• Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says that with LATAM Airlines now joining American Airlines with direct flights out of major international gateways, Jamaica has become the most connected destination in the English-speaking Caribbean.
• Addressing tourism stakeholders and business interests at a welcome reception for crew members of the LATAM Airlines flight from Lima, Peru, at the Sangster International Airport on December 2, the Minister said Jamaica’s tourism exploits have never been better, adding that “this is just the tip of the iceberg”.
• “We recently celebrated the return of direct flights with American Airlines out of JFK Airport in New York. Today we welcome LATAM Airlines flight with 174 passengers from Lima, Peru. For now, the deal is that they will be doing three flights per week with more to be added in the not too distant future,” Mr. Bartlett informed.
• The Minister further noted that the Lima hub is one of the biggest in South America and will make Jamaica the most connected of any Caribbean nation from that region.

(Source: JIS) 

• While Mexico is expected to see weaker growth in 2019, it will likely see stronger activity in 2020 on the back of private consumption, rising exports and private infrastructure investment.
• Fitch Solutions has revised its real GDP growth forecast for 2019 down to 0.1%, from 0.6% previously, due to weakness in the manufacturing sector and investment. The forecast is that the economy will pick up pace in 2020 growing 1.2%.
• That being said, uncertainty over the global economic outlook and the potential for additional erratic policymaking under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) are the main downside risks to the country’s performance.

(Source: Fitch Connect)

• Barbados will experience a second consecutive year of economic contraction in 2019 as government fiscal consolidation weighs on consumption and investment.
• Fitch Solutions has revised its real GDP forecast down from a  0.3% y-o-y growth to a 0.1% contraction for 2019.
• In 2020, real economic activity is projected to return to growth (1.3%) as tourism remains solid and foreign investment solidifies.

(Source: Fitch Connect)

• Chinese officials are in “close contact” with U.S. counterparts on trade negotiations, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said, while reiterating that tariffs should be reduced proportionately as part of a phase-one accord.
• Stocks rose in Asia and Europe, and U.S. equity futures gained, as the world’s two largest economies try to reach a truce in a 20-month-long trade war that’s led to the largest volley of tariffs since the 1930s -- hitting some $500Bn in shipments going in both directions.
• The U.S. has pledged to slap tariffs on more Chinese imports if a deal isn’t struck by Dec. 15, and many economists are pinning forecasts for a global economic rebound next year on a cease-fire that avoids such an escalation.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Saudi Arabia is offering fellow OPEC+ members a quid pro quo: If you stop cheating, we’ll curb production.
• With just hours to go before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ meeting in Vienna, it was unclear if the kingdom was simply offering to return to its average output for 2019 -- ending a brief surge to compensate for the September attacks on its oil facilities -- or whether it was willing to take even more oil off a market that’s looking oversupplied in early 2020.
• What was becoming clear, according to OPEC delegates, was new Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman’s reluctance to endorse the status quo, in which countries including Iraq, Nigeria, and Russia have consistently failed to implement their pledged output cuts, leaving the kingdom carrying most of the burden of supporting crude prices.
• “The kingdom has explicitly communicated to OPEC that it will no longer tolerate under-compliance,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects Ltd. “If it continues, Saudi Arabia can easily return to producing at or above its current quota.”

(Source: Bloomberg)

• For the six-month period ended October 2019, net profit at Blue Power dipped 16.0% (or $13.90Mn) down to $72.88Mn (EPS: $0.13).
• A 14.4% (or $38.97Mn) fall-off in revenues, coupled with a 14.9% (or $6.87Mn) increase in administrative and other expenses were the main factors that contributed to the decline in profit.
• The stock price has risen 37.0% since the start of the calendar year and closed at $6.91 on Tuesday, and currently trades at a P/E of 4x earnings which is above the Junior Market Manufacturing Sector average of 30.4x.

(Source: Blue Power Group Financials)

·       Moreland tax defaulters have had their properties put up for auction by the Barbados Revenue Authority, but the owners have been given until the day of the sale to come up with the arrears and reclaim their lands.

·       This was announced from last year when the tax collection agency stated that it would be seeking to recoup monies from chronic land tax defaulters and started by publishing 68 properties for sale with arrears totaling approximately BBD$15Mn inclusive of penalties and interest.

·      The auctions are scheduled between January and February 2020, but property owners have up to the day of the auction to contact the Barbados Revenue Authority and arrange to pay their arrears.

(Source: Barbados Today)

• ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, has applied to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for the authorization to explore 31 wells in three oil blocks offshore Guyana.
• A notice published by the EPA, on Tuesday, indicated that the projects include a 25 well exploration program in the Stabroek block, a 3 well exploration program in the Kaieteur block and a 3 well exploration program in the Canje Block.
• Earlier in November, Exxon Mobil had noted that its value position in Guyana had increased and it was considering its undrilled potential.

(Guyana Chronicle)

• Recently there has been a lot that looked like it might derail trade talks between the U.S. and China.
• Yesterday’s vote in the House of Representatives to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over human rights abuses against Muslim minorities and President Donald Trump’s comments that he was happy to wait until after the election to reach an accord all increased the risks of a breakdown in talks.
• Despite all the noise, both sides are moving closer to the agreement, according to people familiar with the situation, and U.S. negotiators expect a phase one deal to be agreed before the Dec. 15 tariff deadline.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• There are mixed signals on oil production targets ahead of the meeting of OPEC and its allies in Vienna this week.
• Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban said he believed that Saudi Arabia supported his call for more output cuts.
• The chance of tighter supplies, coupled with the positive signs on trade, helped push a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for January delivery above $57.
• The Aramco IPO seems to be going well, with the company considering pricing it at the top end of the marketed range, which would make it the world’s biggest-ever new listing.

(Source: Bloomberg)