Business

In the wake of the recent eagerly-waited opening of the US$2 million casino at the Princess Hotel the issue of access to the facility by Guyanese wishing to exercise that particular option has surfaced afresh.

Business Editorial Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford’s open confession during her contribution to the parliamentary debate on the 2010 budget that there is corruption in the public service was no news to Guyanese who have, for years, grown accustomed to stories of duty-free scams, fraud, shakedowns and revenue-evasion rackets involving private sector entities and the Guyana Revenue Authority, crooked cops,  under-the-counter payments for the speeding up of various state-provided services and a host of other petty and not so petty but quieter, more discreet corrupt goings-on in various public sector institutions.

By Rawle Lucas Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice-President of the Lending Services Division.

Jacquelyn Hamer Given the fact that both the Government of Guyana and the multilateral financing agencies appear to have a particular proclivity for alluding to the importance of the national Poverty Reduction Strategy I was more than mildly surprised over the fact that the Inter American Development Bank’s (IDB) recent Country Report on Guyana – Guyana and the IDB – Partners for Progress – made no reference whatsoever to small business and its role in the country’s development.

A move that is being seen by political watchers in the region as an attempt by Latin American and Caribbean countries to reduce the United States’ influence in the region is reportedly being closely monitored by the Obama administration, according to a recent BBC Caribbean report.

-world body With Caribbean governments unable to stem the tide of copyright transgressions, royalties accruing to Caribbean music and art dipped a whopping 27 per cent to euros $3.3 million in 2009 according to data released in January in a report published by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 344’s trading results showed consideration of $318,396 from 28,564 shares traded in 11 transactions as compared to session 343 which showed consideration of $2,207,685 from 103,059 shares traded in 13 transactions. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) — An Italian-owned company has pulled out of an expected deal to buy three of Jamaica’s state-run sugar estates, the Caribbean country’s agriculture minister said.

By Marc Frank HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — The Cuban tourism season got off to a rough start in 2010, with arrivals down 4.9 percent in January from the same month of last year, according to a government report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

International ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s has raised Jamaica’s debt rating to B-minus from selective default.

(Prepared by the Guyana marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek News Business as a public service) The New Guyana marketing Corporation has agreed to provide us with the above information which we will publish on a weekly basis subject to receipt.

– T&T Finance Minister The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is prepared to go to some lengths to ensure the justice is served in the matter of the spectacular collapse of CL Financial, which has sent shock waves through the region and left thousands of investors and policyholders guessing as to when, perhaps even whether they will at least be able to retrieve their investments from the ill-fated group.

– says some miners still not comfortable with the status quo State revenues accruable from the mining sector could take a hit this year as a result of the recent disruption in the sector arising out of controversies sparked by new state-imposed mining regulations, according to Executive Director of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields.

The essence of the argument made by one of our regular columnists in today’s issue is that the merits of Scotia Bank’s recently launched Small Business Banking (SBB) initiative, notwithstanding, the criteria that distinguishes ‘small’ from ‘micro’ businesses essentially means that the window the bank has opened is still far too small to accommodate the entrepreneurial ambitions that continue to mushroom all across the country.

Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice-President of the Lending Services Division.

By Jacquelyn Hamer Just over a week ago all of the various sections of the print media published reports on the launch by Scotia Bank of its Small Business Banking (SBB) an initiative which this newspaper described as ‘a suite of products which promises to help proprietors grow their businesses.”

The Caribbean received around 800,000 less visitors in 2009 than in the previous year, a decline of 3.6 per cent in visitors’ arrivals to the 33 member countries of the Caribbean Tourist Organization (CTO) according to the organization’s Director of Research and Information Technology Winfield Griffith.

Female guards  suffer most …Labour Ministry source Reports of transgressions by Security Guard Services most of which have to do with discrepancies in the wages and salaries of their employees continue to be made to the Ministry of Labour at the rate of “at least one a week” according to a senior Ministry functionary.