ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Prime Minister Gaston Browne Monday said salaries and wages for public sector workers will be paid on time but ‘admitted that “it is becoming increasingly difficult’ as the country continues to feel the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Agriculture Minister Floyd Green says the external demand for Jamaican agricultural produce and value-added items continues to increase, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched the series of publications aimed at accelerating the recovery of the tourism industry in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Friday ended a visit to the island, indicating that the Barbados economy “remains severely depressed” as a result of the ongoing global coronavirus (COVID019) pandemic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched an acceleration program for STEM startups led by women in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados recorded over 10,000 air passenger arrivals in July after months of being hard-hit by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and for the first time since December last year, the local tourism industry is suggesting a positive turn out for the industry ahead of the 2021-22 winter season.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says it has entered into an agreement with Netflix to promote skills-learning and growth of the entertainment Industry in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

GEORGETOWN, Guyana –Guyana is urging the private sector here as well as in Suriname to cooperate more saying that they should regard the two countries as a shared economic space.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados –Barbados has announced plans to restrict the sale of pesticides to the general public, while farmers will have to follow established protocols in order to obtain the substance for use on their farms.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Guyana has pledged continued support to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) even as it acknowledged that there is room for improvement in many areas, including local content.

As we in the Caribbean seek to fast-track recovery and build a post COVID-19 world where business plays a leadership role in creating much needed jobs, access to finance remains a major constraint. The World Bank in its 2020 Ease of Doing Business Report notes that of the 14 Caribbean countries that were reviewed in its annual report, only 3 of them Jamaica (ranked 15th), Trinidad & Tobago (ranked 67th) and Guyana ranked 94th) are among the top 100 countries globally in accessing credit. This is out of a total of 190 countries. Simply put, we are not doing well in this critical index.  

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad –Trinidad and Tobago Wednesday said that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region accounts for approximately 10 per cent of global loaded goods, yet with that volume of traffic the region is grossly underrepresented with respect to personnel employed in the maritime sector.