Business

By Brooke Glasford We exist in a world that moves very literally at the speed of sound—as quickly as something happens, the majority can know about it.

What is known as the C9 Group comprising the region’s leading telecommunications companies are ‘calling out’ the extra-regional ‘big tech’ companies operating in the Caribbean on the issue of re-investing a ‘fair share’ of their profits from their Caribbean operations back into the growth and development of the sector in the region.

Both Guyana and Suriname are expected to be represented at the 2024 Barbados three-day Agro Processing event scheduled to be staged from February 23rd to 25th according to a report in the Wednesday February 7th issue of Barbados Today.

Less than a decade after Guyana announced its first significant oil strike to the world in 2015, the country has become used to parading itself in the global petro spotlight, the knock-on effect of its credentials having a significant impact on various other aspects of its socio-economic behaviours.

Even as Guyana continues to be the most looked-to country in the region in the matter of shoring up the Caribbean’s food security bona fides, the country is making preparations to host the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 38th regional conference for Latin America and the Carib-bean.

In a year that is expected to, hopefully, yield a region-wide pronouncement on the status of the anxiously awaited Regional Food Security Terminal, the staging of the Barbados Agro Fest assumes an enhanced significance, not just for the host country but, as well, for the entire region. 

On Wednesday 31 January 2024, Barbados Central Bank Governor Dr. Kevin Greenidge delivered the Bank’s review of Barbados’ economic performance for the period January to December 2023.

The Chief Executive Officer of NCB Capital Markets, Jamaica, Angus Young is predicting “slow 2024 economic growth in the Caribbean” this year, a likely circumstance which he attributes to various factors “such as struggling external demands, booming oil sectors, and historically low unemployment” according to a release from the entity.

The energy sector in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member country, Trinidad and Tobago, would appear to be gushing with pride having recently been declared in the 2023 Extractive Sectors report as the fourth most transparent globally, a sector which, over the years, has been known for its proclivity for a lack of transparency and corrupt practices. 

Having recorded a number of ‘false starts’ and even, at times, questioned the ‘ideological compatibility’ of a tourism industry with the country’s ‘ideological outlook’, Guyana would appear to have now fully embraced the reality that the various socio-political changes that the country has undergone over the years has now readied it for serious investment in tourism, a sector that has made its mark in most of the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Up to this time, these, it would seem are among the most pleasing episodes in Keyon Duke’s young life.

With the country’s gold mining sector continuing to hold its own in an economy that is now driven overwhelmingly by its oil bonanza, the advent of the privately-owned sector support entity, Artisanal Small Gold Miners, Guyana (ASGM), seeks to broaden the technical support base available to a sector that still remains close to the ‘top of the pile’ in terms of its value to the country’s overall economy.

Seemingly mindful not to get left behind in what is now a region-wide focus on upgrading the food security bona fides of CARICOM countries, Jamaica is making significant investments in technology associated with the strengthening of its dairy industry.

By Joycelyn T. Williams, CEO, JTW Institute of Management The scope and broad intent of the Guyana Act No 18 of 2021, Local Content Act 2021 seems wide enough for a discussion to ensue on the condition and direction of the education sector within its parameters.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 1056’s trading results showed consideration of $11,207,570 from 68,485 shares traded in 28 transactions as compared to session 1055’s trading results, which showed consideration of $77,305,803 from 151,771 shares traded in 37 transactions.

It would not surprise us one bit if, in the wake of the promulgation of Guyana’s first trillion-dollar budget, rather than dwell more exhaustively on institutional allocations and how these can /will impact on the various sectors, we were to be criticized for continuing to anchor our editorial focus to the regional worry over matters to do with food security, particularly since there has been no definitive indication of any significant improvement in the status quo focus – particularly in the smaller, agriculturally weak countries in the region – over the past year and more.