• Republic Bank in Trinidad and Tobago has requested a seven-year, $75m loan from IDB Invest to help pay for a digital integration process and fund mortgages and small business loans. The board of IDB Invest is scheduled to review the proposal on February 26, according to the multilateral lender.

• Republic Bank said in November last year that it had agreed to pay $123m for Scotiabank's branches in nine Caribbean countries. The price included $25m for operations in Anguilla and $98m for the businesses in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Maarten, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

• Republic Bank already has operations in Guyana, Barbados, Grenada, and Suriname along with a subsidiary in Ghana.

(Source: Latin Finance)

• Fitch expects Panama’s fiscal deficit to narrow modestly in 2019 as stronger economic activity and shipping activity bolster revenues.

• An expansive public infrastructure development programme is expected to keep capital expenditures elevated and see the deficit remain relatively wide.

• Fitch also forecasts the fiscal deficit to reach 3.5% of GDP in 2019 and 3.0% in 2020, from an estimated 3.7% in 2018.

(Source: Fitch)

• The federal government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

• Although most of the damage to the economy will be reversed as federal workers return to their jobs, the CBO estimated $3 billion in economic activity is permanently lost.

• Overall, the CBO projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3 percent, compared with the 3.1 percent rate last year, as the benefits of the new tax law begin to fade.

(Source: CNBC)

• The federal government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

• Although most of the damage to the economy will be reversed as federal workers return to their jobs, the CBO estimated $3 billion in economic activity is permanently lost.

• Overall, the CBO projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3 percent, compared with the 3.1 percent rate last year, as the benefits of the new tax law begin to fade.

(Source: CNBC)

• Fitch anticipates that the Bank of Jamaica will maintain an accommodative monetary policy stance through H119, supporting investment and growth.

• Additionally, the rating agency presumes that rising inflation expectations amid rising fuel import costs will likely prompt rate hikes in H219. They forecast interest rates to rise to 2.25%, from 1.75%, by end-2019.   

(Source: Fitch

• The Government of Barbados is on a mission to improve this country’s ranking on the Doing Business record in an effort to attract more investment.

• Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle announced yesterday that a Doing Business subcommittee is to be established which will work closely with a Competitiveness Council to ensure Barbados climbed the Doing Business ranks and measure up more favorably among the best.

• Barbados was ranked 129th out of 190 countries in the 2018 Ease of Doing Business Report, a slight improvement over the 132nd position in 2017.

(Source: Barbados Today)

• The White House has rejected a trade planning meeting with China this week due to outstanding disagreements over intellectual property rules.

• Should Beijing and Washington fail to agree on a permanent solution by March 1, President Donald Trump has said he will reinforce punitive tariffs.

• The White House tells CNBC that "the teams remain in touch in preparation for high-level talks with Vice Premier Liu He at the end of this month."

(Source: CNBC)

• Fitch’s growth forecasts for the global economy remain unchanged from last month, and they continue to anticipate a 'synchronized slowdown’ in real GDP to 3.0% in 2019 from their estimate of 3.4% in 2018.

• The major risk is that fragile markets feed through into weaker economic fundamentals, posing substantial downside risks to our global growth and monetary policy forecasts.

(Source:  Fitch)

• In October 2018, the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent which represents a reduction of 180 bps relative to the  10.5 percent recorded in October 2017.

• The largest change in employment by industry group was in ‘Real Estate, Renting & Business Activities’ which increased by 9,700 persons, (11.9%) moving from 81,700 in October 2017 to 91,400 in October 2018.

• The increase in employment for females was more than twice that of males, the number of employed males increased by 4,300 to 672,400 and employed females by 10,100 to 547,300.

• It must also be noted that there was a reduction in the number of unemployed persons and a simultaneous decline in the labor force. 

(Source: STATIN Press Release)

• The company earned profits that amounted to $0.8Mn (EPS: $0.00) in the 12 months ending December 2018, which is a significant improvement over the prior year loss of $47.8Mn (EPS: $0.22) in 2017.

• Management credits the results to the strong performance of the insurance portfolio, as evidenced by the improvement in profit commissions and very low loss ratios in its motor and liability classes.

• The stock appreciated by 73% in 2018 and has remained unchanged at $4.90 since the beginning of 2019.

(Source: Unaudited Year-End Financial Statements)