Banker says lending has declined
Loan demand in the Caribbean is tapering off during the financial crisis, according to a senior regional banker.
Suresh Sookoo, the chief executive of RBTT Holdings, has told the London-based Banker magazine that real estate prices are down considerably and construction projects are not being completed. He also warns that average loan delinquency rates in the banking sector of less than two percent last December are expected to rise.
Headless body found
Police in the Dominican Republic are investigating the decapitation of a migrant from Haiti.
A police spokesman said the victim’s body was found Saturday in the capital, Santo Domingo.
He told the Associated Press that residents allege the victim killed a local merchant, and police are investigating whether he was killed in revenge.
The Foreign Ministry described the killings as an “incident between individuals”. Haitian officials have called the migrant’s killing barbarous.
Trinidad gets Chinese funds for smelter
Chinese financing has cleared the way for Trinidad and Tobago to move ahead with construction of its first aluminum smelter plant. Officials said that under the deal, China agreed to provide the twin-island nation with US$112 million.That’s the balance of a $300 million concessional loan for construction of the 125,000 tonne per year facility.Earlier this year, Venezuela-based aluminum producer Sural, which had a 40 percent stake in the project, withdrew due to financing problems.
The Trinidad and Tobago government, which owns the remaining 60 percent, has said it is looking for a partner.
Arrests in alleged Cuban migrant ring
Spanish police say they have broken up a ring involved in smuggling Cubans into the United States and arrested 29 people. A police statement said an NGO official, who was among those arrested, travelled frequently to Nicaragua, where he had set up a number of fake companies funded through money laundering.
The Cubans concerned went first to Nicaragua on the pretext of working there, then on to Spain, where they were given false passports to go to Mexico and on to the US.
The statement said the ringleaders hacked credit card data to steal more than $530,000 from customers at restaurants and bars around Spain.
