• The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), through its Boosting Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (BIGEE), announced that the Application Window for its Innovation Grant Fund (IGF) is now open, effective January 2, 2024. The Application Window will remain open for six (6) weeks until February 13, 2024.
• The Innovation Grant Fund (IGF) is an opportunity for medium-sized Jamaican companies with new and innovative products and services to access grant funding in the amount of Twenty million Jamaican Dollars (J$20Mn).
• Christopher Brown, Programme Manager, highlighted that twelve (12) medium-sized Jamaican companies have been awarded grants, representing an investment by the Bank of J$190Mn. He further noted that "The majority of the projects have been successfully completed and the remaining are now in the close-out phase; all of which has recorded growth and on an upward trajectory”.
• The DBJ is encouraging medium-sized Jamaican companies with innovative products and or services that are new and revolutionary to apply.
• BIGEE is the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) five-year project valued at US$25Mn and financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The Development Bank of Jamaica is the Executing Agency.
• The Agreement was executed between the GOJ and the IDB in the latter part of 2019; however, there were unforeseen delays in the launch due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Its objective is to promote sustainable and robust growth among start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Jamaica.

(Source: JSE)

• S&P Global Ratings (S&P) has affirmed its 'BBB' long-term local currency issuer credit rating on Sagicor Financial Company (SFC) and its Stable Outlook.
• Sagicor Group has healthy income diversification by business line and region, with its operations spanning 21 countries across the Caribbean and North America, providing life, health, and property/casualty insurance, annuities, and pension products to individuals and groups.
• The affirmation was driven by S&P’s revised criteria for analysing insurers' risk-based capital. Based on the revised criteria, the capital adequacy of Sagicor remains strong.
• Overall, S&P expects SFC to continue benefiting from the healthy demand for life and retirement products and the competitive interest rates in the multiyear guarantee annuity segment. Additionally, the company is set to maintain its solid brand recognition and strong relationships with policyholders and dealers.
• The stable outlook reflects the expectation that SFC will maintain total adjusted capital above S&P’s 'AA' category benchmark in the next two years, as well as stable debt.

(Source: S&P Global Ratings)

• Every worker in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), including undocumented migrants, must be paid the new minimum wage of $20.50 an hour, which took effect on January 1, 2024.
• This is according to a representative of the Ministry of Labour, who said employers failing to comply, regardless of the company's size, will be held liable for breaching the law.
• The increase in the minimum wage by $3 was announced in the national budget in October 2023 and enacted as law on December 28, 2023.
• Labour Inspector II, Paula Achaibar, said the new wage applies to any worker in Trinidad and Tobago. 'This is also applicable to our migrant population, now it matters not whether the person is here legally or illegally. That migrant worker is considered a worker and once you are a worker you are entitled to the same terms and conditions as a national simply because they are workers in Trinidad and Tobago,' she said.
• In addition, any worker, including a migrant worker, can report to the Labour Inspectorate Unit should their employer fail to pay the minimum wage.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspaper)

• President Biden's administration is slowly putting oil back into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) after selling a record amount from the emergency stockpile in 2022.
• In 2022, the administration announced a sale of 180Mn barrels over six months from the reserve, the largest ever SPR sale, in an effort to control fuel prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Energy Department also sold 38Mn barrels in 2022, which had been mandated in laws passed by Congress.
• The administration has repurchased 13.82Mn barrels of domestically produced, sour, or relatively high sulfur oil that many U.S. refineries are engineered to distill into fuels. It also has sped up the return of nearly 4Mn barrels to the SPR from loans to oil companies by several months.
• The oil is expected to be returned by February instead of mid-year. However, department officials have said the pace of the buybacks is being tempered by planned life extension maintenance at two of the four SPR sites. Further, analysts have said that Quick buybacks of much larger volumes could also risk pushing up oil and gasoline prices ahead of the presidential election in November.
• The U.S., which is producing oil at record volumes with more increases expected this year, also has more crude in the SPR than it is required to as a member of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, the West's energy watchdog. Under the agreement, the U.S. is required to hold 90 days' worth of net petroleum imports.
• The administration sold the 180Mn barrels at an average of about $95 a barrel and wants to buy back oil at $79 a barrel or less. The current West Texas Intermediate oil price of about $72 a barrel allows such purchases. However, prices could go back up given the risk of the war in Gaza expanding to the greater Middle East, or effects from the conflict in Ukraine.

(Sources: Reuters)

• Bonds sold off and global equity markets failed to fully shake off New Year blues on Thursday after U.S. unemployment data indicated a resilient labor market, tempering expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024.
• The focus has turned to the U.S. central bank's efforts to steer the economy to a soft landing. "The real federal funds rate doesn't need to be as high and as restrictive as it currently is. Still, the Fed will need more evidence of inflation progress to get those cuts," said Roosevelt Bowman, senior investment strategist at Bernstein Private Wealth Management in New York.
• The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. Separately, the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) National Employment Report showed U.S. private employers hired more workers than expected in December.
• "The combination of better-than-expected ADP and lower-than-expected-jobless claims was enough to inspire a little bit of selling pressure on Treasuries," said Ben Jeffery, a U.S. rates strategist at BMO Capital Markets in New York. The reports "definitely moderate the odds of a near-term rate cut from the Fed just given the fact that the job market remains in a relatively good place," he said.
• Fed policymakers have indicated they expect three rate cuts this year. Futures traders have trimmed the total estimated reduction by December to just over 137 basis points (bps) from expectations of more than 160 bps late last year.
• Minutes from the U.S. central bank's December policy meeting offered few clues on when the Fed might start cutting rates. Traders see a 66.4% chance for at least a 25 bps rate cut in March and about a 92% probability in May, according to the CME Group's FedWatch.

(Sources: Reuters)

• Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited (SGJ) has announced the Group’s further expansion into the Latin American market, effective January 1, 2024. This strategic move was done through a joint venture with its Costa Rican partners (Capital & Advice Inc), for the acquisition of Sagicor Panama from Sagicor Life Inc. in Barbados.
• Christopher Zacca, President and CEO of SGJ, expressed that this is a tremendous achievement for the company, stating, "The acquisition of Sagicor Panama is a key step in our strategic objective of regional expansion.”
• Sagicor Panama currently offers a range of products, including Group and Individual Life insurance, Group and Individual Health insurance, and Personal Accident insurance. With this venture, Sagicor Group Jamaica aims to further diversify its product offerings in the Latin American market.
• This expansion marks a major achievement for Sagicor Group Jamaica as it increases its presence in the Latin American market and continues to position the company for further growth.

(Source: JSE)

• Residents and business interests in the northeastern parishes of St. Ann, St. Mary, and Portland are eagerly anticipating the introduction of American Airlines’ new flights between Miami International Airport, Florida, and Ian Fleming International Airport in Boscobel, St. Mary.
• The airline, headquartered in Texas, recently announced that it will operate two weekly flights on the route starting on February 24, 2024, using its Embraer 175 aircraft, which has a capacity for 76 passengers. This will be the first US airline to service the Ian Fleming airport.
• One of the key advantages being highlighted is the convenience that the new flight route will bring to visitors staying in Ocho Rios, Boscobel, Tower Isle, and Port Antonio.
• Portland businessman Danny Royal tells JIS News that the resort parish “might well be the biggest beneficiary” of this development. He further highlighted that the distance from the Sangster Airport in Montego Bay has placed Port Antonio at a major disadvantage for decades in terms of tourist arrivals, where this is a major start and catalyst for bigger things to come.
• Calling the development an important step for tourism growth in the northeastern region, Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the move justifies the Government’s vision of expanding the Ian Fleming Airport.
• With direct access to Ian Fleming International Airport, travelers will no longer have to endure the lengthy road journey to reach Port Antonio from Montego Bay. This is expected to significantly enhance the overall visitor experience and accessibility to the northeastern region of the island. Furthermore, businesses in those areas are looking forward to the economic benefits that the new flight route is anticipated to bring.

 (Source: JIS News)

• The Central Bank of The Bahamas has announced that it is relaxing the lending rules for residential mortgages provided by domestic banks and credit unions by revising the minimum equity injection requirement, a move expected to alleviate the financial burden for qualified borrowers and allow some additional individuals to qualify for credit.
• The announcement was made “with immediate effect,” and the mortgage indemnity insurance is removed from the Central Bank’s stipulation for borrowers to qualify for a reduced equity or down payment amount on residential mortgages. The regulator noted that the minimum down payment for such mortgages was 15% in the absence of insurance.
• “Moreover, in line with the relaxed rules for other personal lending, issued in August 2022, financial institutions may also vary or set lower down payment requirements for residential mortgages, in line with their internal frameworks for assessing and managing individual borrower risks,” the Central Bank said in a statement.
• The regulator specified, however, that lending institutions are directed to observe that personal lending is still subject to the borrower’s total debt service ratio remaining within a prudent limit of 50%. The exceptions are debt restructurings and/or consolidations for borrowers who are already indebted beyond this threshold and for whom outstanding obligations are not increased as a result of the restructuring and/or consolidations.
• The regulator pledged that it would continue to monitor the impact of credit trends on the outlook for external reserves and domestic financial stability and that if conditions justify interventions, it may tighten or relax the minimum qualification standards for new credits or enhance any of its macro-prudential or micro-prudential tools as deemed necessary.

(Source: Eyewitness News)

• Guyana will Chair the Conference of Heads of Government for the period January 1 to June 30, 2024, as President Dr Irfaan Ali prepares to take the helm as CARICOM Chairman.  
• President Ali, in a statement as incoming Chairman of Caricom, highlighted that the New Year brings renewed possibilities to continue targeted programmes to advance CARICOM’s strategic priorities to pursue the Region’s development goals and strive for peace and prosperity across the Caribbean Community.  
• He also noted that “Regional security is an increasingly critical matter. We live in a world where peace is challenged from one corner of the universe to the next. We ended 2023, however, with Caricom’s robust role in assuring the rule of international peace and security in our corner of the world and ensuring that Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole remained a Zone of Peace. We shall continue in 2024 with this respect for international law. We all remain committed to peacefully and by legal means resolving border controversies.”  
• Caricom will continue to address crime and violence, including combatting the illegal weapons trade, through its “War on Guns” campaign. President Ali says CARICOM will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to return Member State Haiti, to peace and stability as he maintains the Region must remain a Zone of Peace.
• Turning to the issue of the Region’s food and nutrition security, President Ali says despite adverse challenges, including climate change, CARICOM Member States have made steady progress towards achieving the ‘25% by 2025’ target to reduce the Region’s food import bill.  
• He says the agricultural sector will continue to be supported with expected innovations, and crucial to this initiative is the need to improve regional transportation, which will remain one of Caricom’s top priorities.  

 (Sources: Loop Caribbean News)

• Federal Reserve officials in December launched an expansive debate about a coming turn in U.S. monetary policy, with fresh concerns voiced about how long the economy could hold up under current high interest rates and at least initial discussion about when to halt the rundown of its balance sheet, according to minutes of the Dec. 12-13 meeting.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell had laid out the broad contours of the meeting, noting that the central bank was likely done raising interest rates and expected to begin reducing borrowing costs by the end of 2024.
• While the minutes did not provide direct clues about when rate cuts might commence, they reflected a growing sense that inflation is under control and growing concern about the risks that "overly restrictive" monetary policy may pose to the economy.
• The document caps a year that began with the Fed still uncertain about how much harm it might have to inflict on the economy to control inflation and Powell warning of "pain" to come, but ended with inflation falling faster than anticipated and policymakers becoming increasingly hopeful that they could tame inflation while skirting the recession even staff members thought was sure to come.
• Notably, for the first time since June 2022, policymakers did not use the phrase "unacceptably high" to describe inflation, according to the minutes, while laying out reasons why they felt inflation would continue to fall.
• There were still risks, with several participants saying they felt the Fed had gotten all the help it could expect from improved supply chains to lower inflation, with tight monetary policy still needed to dampen demand and new geopolitical risks possibly causing inflation progress to stall.

(Source: Reuters)