Call for regional banking regulation
The Governor of the Barbados Central Bank has urged that a regional regulatory system for the financial sector be put in place.
There are proposals for a Caricom-wide system but the draft legislation has effectively been stalled.
According to Dr Marion Williams, while the intention is there, national approaches have taken precedence.
“The pace of implementation has been challenged recently by ongoing efforts of individual jurisdictions to reform their own national framework,” she said.
But Dr Williams advised that: “Global and regional developments will not wait until we are ready.
She added that “recent developments necessitate an acceleration of such work.”
Tension remains in French islands
Protesters set fire to garbage bins and rammed vehicles into hypermarkets last night in a second night of violence this week in Martinique.
Police used tear gas and said they were also trying to prevent looting.
In Guadeloupe strikers assembled outside a building where bargaining talks are taking place and cheered apparent improvements in negotiations aimed at ending the more than month-long general strike.
But Guadeloupe union leader Elie Domota said that it was too early to say whether the new offer would be acceptable.
“We are used to the bosses’ changing their minds. We don’t trust them. The strike continues,” declared Elie Domota.
But another union official, Rosan Mounien, confirmed the government had agreed to guarantee a proposed 200 euro monthly salary hike on the island.
Workers in Martinique and Guadeloupe have been on strike for over a month, demanding higher wages to cope with the high cost of living.
