Carib Scope

分类： business

  • ECLAC Projects Robust 4.0% Growth for Antigua and Barbuda in 2026

    ECLAC Projects Robust 4.0% Growth for Antigua and Barbuda in 2026

    Against a backdrop of moderating economic momentum across Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has released updated projections that position Antigua and Barbuda as a standout performer in 2026, with a projected 4.0% annual economic expansion.

    The latest forecast builds on an estimated 5.0% growth for the twin-island nation in 2025, highlighting the unexpected resilience of its tourism-reliant economy at a time of mounting global economic uncertainty. Unlike many of its regional peers, Antigua and Barbuda is set to maintain solid growth even as ECLAC has revised down the broader regional outlook for 2026, cutting projections to an average of just 2.2% growth across Latin America and the Caribbean amid a increasingly difficult international operating environment.

    ECLAC’s analysis shows that growth will decelerate in 24 of the region’s 33 individual economies, marking a broad-based slowdown across the bloc. Antigua and Barbuda’s 4.0% projected expansion puts it nearly double the regional average, cementing its status as one of the Caribbean’s strongest-performing small island economies.

    The commission attributes the region-wide slowdown to a confluence of persistent external pressures. Heightened geopolitical frictions across major global powers have created widespread market uncertainty, while stubbornly elevated inflation and tighter global financial conditions continue to constrain business and consumer activity. Persistently high oil and food prices have kept inflationary pressures stickier than many policymakers anticipated, while slowing growth in the world’s largest economies and sluggish global trade expansion have cut into external demand for regional exports. Meanwhile, major central banks have kept monetary policy comparatively tight, leaving borrowing costs restrictive for both governments and private businesses across the developing world.

    The Caribbean sub-region paints an even more uneven picture, ECLAC notes. Aggregate Caribbean growth is projected to hit 5.6% in 2026, but that headline figure is skewed dramatically by the rapid oil-driven expansion of Guyana. When Guyana is removed from the calculation, underlying growth across the rest of the Caribbean falls significantly, highlighting the deep divergence in economic trajectories across Caribbean nations.

    Looking beyond short-term projections, ECLAC has warned that structural challenges continue to hold back long-term prosperity across the whole region. These persistent constraints include limited potential for sustained long-term growth, widespread vulnerability to external economic and climate shocks, and soft domestic demand in multiple major economies. To counter these headwinds, the commission says that boosting productive investment, lifting labor and business productivity, and building greater economic resilience to external shocks will be critical to delivering sustained, inclusive growth in the coming years.

    For Antigua and Barbuda, the 4.0% 2026 growth projection signals that the nation is on track for continued macroeconomic stability, even as global headwinds and regional slowdown trends create ongoing challenges that policymakers will need to navigate.

  • Latin America and the Caribbean Will Grow 2.2% in 2026

    Latin America and the Caribbean Will Grow 2.2% in 2026

    New updated economic projections from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) have trimmed the 2026 average growth outlook for the region’s economies to 2.2%, a slight downward adjustment from the 2.3% forecast published in December 2025. The revision comes as the global operating environment has grown far more challenging than analysts anticipated at the end of last year, marked by escalating geopolitical frictions, tighter-than-expected global financial conditions, and a renewed surge in inflationary pressures across the world.

    ECLAC’s analysis notes that this slowdown in economic momentum will be felt across nearly the entire region. Of the 33 economies tracked in the report, 24 will see growth decelerate in 2026, while only seven are projected to register an acceleration in output. If the forecast holds, the region will mark four consecutive years of growth hovering around 2.3%, a trend that underscores deep-rooted low growth capacity across Latin America and the Caribbean.

    The degradation of the global external landscape stands out as the primary driver of the lower forecast. Between January and April 2026, rising geopolitical tensions and ongoing conflict in the Middle East have amplified uncertainty across global financial and commodity markets, stoking widespread volatility. Most notably, the average price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil in the first three weeks of April 2026 was 74% higher than the average recorded in December 2025. This sharp jump has fanned broad global inflationary pressures and pushed up production and transportation costs for economies around the world, including those in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

    The oil price shock has been compounded by rising global food prices, a simultaneous growth slowdown in the region’s largest trading partners — including the euro area, China, and India — and a general cooling of international trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) projects that the volume of global goods and services trade will expand by just 2.7% in 2026, down from a 4.7% expansion in 2025. Against this backdrop of persistently higher inflation and softening trade prospects, the world’s major central banks have adopted more cautious monetary policy stances, keeping financial conditions significantly tighter than were forecast at the end of 2025.

    Beyond global headwinds, muted domestic aggregate demand is also acting as a drag on regional growth. The largest constraint on expansion remains underwhelming private consumption. While fixed investment has shown early signs of a nascent recovery, growth in capital spending remains moderate across most of the region’s economies. A slowdown in activity that emerged in the second half of 2025, particularly in the region’s largest economies, has carried over into 2026, extending the trend of weak performance.

    As economic activity cools, job growth across the region is also expected to moderate. ECLAC projects regional employment will grow by roughly 1.1% in 2026, down from 1.5% growth in 2025. At the same time, imported global inflation is pushing up domestic price levels across the region: the median inflation forecast for 2026 now tops 3%, up from 2.4% in 2025. South American economies are disproportionately affected by this trend, facing continued pressure from exchange rate volatility and higher costs for imported inputs and transportation.

    The report also highlights sharp heterogeneity in economic performance across different countries and subregions. In total, just nine economies are projected to grow by 4% or more in 2026, eight will see growth between 3% and 4%, 13 will expand at a rate below 3%, and three economies are expected to contract.

    Broken down by subregion, South America is forecast to grow 2.4% in 2026, down from 2.9% growth in 2025, with most economies in the subregion seeing deceleration. Central America will see a slight easing of growth to 2.2% in 2026 from 2.3% in 2025, a result dragged down by expected contractions in Cuba and Haiti; excluding those two economies, the subregion’s average growth would tick up to 3.9% from 3.8% in 2025. The English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean is projected to hit 5.6% growth in 2026, a tiny uptick from 5.5% in 2025, driven almost entirely by strong expansion in Guyana; excluding Guyana, the subregion’s average growth would fall to 1.2% from 2.0% in 2025.

    ECLAC warns that significant downside risks remain to the current forecast, and any materialization of these risks could lead to further downward growth revisions. Key risks include the persistence of restrictive global financial conditions, continued inflationary pressure from elevated energy and food prices, ongoing volatility in international commodity and financial markets, widespread vulnerability to external shocks, and persistent weak domestic demand across much of the region. In some economies, long-standing structural weaknesses including external financing constraints, limited fiscal and monetary policy space, and fragile institutional frameworks could further drag on performance.

    The current economic landscape lays bare the core structural challenges holding the region back: persistently low trend growth, excessive exposure to global external shocks, and an urgent need to strengthen domestic growth engines. ECLAC emphasizes that expanding mobilization of both domestic and external resources, paired with improvements in governance, will be critical to advancing policy frameworks that boost investment, lift productivity, and strengthen macroeconomic resilience amid an increasingly uncertain global environment.

  • Celebrating a year of Excelerate Energy in Jamaica

    Celebrating a year of Excelerate Energy in Jamaica

    One full year after completing its high-stakes acquisition of New Fortress Energy’s Jamaican assets, US-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) firm Excelerate Energy gathered key stakeholders to mark the milestone at a special celebration hosted by the United States Embassy in Jamaica. The event, held April 28 at the Chief of Mission’s residence in the Jack’s Hill neighborhood of Kingston, brought together top industry leaders, senior Jamaican government officials, and diplomatic representatives to toast the company’s first 12 months of operations on the island.

    In opening remarks to guests, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Scott Renner framed the first year of Excelerate’s operations as more than a corporate success — it stands as a tangible strengthening of both Jamaica’s energy landscape and the decades-long bilateral partnership between the United States and Jamaica. Renner emphasized that accessible, dependable energy is the backbone of any thriving modern economy, and projects like Excelerate’s Jamaican operations deliver both expanded economic opportunity and enhanced long-term energy security for the Caribbean nation.

    Renner highlighted the depth of Excelerate’s commitment to Jamaica beyond its core corporate investments, noting the firm has already poured $1 billion into local operations and stepped up to support disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. When the storm hit, the company deployed its LNG carrier *Excelerate Shenandoah* to deliver $500,000 worth of emergency supplies to affected communities. He also noted the symbolic alignment of the milestone: Excelerate’s first anniversary in Jamaica coincides with the 250th semiquincentennial celebration of the United States, a dual milestone that reflects shared values of innovation, entrepreneurship, and cross-border collaboration between the two nations.

    “America is defined by enterprise, innovation, and shared success. But our story is not one we write alone — we walk it with partners, and Jamaica is one of our closest partners,” Renner told attendees. “This partnership extends far beyond government cooperation; it thrives in civil society, in the private sector, and in the investments businesses like Excelerate choose to make abroad.”

    For his part, Excelerate Energy President and Chief Executive Officer Steven Kobos expressed pride in the progress the company has delivered in its first year, and reaffirmed the firm’s long-term commitment to growing its footprint in Jamaica. Recalling his first meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness following the acquisition, Kobos noted he had promised the prime minister that the company would prove its reliability through action, not just words.

    “We made clear when we closed this acquisition that we were in Jamaica for the long haul, and today we are reaffirming that commitment. We absolutely plan to invest additional capital into the country — this is the right place for us to grow, and we are incredibly excited for what comes next,” Kobos said.

    As a symbolic tribute to the first year of partnership, Kobos presented Jamaican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith with a detailed scale model of the *Sequoia*, one of Excelerate’s LNG carriers. Johnson Smith spoke on behalf of Prime Minister Holness at the event, praising Excelerate’s operations as a critical catalyst for Jamaica’s ongoing transition to more sustainable, accessible energy sources.

    “The LNG infrastructure Excelerate operates today is central to our energy transition goals. It has helped stabilize electricity generation costs for Jamaican consumers, strengthened our national energy security, and created an entirely new industrial platform that simply did not exist before this investment,” Johnson Smith explained. “This is tangible, meaningful progress, and it is a perfect example of what can be accomplished when public and private partners from aligned nations come together around a shared goal.”

    Following the formal remarks, guests enjoyed catered cuisine from celebrated Jamaican chef Oji Jaja, live music from violinist Meah Eliana, and DJ sets from Damion Haber, as attendees networked and toasted to future collaboration between Excelerate and Jamaican stakeholders. The event included representation from across Jamaica’s leading public and private sectors, with senior leaders in attendance from organizations including Sagicor Group, Grace Kennedy Group, the Development Bank of Jamaica, Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited, the Port Authority of Jamaica, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, and National Commercial Bank.

  • Hip Strip development will fall under NaRRA, says TEF head

    Hip Strip development will fall under NaRRA, says TEF head

    MONTEGO BAY, St James — One of Jamaica’s most high-profile tourist destinations, the Hip Strip — formally named Jimmy Cliff Boulevard — in Montego Bay may soon see its long-delayed revitalization accelerated through the country’s newly established post-disaster development body, the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), according to Dr Carey Wallace, executive director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF).

    Wallace shared the latest project update in an interview with Jamaica Observer on Tuesday, just hours before legislation formally creating NaRRA was approved by Jamaica’s House of Representatives. The executive director explained that the long-awaited infrastructure upgrade is eligible for inclusion in NaRRA’s project portfolio because the Hip Strip sits at the core of a larger coastal corridor marked for large-scale regional redevelopment.

    “The entire corridor stretching from Montego Bay’s port, along Bottom Road through the Hip Strip, and extending all the way to Trelawny is earmarked for major transformation under the NaRRA programme,” Wallace noted. He added that TEF has already completed critical preliminary work, including detailed designs and comprehensive underground infrastructure mapping, which will be shared to support seamless coordinated development between the two entities.

    Plans for the Hip Strip upgrade were first unveiled back in 2021 by TEF chairman Godfrey Dyer, with an initial projected budget of roughly $1 billion Jamaican dollars. The proposed upgrades are designed to dramatically improve the popular tourist corridor’s look and functionality: key planned works include burying unsightly overhead utility lines underground and constructing new purpose-built parking garages to ease chronic congestion in the area. To date, the project has advanced to the detailed design phase, with TEF holding ongoing consultations with local businesses and stakeholders along the boulevard to incorporate community input.

    The update came during an on-the-side conversation at a pep rally hosted by the TUI Care Foundation for small and medium-sized tourism enterprises across Jamaica. Wallace said that the project was among many across the country that faced minor delays after Hurricane Melissa hit, as the government shifted priority to immediate disaster relief and sector recovery, efforts that are still ongoing today.

    But he remains optimistic that NaRRA’s involvement will not only get the project back on track but deliver a more ambitious, impactful outcome than originally planned. “I know the government is moving quickly to get NaRRA operational, and this new body is designed to advance large-scale infrastructure projects like this much faster than existing frameworks. In the end, I’m expecting an even better result for Montego Bay and for Jamaica as a whole,” Wallace said.

    While he could not share a revised final budget for the revitalization, Wallace emphasized that the project will gain major benefits from NaRRA’s dedicated funding pool for post-disaster recovery and long-term climate resilience. “NaRRA has its own dedicated budget focused on recovery and building resilience. From where I stand, that means this project will end up being far more impactful than it would have been otherwise,” he explained. “With NaRRA on board, a whole host of delayed projects will not only be restarted but likely expanded. I’m confident we will deliver massive progress across the corridor within just a few years.”

  • Utilities providers say regulators slowing progress

    Utilities providers say regulators slowing progress

    CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — Senior leaders of Jamaica’s major utility companies used a high-profile industry conference this week to shine a spotlight on a persistent, costly problem: glacial regulatory approval processes that are undermining operational efficiency, delaying critical infrastructure projects, and ultimately passing higher costs on to consumers. The conversation unfolded Tuesday during a utility provider round table hosted as part of the 2026 conference of the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR), held at Jamaica’s Ocean Coral Spring resort, bringing together top executives from across the region’s energy and telecommunications sectors to compare challenges and share actionable insights.

    Opening the discussion on regulatory bottlenecks, Hugh Grant, president of Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) — the island nation’s primary electricity provider — explained that extended waiting periods for regulatory decisions and delayed project approvals create cascading challenges for energy sector operators. While Grant acknowledged that regulators operate under their own set of resource and procedural constraints, he emphasized that holding up infrastructure projects amid steadily rising consumer demand inevitably inflates long-term costs. When final approval is finally granted, post-decision implementation comes at a far higher price point than initially projected, pushing that extra financial burden directly onto everyday households and businesses.

    Grant called for deeper cross-sector collaboration between utility providers and regulators to cut red tape and accelerate the delivery of critical energy infrastructure, a shift he said is necessary to keep Jamaica’s energy network safe, reliable, resilient, and affordable for all users. “We have to become far more nimble and agile in how we approach our work, especially at a moment when our industry is undergoing rapid transformation right in front of us,” Grant said. He added a warning drawn from global trends: when regulated utilities cannot move fast enough to meet growing demand for energy and connectivity, large global technology firms such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have increasingly stepped in to build their own independent energy infrastructure to fill the gap.

    The critique of slow approval processes was echoed by Stephen Price, vice-president and general manager of Flow Jamaica, one of the country’s leading telecommunications providers. Price told the round table that Jamaica is falling behind in rolling out next-generation wireless technologies, including 5G and future 6G networks, all because overly complex, multi-step approval timelines are holding up tower infrastructure deployment. To put the scale of the problem in perspective, Price noted that building a single new cell tower in Jamaica takes an average of 14 months, as providers must navigate overlapping approval processes with the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Ministry of Health, local municipal authorities, and additional community survey requirements — even after the industry has repeatedly addressed public concerns over radiation safety and other common misconceptions.

    Rather than calling for a complete overhaul that creates an entirely new standalone regulatory body, Price pushed for improved inter-agency coordination to streamline the approval pipeline. He emphasized that faster network expansion is not just a corporate priority: broader, more reliable connectivity is a core driver of national economic growth. Price also noted that many Caribbean nations rely too heavily on spectrum auctions to generate short-term government revenue, arguing that policymakers should instead prioritize expanding spectrum access and improving efficiency to extend connectivity benefits across all segments of regional populations. While he welcomed recent narrow legislative reforms in Jamaica aimed at speeding up large project approvals, Price added that such targeted fixes should not be necessary in a well-functioning regulatory system.

    Stephen Murad, chief executive officer of Digicel Jamaica, another major telecommunications provider, echoed Price’s concerns and added another pressing challenge facing local utilities: widespread infrastructure theft and vandalism. Murad told the panel that outside of damage caused by severe hurricanes, these criminal acts are the most disruptive issue facing his company. He called on regulators to apply greater pressure on policymakers and the judiciary to create stronger criminal deterrents, including harsher sentencing for convicted offenders. Murad noted that theft and vandalism drain massive amounts of time, energy, and capital — both for upfront infrastructure investment and ongoing operational costs — and create daily, unnecessary hurdles for utility teams trying to deliver consistent service.

    Despite the litany of challenges, the round table also highlighted a successful example of agile, collaborative regulation that delivered tangible results for consumers. Grant pointed to JPS’s post-hurricane restoration efforts following Hurricane Melissa, where regulators showed impressive flexibility and speed to cut through red tape. In a first for Jamaica, JPS deployed emergency mobile generators to restore power to hard-to-reach remote communities. By working quickly with regulators to establish a clear operational framework and cost-recovery plan, the company restored power in a fraction of the time originally projected.

    Grant framed the successful restoration as proof that the collaborative, agile model works, demonstrating what can be achieved when regulators and utilities work together toward the shared goal of serving consumers. “It tells us that we have the muscle to do it,” Grant said.

    The round table, held under the official theme “Utility Perspectives on Regulation: Challenges, Opportunities, and Learnings,” was moderated by David Morton, chair of the International Confederation of Energy Regulators. The panel was completed by Christopher Mapp, acting chief executive officer of the Barbados Water Authority, who joined fellow utility leaders from across the Caribbean in the discussion.

  • Companies Office of Jamaica to launch mobile application

    Companies Office of Jamaica to launch mobile application

    KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s government-run business registration agency, the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ), is putting the finishing touches on a new mobile application set to roll out later this year, a development designed to reshape how local and diaspora-based business owners interact with the agency by boosting accessibility and cutting down on administrative wait times.

    The upcoming launch marks the latest milestone in the COJ’s multi-phase digital transformation initiative, a long-term strategy focused on modernizing public service delivery for Jamaica’s business community, agency CEO and Chief Registrar Shellie Leon outlined during a Thursday Think Tank session hosted by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

    According to Leon, one of the app’s core value-added features is its automated reminder system, which will proactively alert registered companies about upcoming annual return filing deadlines, and notify business name holders when their registrations are up for renewal. This functionality is intentionally built to help business owners stay current with their statutory regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of penalties or compliance gaps that often stem from forgotten deadlines.

    Beyond deadline alerts, the platform will also introduce full real-time document status tracking. Users who submit registration or compliance materials to the COJ will be able to monitor the progress of their requests directly through their mobile devices, eliminating the need for phone calls or in-person check-ins to get updates.

    For customers who still need to visit COJ physical offices for in-person support, the app will offer a pre-arrival service ticket booking feature. By reserving a spot in the queue before arriving, visitors will cut down on potentially lengthy wait times, creating a smoother, more efficient experience for both local entrepreneurs and casual visitors.

    Leon emphasized that these new mobile features directly respond to feedback collected from COJ customers over the years, who have repeatedly flagged long wait times and limited on-the-go access to services as top pain points. The app is not intended to replace the COJ’s existing suite of online services, but rather to complement them. Currently, the agency’s online portal already allows users to complete a wide range of transactions remotely, including new business registration, annual return filing, business name renewal, business closure, and multiple other administrative services. The mobile app extends this functionality by putting these tools in a more accessible, phone-native format.

    This shift to mobile-first service delivery, Leon noted, aligns with the COJ’s broader mission to adapt to changing consumer behavior and meet users where they already are—on their mobile devices. By expanding service access through modern, widely used digital channels, the agency aims to remove unnecessary barriers for business owners across Jamaica and beyond.

    The new tool is expected to deliver particular value for Jamaican diaspora members who need to manage business operations remotely, Leon added, encouraging all stakeholders to explore the app once it goes live. An official launch date will be shared publicly by the COJ in the coming months, as the agency completes final testing and preparation.

  • Jamaican influencers call out pressure for immediate ROI from brands

    Jamaican influencers call out pressure for immediate ROI from brands

    The global influencer marketing space has long prioritized speed and viral performance, but a group of top Jamaican content creators and industry professionals are challenging the dominant expectation of immediate return on investment (ROI) from brand collaborations. At a recent major regional marketing conference, they called on local and international brands working with Caribbean creators to shift from quick, one-off campaigns to relationship-driven, long-term partnership strategies.

    Speaking during a panel discussion at the IMPACT x Mystique marketing conference held Thursday at Kingston’s AC Hotel, prominent Jamaican lifestyle creator Rushane “RushCam” Campbell drew a sharp analogy to criticize brands’ rushed expectations. He compared the pressure to deliver instant sales to being asked to carry water in a basket, noting that the common demand to move dozens of product units immediately after a single post does not align with how influencer marketing actually works.

    Campbell’s perspective was echoed by Khadine “Miss Kitty” Wilkinson, a veteran media personality with more than 20 years of experience partnering with leading brands. Wilkinson pushed back against the idea that one-size-fits-all metrics should be the only benchmark to determine whether a campaign delivers value for money. She emphasized that organic influence builds gradually, noting that audience trust and purchasing decisions often take months or even years to mature, rather than delivering instant results like a microwave meal. Too many brands write off a campaign as a failure if they do not see a massive immediate sales jump, she argued, ignoring the slower, more sustainable impact of consistent influencer alignment.

    Singer-turned-content creator Tami Chin Mitchell reinforced the panel’s shared stance by referencing the well-known Marketing Rule of 7, which holds that potential customers need an average of seven interactions with a brand before making a purchase. Quipping that for Jamaican consumers the number is closer to 17, she drew laughter from the audience while underscoring the need for extended brand exposure to drive conversions.

    Panel moderator Naomi Garrick, a personal branding coach and the head of Garrick Communications, added that local Jamaican brands regularly come to her seeking quick marketing fixes, often requesting one-off posts or two-week short campaigns. Garrick said she consistently warns these brands that such rushed strategies are ultimately a waste of money. While short campaigns may generate temporary buzz, they fail to deliver sustained results, she explained. Meaningful impact and accurate performance measurement only come from longer-term collaborations that allow influence to develop over a broader time frame, rather than quick, superficial hits, she added.

    Campbell shared a concrete example of how long-term collaboration delivers results, pointing to his multi-year partnership with organizers of Barbados’ popular Crop Over festival. After hosting Campbell and other influencers in 2022 and inviting the group back again in 2023, the festival sold out completely in 2024, with attendance drawing visitors from across the Caribbean, Europe, North America and beyond. The multi-year investment in influencer relationships directly drove that sell-out outcome, he noted.

    “Trust time, work with people over a period of time, people who have access to great communities, build deeper roots and trust, and know that, with collaboration, it will in fact work out; don’t expect it to work in one go… things just nah fly off the shelf,” Campbell said, stressing that patience is key to unlocking meaningful, long-term returns.

    The two-day IMPACT x Mystique marketing conference, hosted by Mystique Integrated in partnership with Main Event Entertainment Group, iPrint Group and M-One Productions, concludes Friday. The event has drawn hundreds of senior marketers, content creators, C-suite executives, startup founders and media decision-makers from across the region to discuss emerging trends in marketing and influencer collaboration.

  • IGS 2026: St. Kitts and Nevis draws more interest from the Middle-East

    IGS 2026: St. Kitts and Nevis draws more interest from the Middle-East

    The Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis is gearing up to host the third installment of its high-profile Investment Gateway Summit (IGS) from June 17 to 20, 2026, with the event marking a notable expansion of its global influence, particularly across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Since its inaugural launch in 2024, IGS has rapidly cemented its reputation as one of the Caribbean’s most impactful investment gatherings, standing out from generic industry conferences with its immersive, intimate format and deep access to top political decision-makers.

    Unlike many large-scale investment events that prioritize talks over tangible action, the four-day IGS 2026 is designed to turn productive dialogue into long-term economic partnerships. The agenda includes targeted panel discussions, sector-specific breakout forums, immersive cultural exchanges, and the prestigious Prime Minister’s Gala Dinner, bringing together global investors, policymakers, and industry leaders to advance mutually beneficial opportunities.

    A look back at the summit’s steady growth reveals its rising global standing. The 2024 debut edition successfully established St. Kitts and Nevis as a credible hub for high-level investment dialogue. The 2025 second edition, themed “Investment to Impact: Our Journey to a Sustainable Island State”, drew hundreds of global investors and developers, including a significant contingent from the Middle East, and positioned the country as a pioneer in sustainable development with its ambitious goal of becoming the world’s first climate-friendly island state.

    Where the first edition built credibility and the second scaled up the nation’s sustainable investment ambition, the 2026 third edition carries a new core purpose: to prove that this small-country investment summit model delivers measurable, lasting economic change. Under the new theme “Connect, Collaborate and Celebrate”, IGS 2026 will depart from rigid traditional conference structures to foster deeper, more organic collaboration. Key investment sectors taking center stage include agriculture, tourism, renewable energy, real estate, health and technology.

    One of the most anticipated updates set to be highlighted at the summit is the modernization of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Citizenship by Investment Programme, including the rollout of new biometric verification systems. Technical sessions will cover digital identity authentication, enhanced data protection frameworks, and operational efficiency reforms, underscoring the country’s ongoing commitment to upholding strict global governance and compliance standards.

    The most notable trend shaping the 2026 summit is the sharp rise in interest from Jordan and the broader MENA region, which has maintained a strong presence at IGS since the event’s launch. MENA-based investors are increasingly prioritizing global mobility, cross-border portfolio diversification, and expanded access to international markets — goals that align closely with the opportunities St. Kitts and Nevis offers through its established Citizenship Programme and open investment landscape.

    In October 2025, IGS Chairman Calvin St Juste made his first official visit to Jordan, hosting a high-level engagement at the Ritz-Carlton Amman that drew prominent entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, and immigration agents from across Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The response from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with St Juste noting deep shared values between the two nations: “Both small yet globally connected, rooted in community and stability,” he described, adding that Jordan is far more than a target market — it is a long-term growth partner.

    During the Amman event, St Juste unveiled a new tailored Concierge Service, a bespoke post-approval initiative designed to redefine the citizenship experience as a “lifelong relationship” rather than a one-time transaction. The service offers 24/7 personalized support, including customized financial planning, investment matchmaking, and lifestyle advisory for global investors, a value-add that resonated strongly with attendees accustomed to premium private banking and wealth management services.

    St Juste also highlighted key milestones the Citizenship Programme has achieved since transitioning to a statutory body in 2024, most notably the launch of Saturn, a cloud-based digital case management system that enables real-time application tracking and cuts down processing times for applicants. These ongoing upgrades signal to MENA investors that St. Kitts and Nevis, which has a 40-year legacy in citizenship by investment, continues to modernize its offerings to meet the evolving needs of sophisticated, globally mobile clients.

    As preparations for IGS 2026 wrap up, the growing engagement from the MENA region underscores the summit’s expanding global relevance and St. Kitts and Nevis’ position as a leading destination for forward-thinking global investment.

  • Republic Bank announces fee increases from Friday

    Republic Bank announces fee increases from Friday

    Starting this Friday, customers of Republic Bank Ltd, the largest commercial banking institution in Trinidad and Tobago, will face broad-based increases to fees across nearly all everyday banking services, a change that will raise costs for everything from routine withdrawals to penalty charges for account mismanagement.

    The revised fee structure touches nearly every part of retail and small business banking: routine debit transactions on multiple account types that previously included a capped number of free withdrawals will now carry per-transaction costs. Penalty fees have seen even steeper jumps: non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees will climb from $34.50 to $57.50, matching the new $57.50 rate for overdraft fees that previously sat at $30. Late payment penalties on some loan products have even doubled, reaching a maximum of $100 per infraction.

    The fee increases come as no surprise to many industry observers, who have warned of cost pass-through to consumers since Trinidad and Tobago’s Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo introduced a 0.25% asset levy on commercial banks and insurance companies in the 2024 national budget. When announcing the policy, Tancoo justified the levy by pointing to the strong financial performance of the country’s large financial institutions, noting that major banks and insurers have delivered consistent earnings, maintained healthy liquidity ratios, and grown their asset bases steadily thanks to conservative lending strategies and supportive monetary conditions.

    “Despite this, the average citizen continues to be subjected to unreasonably high fees and near-zero returns on their savings and investments,” Tancoo stated at the time, arguing that the 0.25% levy was a fair measure to generate additional public revenue. Officials projected the policy would add $575 million annually to the national government’s income.

    Ironically, the new levy has prompted the very fee hikes Tancoo criticized, with Republic Bank moving to pass its new tax burden directly to consumers. The bank’s latest financial disclosures, released in early 2026, confirm the institution’s strong profitability that the finance minister referenced: for the full year ending September 30, 2025, Republic Financial Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Republic Bank, posted a net profit of $2.2 billion attributable to equity holders. That marks a 9.8% year-over-year increase, or $196 million, from the $2 billion profit recorded in 2024.

    Profit growth has remained strong into the final quarter of 2025 as well: between October and December 2025, the group reported a $595.7 million profit, an 8.9% rise from the $547 million earned in the same quarter the previous year. By the end of December 2025, the group’s total assets hit $131.1 billion, a 6% increase of $7.5 billion compared to December 2024. Fees and commissions already make up 15.4% of the group’s total annual revenue, according to its most recent annual report.

  • Dominican farmers call for limits on rice and chicken imports

    Dominican farmers call for limits on rice and chicken imports

    SANTO DOMINGO — The Dominican Republic’s leading agricultural industry body is sounding the alarm over potential expansions to agricultural imports, urging the national government to reject broader market access for foreign rice and chicken to protect decades of progress toward domestic food sovereignty.

    The National Confederation of Agricultural Producers (Confenagro), which represents thousands of farming and livestock operations across the country, issued the formal warning this week, outlining that a sudden expansion of imported rice and chicken would undercut local producers and erode hard-won gains in national food self-sufficiency. Even amid widespread global volatility that has pushed up input costs for agricultural sectors worldwide, the organization noted that Dominican domestic producers have managed to sustain consistent output levels — even as they grapple with steep price hikes for critical imported supplies such as chemical fertilizers.

    Confenagro emphasized that rice and poultry production are two of the Dominican Republic’s most strategic agricultural sectors. Over recent years, the country has built up robust domestic capacity that meets nearly all of national demand for these staple foods, a milestone that reduces reliance on volatile global commodity markets. The group cautioned that opening the border to large-scale additional imports during the current period of global economic uncertainty would deliver lasting harm to local smallholder and commercial farmers alike. Once damaged, the confederation added, domestic production capacity would be slow and difficult to rebuild, leaving the country more vulnerable to future global food shocks.

    The latest warning follows a controversial decision earlier this year, when Dominican authorities authorized new chicken imports to address temporary domestic shortages and cool soaring retail prices for the staple protein. That move already sparked sharp political pushback and widespread concern across the domestic agricultural community, with many producers warning that temporary market access could become permanent.

    To address the current challenges of high input costs and consumer price pressures without damaging local production, Confenagro has put forward a package of alternative policy proposals. Key among these is expanding incentives for increased adoption of organic fertilizer production and use across the sector, a shift that would cut Dominican agriculture’s dependence on costly imported chemical inputs and bring down overall production costs for local producers. The association confirmed that it remains in active, constructive dialogue with national government authorities, working to find coordinated policy solutions that safeguard both the livelihoods of domestic agricultural producers and the long-term food security of all Dominican consumers.