Jamaica
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Cyprus debt and Caribbean defaults
KINGSTON, Jamaica – In the last few days, the government of Cyprus has begun to implement the measures demanded of it by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In return for providing €10 billion (US$13 billion) in support, a sum small by international standards, Europe has taken steps down a route that may…
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BRICS plan development bank
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leaders of five of the world's emerging economic powers agreed Wednesday to create a development bank to help fund their US$4.5-trillion infrastructure plans – a direct challenge to the World Bank that they accuse of Western bias. But the rulers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — known as the BRICS group — were unable…
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Jamaica’s energy problem needs urgent attention
KINGSTON, Jamaica – A FORMER head of the country's utilities regulation body has warned that Jamaica's energy problem now requires the same urgency as the lottery scam and has proposed a draft of measures he says can help to address the issue. With stakeholders divided between the use of coal as against liquified natural gas (LNG), J. Paul Morgan, the…
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IMF delays hurting us – Phillips hopes to strike deal soon amid concerns in market
KINGSTON, Jamaica – ONE WEEK after Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips disclosed that contingent talks between the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank were holding up the approval of an extended fund facility (EFF), he now says the country is being negatively impacted by the delay. Phillips, who yesterday announced at a Jamaica House…
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EDITORIAL – Damp squib from Cabinet retreat
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The People's National Party (PNP) socialists of the 1970s may have been dismal at managing the economy, but they knew how to rally people to their cause. The PNP of the current era, in so far as we can tell, has lost the art of mobilisation. So, the Cabinet has just emerged from a three-day special session…
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Small states, big problems: size does matter
KINGSTON, Jamaica – FOR decades the small developing states of the world, led by the advocacy of Caricom, have been at pains to explain to the world that their economies are very vulnerable to adverse external events, to which they have severely limited capacity for adjustment. On this basis their structural features, inability to attain economies of scale and their…
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Moderate quake rattles
(Jamaica Observer) – A moderate earthquake has rattled Trinidad & Tobago, causing some alarm, but no reported damage or injuries. The US Geological Survey says the magnitude-4.8 quake struck early yesterday and was centred some 50 miles north east of Roxborough, an eastern town on the tourism-dependent island of Tobago. It was also felt in the Caribbean country of Barbados.…
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Thirty-three Haitians land in Jamaica
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- Thirty-three Haitians were taken ashore on Saturday afternoon after they were intercepted by Coast Guard officials off the coast of the eastern parish of Portland. The Haitians – 16 adult males, four adult females and 13 children including two infants were spotted by fishermen who alerted the marine police and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). They were…
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More than 500 J’cans deported from CARICOM states, Curaçao
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Ministry of Foreign affairs and Foreign Trade is reporting that 271 Jamaicans were deported from CARICOM states in 2012. Another 254 Jamaicans were deported from Curaçao. This was revealed by AJ Nicholson, foreign affairs minister. He was responding to questions posed by Opposition senator Robert Montague in the Senate on Friday.
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Taxation uncertainty will drive investors from Jamaica, says O’Brien
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Chairman of the Digicel Group Denis O'Brien says recent uncertainties around taxation have impacted the level of foreign direct investment in Jamaica and will drive away investors from the island. At the same time, he said, notwithstanding its foray into the hospitality industry in Haiti, the telecommunications outfit will not be entering the local tourism sector. O'Brien,…
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