NEWS
PriceSmart promises to reimburse customers
Pricesmart says it will reimburse customers whose credit cards were charged without their knowledge last Friday. Over the weekend, scores of customers noticed unauthorised transactions on their credit card accounts, dated October 13, that emanated from PriceSmart. The charges were later reversed but customers complained of being refunded less than what was deducted. Customers told Newsday their banks are blaming PriceSmart, while PriceSmart is blaming the banks. In a statement on its website on Monday, the company also promised to work with commercial banks to clarify issues on their payment processing platforms. Read more here
WASA CEO promises to keep up water supply during desal shutdown
Acting CEO of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Kelvin Romain is promising a water supply to all customers affected by the nine-day shutdown of the Point Lisas Desalination Plant. He gave the assurance during a press conference at the Desalcott plant at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate yesterday. The Desalcott shutdown, which started yesterday, is to facilitate maintenance and repairs to the plant. Romain explained that Desalcott is contracted to supply WASA with 40 million gallons of water a day, of which 12 to 15 million gallons go to the industrial estate and the remainder to its distribution network for customers in south Trinidad. He said while WASA will be negatively affected by the shutdown, they plan to supplement with supply from the Caroni and Navet Water Treatment Plants and the Desalination plant in Point Fortin. Read more here
POLITICS
Hinds: Police to get 3,120 more body cams
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds says the police service will soon receive 3,120 additional body cameras to aid in fighting crime. He revealed this at a standing finance committee meeting in Parliament on Monday. The 2024 draft estimates say $67 million was allocated to the police service to purchase equipment. Naparima MP Rodney Charles said the US State Department views extra-judicial killings in a negative light, so it is a worry in that country. He said while he understands there are good officers who put their lives on the line, it is the government's responsibility to provide them with the necessary equipment to "exonerate themselves if they kill civilians. Read more here
BUSINESS
NGC, Methanex sign gas-supply agreement
The National Gas Company of Ttinidad and Tobago Ltd (NGC) has signed a new gas sales contract (GSC) with Methanex Trinidad Ltd (Methanex) – the largest producer and supplier of methanol – for the supply of gas to the Titan methanol plant on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. The agreement was signed on October 12 at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre. NGC said in a release this GSC marks the successful conclusion of many months of negotiation and will allow the resumption of operations at the world-scale Titan plant, which was idled during the pandemic. “Given Titan’s methanol production capacity of 875,000 metric tonnes per annum, the 2024 scheduled restart of the plant is good news for TT,” NGC said. Read more here
T&T gets ‘stable outlook’
The Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Ltd (CariCRIS) has reaffirmed the “high creditworthiness” of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. “CariCRIS has reaffirmed the sovereign issuer credit ratings assigned to the Government of The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT) of CariAA (Foreign and Local Currency Ratings) on its regional rating scale. These ratings indicate that the level of creditworthiness of this obligor, adjudged in relation to other rated obligors in the Caribbean, is high,” a release from the regional credit rating agency stated yesterday. CariCRIS said the ratings are driven by the four strengths including that Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is a large regional economy, supported by both energy and non-energy activities and that there are satisfactory financial sector, monetary and exchange rate conditions. Read more here
REGIONAL
Guyana pledges to fortify non-oil economy
Guyana is pressing ahead with bold plans to channel billions of dollars in investment into non-oil sectors, including infrastructure, in a bid to boost the economy’s long-term competitiveness and to limit dependence on fossil fuels following the discovery of vast oil reserves off its coast, the country’s Finance Minister said. “We are going to pump as much oil as we can, but we want to ensure that our non-oil sectors are competitive, sustainable and diverse,” Guyana’s Finance Minister, Ashni Singh, told LatinFinance in an interview. “Our focus is the economic diversification of Guyana.” The government has identified transportation infrastructure, energy, agriculture and tourism as drivers of its plan to dramatically remake the country over the next five years, transforming it into a hub for the north of South America. Singh said Guyana plans capital expenditure of roughly $1.5 billion annually in the coming years to make this happen. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Belt and Road Initiative: Is China's trillion-dollar gamble worth it?
China is throwing a huge party to celebrate one of its biggest experiments in engaging with the world: its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Officials and leaders from all over the globe are in Beijing attending a high-level summit marking the BRI's 10th anniversary. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have arrived, and the Taliban government will also attend. Chinese media is awash with coverage of the BRI's achievements, including a six-part documentary on state TV. A signature policy of President Xi Jinping, the BRI is aimed at stitching China closer to the world through investments and infrastructure projects. With an unprecedented glut of cash pumped into nearly 150 countries, China boasts it has transformed the world - and it is not wrong. But Beijing's massive gamble hasn't entirely gone the way it had hoped. Was it worth it? Read more here
17th October 2023