year. Carreras performance was driven by an increase in revenues, which grew by 4% to $6.3Bn, as sales volumes recovered. Meanwhile, thanks to the cost reduction strategy, general and administrative expenses declined by 8% to $906.9Mn. Despite the YTD improvement in Carreras operating performance, management stated that the company is still being affected by the continued presence and growth in the illicit trade in cigarettes as well as the imposition of ZOSO which has affected the consumption of its products.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, KWL reported net profit attributable to shareholders of $1.42Bn (EPS: 99¢), representing an increase of 21% relative to the $1.18Bn (EPS: 82¢) reported in the corresponding period last year. The performance was primarily driven by strong revenue growth in its terminal operations (+13%) and logistic operations (+29%). KWL attributes this performance to strategic investments in infrastructure and capacity. At the close of yesterday’s trading session, KWL traded at a price of $76.75, representing a capital gain of 136% year to date.

(The Irish Times) Digicel announced on Tuesday afternoon that the deadline for lenders to sign up is being extended from November 16th until one minute before midnight, east coast US time, on November 30th. The latest extension has pushed the date out to eight weeks ahead of the original timetable. The first deadline for acceptance of the bond swap was set for the last Friday in September, before it was pushed back to October 19th, and then again until the first Friday of November, and then the 16th. The proposed changes have been resisted by a cohort of bondholders, delaying the plan and keeping Digicel at the negotiating table. Digicel, as it has suggested several times previously, says it remains in “constructive discussions with an ad hoc group of note holders”.

• For the six months ended September 30, 2018, LASD reported a net profit of $463Mn (EPS: $0.13), reflecting a 13.5% improvement over the $412Mn reported one year prior.
• The performance was primarily driven by an increase in Revenue (+5.2%, yoy) and greater cost efficiency. Gross margin increased by 55bps to 20.2%   while net profit margin improved by 39bps to 5.28%.
• LASD continues to invest in marketing programmes geared towards supporting greater market penetration for its new product portfolio.

 Source: LASD Financials