Inflation Low, But Dollar Sliding. 2017 Growth Forecasts For Latin America

Here is the latest weekly digest (Oct 16-22, 2016). A quick easy read of this week’s top and most relevant business news. No fluff, just the highlights.

• The Jamaica Stock Exchange legislation was passed in the lower house and is moving to the upper house – The Junior Market tax incentive legislation aims to continue the tax break given to companies that list on the market. There are however still some opposing views as Opposition member Peter Phillips reiterated the point that the country would be better served if the tax incentive was given to investors than the companies.
• Jamaica as an International Financial Hub – There was the passage of three key pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives that should better position Jamaica as a place of choice to facilitate the administration of international financial and business services. These include: the General Partnership Act 2016; the Partnership Limited Act 2016; and the International Corporate and Trust Service Providers Act.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Daryl Vaz, who piloted the Bills, said they form part of the framework for the establishment of an International Financial Services (IFS) hub in Jamaica.

He noted that the Bills will result in the creation of more modern and sophisticated business vehicles that can facilitate a wide variety of financial services transactions, “which we expect will attract investors to the island”.

• Jamaica National Building Society members are to vote on the transition from a Building Society to a Commercial Bank on Nov 14, 2016 – If successful the building society will be converted to JN Bank Limited. It will continue as a mutual organization, owned by its members. Their pitch is to offer low fees and wider services. They would be in a unique position becoming the third largest bank, with no foreign control (fully Jamaican), and not publicly listed.
• The Fastest growing countries in the region in 2017 are expected to be Dominican Republic – 6.3%, St. Kitts & Nevis – 3.0% and Antigua & Barbuda – 3.0%. The Dominican Republic will not only be the fastest in the Caribbean, but Latin America beating Panama (the usual leader). Venezuela will decline 8% in 2016 and 4% in 2017. Jamaica is projected to grow at 1.2% in 2016 and 1.3% in 2017. Trinidad will go down by -2.5% in 2016 but up by +0.8% in 2017. This according to the October Revisions of the Economic Commission of Latin America & Caribbean
• New Name for Pan-Jam – The Pan-Jamaican Investment Trust Ltd (Pan-Jam) has advised that it will convene a board meeting on Tuesday, October 25 (that’s this Tuesday), to propose a recommendation to change the name of the company.
• The Economic Growth Council has suggested a number of crime related initiatives that could be employed to take the profit out of crime, and help to increase economic growth. Some of these include
  • a new Head office for the JCF (and the diversion of J$500m of rental expense)
  • a permanent mobile reserve in the western region
  • a significant increase in police numbers,
  • a merger of some of the police bodies, and
  • a separate FBI type body with special powers
• Inflation low but dollar sliding – Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Brian Wynter, says inflation has remained fairly low despite a 5.6 per cent slide in the value of the Jamaican dollar since April.
  

  Between April 1 and October 14, 2016 the Jamaican dollar depreciated by 5.6 per cent. He said this compares to 3.9 per cent for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Wynter informed that despite the depreciation, the inflation rate for September was 1.9 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent for August.

• AT&T has announced its plans to acquire Time Warner for US$85b. This acquisition is mainly a content related pitch and includes assets like HBO, TNT, CNN, Warner Brothers, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and comes at a time as customers are turning online for their entertainment instead of cable.
• On a more sombre note, Brian George, Head of Supreme Ventures Limited passed away on Sunday Morning. He reportedly fell ill and was rushed to the hospital.