• The world economy may be the rockiest it’s been since the financial crisis, yet there are reasons to expect the current slowdown will prove short-lived.
• Bloomberg Economics, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are among those whose economists reckon the slide will bottom out in this quarter or next before acceleration later in the year.
• The International Monetary Fund is still predicting global growth of 3.5% in 2019, a pretty good clip for this stage of the expansion.
• Deutsche Bank strategist Alan Ruskin also argues there is a reason to be more upbeat than the headlines suggest. China’s economy, for example, is five times its size in 2000, meaning a 6% growth rate now is equivalent to 30% back then.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• A meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping to sign an agreement to end their trade war won’t occur this month and is more likely to happen in April at the earliest, three people familiar with the matter said.
• Despite claims of progress in talks by both sides, a hoped-for summit at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort will now take place at the end of April if it happens at all, according to one of the sources.
• “China is pressing for a formal state visit rather than a lower-key appearance just to sign a trade deal,” said the source.
• Trump acknowledged concerns in Beijing about the possibility of him walking away from a trade deal, offering to push back a summit with Xi until a final deal is reached.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Indies Pharma recorded a profit of $46.90Mn (EPS: $0.04) for the first quarter ending January 31, 2019, which represents a 64.07% increase over the same period last year.

• Growth in revenues (+11.23%) and a reduction in direct costs (-15.7%) were the primary drivers of the robust net profit growth. Indies Pharma also recorded a foreign exchange gain of $716,791 in Q12019 relative to a loss of $1.87Mn in Q12018 and saw a significant reduction in finance costs.

• The stock has declined by 3.14% YTD and currently trades at a P/E of 28x earnings which is above the junior market average of 24.96x earnings.

(Source: Indies Pharma Financials)

• For the year ended December 31, 2018, VMIL reported a 15.22% year-over-year increase in its consolidated audited net profit to $539Mn (EPS: $0.27).

• The improvement in net profit was partly attributable to a 14.4% increase in interest revenues as well as a 35.21% increase in other operating revenue to $1.3Bn for the year.

• The stock has risen 3.46% since the start of the calendar year. The stock closed at $3.89 yesterday and currently trades at a P/E of 14.41x earnings which is below the Main Market Financial Sector Average of 16.58x.

(Source: VMIL Financials)

• The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and the Barbados-based fintech company, Bitt Inc. (Bitt) have signed a contract to conduct a blockchain-issued Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).

• This ECCB CBDC pilot is the first of its kind and will involve a securely minted and issued digital version of the EC dollar (DXCD).

• The DXCD will be used for financial transactions between consumers and merchants, including peer-to-peer transactions, all using smart devices. For example, an individual in St Kitts and Nevis will be able to send DXCD securely from his/her smartphone to a friend in Grenada in seconds and at no cost to either party.

(Source: The Anguillan)

• Fitch Solutions has revised its end-2019 policy interest rate forecast for Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) downwards from 5.75% to 5.25%.

• Weak economic activity, depressed inflation, and a pause in interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will lead the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) to take on a more dovish stance.

• T&T’s unfavorable economic outlook will outweigh concerns about its worsening interest rate differential with the US causing large-scale capital outflows according to Fitch.

(Source: Fitch)

• U.S and Chinese trade representatives held further talks over critical issues in a phone call overnight, with China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reporting that arrangements were agreed for the next stage of negotiations.

• Chinese officials remain wary of President Donald Trump’s request for Xi Jinping to fly to the U.S. to finalize the deal as they fear Xi may be embarrassed by an unpredictable Trump, or forced into a last-minute concession.

• White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that a date still hasn’t been set for the meeting.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• The dollar index, which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of six currencies, is up more than 1 percent in 2019.

• The dollar's rise defies the consensus from earlier in the year that the U.S. currency would go down as the Federal Reserve signaled fewer rate hikes moving forward.

• President Donald Trump said on March 2^nd  he was not pleased with the dollar's run-up this year, stating: "I want a dollar that's great for our country but not a dollar that's prohibitive for us to be doing business with other countries."

(Source: CNBC)

On March 05, 2019, Moody' Investors Service affirmed the Government of Belize's B3 long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings, and the government's B3 foreign and local-currency senior unsecured bond ratings, with a stable outlook.

The affirmation reflects the forceful fiscal adjustment that was enacted in FY 2017/18 and continued in FY 2018/19. This fiscal adjustment programme along with strengthening economic recovery has supported the sovereign’s debt sustainability. However, despite decreased fiscal pressures, lingering credit challenges including structurally low growth and vulnerability to climate shocks remain substantial.

The stable outlook reflects the low risk of subsequent credit events over the next 12 to 18 months, given the government's more favorable debt repayment schedule.

On March 6, 2019, Moody's Investors Service assigned a B1 rating to the senior secured notes due 2024 to be issued by Digicel International Finance Limited (DIFL) and Digicel Holdings (Bermuda) Limited. The Caa1 corporate family rating (CFR) of Digicel Group Limited, as well as the ratings on all existing debt instruments within the group, remain unchanged. The outlook on all ratings is stable.

The B1 rating on the new notes is aligned with the ratings of the existing DIFL debt instruments and three notches above the Caa1 CFR of Digicel, reflecting the notes positioning in the waterfall ahead of the debt instruments at Digicel Limited, Digicel Group One Limited, Digicel Group Two Limited and Digicel Group Limited.

Digicel's Caa1 CFR continues to reflect its high leverage and untenable capital structure, with the company facing large debt maturities in the coming years, and its weak liquidity profile. Digicel's liquidity has been weakening for several quarters, with negative free cash flow resulting in a decline in the company's cash balance (USD96 million at December 2018) and the full drawing of its revolving credit facility, while the increase in leverage resulted in tight leeway under its financial covenants.

(Source: Moody's)