Daily Brief - Friday 6th October, 2017

NEWS

Ex-TSTT chairman Elias goes after Imbert: I WANT MY $55M

Contractor Emile Elias, who recently resigned as chairman of State-owned TSTT, is going after Finance Minister Colm Imbert via the courts, seeking a $55 million payment ordered in a judgment against a company owned by Imbert, for work done on the Grenada National Stadium project back in 1997. Elias, executive chairman of NH International (NHIC) filed an application in the High Court to enforce a 2011 judgment by Justice Peter Rajkumar who ruled in favour of the NHIC at the end of an 18 year legal battle against Imbert’s NSGC. Hearing of the application for enforcement will take place on November 3, in the Port of Spain High Court. Read more here

US firm sues Duprey for US$122m

Former CL Financial (CLF) executive chairman Lawrence Duprey is being sued by a former subsidiary in the Bahamas for US$122 million, over a failed land development in Florida. According to the lawsuit filed in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Monday, British American Insurance Company Ltd (Baico), based in Nassau, Bahamas, is seeking to recover the money, which represents the damages awarded to it by the United States Bankruptcy Court in the South District of Florida on July 31. Read more here

Fuel hike may lead to shortage of fish, shrimp 

Fuel hikes announced in last Monday's 2017/2018 national budget may lead to a shortage on the market of locally caught fish and shrimp. Read more here

 

POLITICS

Carolyn contradicts Minister

Another former Energy Minister has contradicted the position by Finance Minister Colm Imbert that the new 12.5 percent royalty to be imposed on energy companies, for all locally produced oil, natural gas and condensate, would have no impact on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Carolyn Seepersad Bachan, energy minister in the People’s Partnership yesterday said the new royalty, which comes into effect on December 1, will negatively impact the favourability of this country’s energy sector as a preferred destination of FDI. Read more here

Imbert slams Marla’s ‘Madman’ talk at post-budget forum

One day after he was called out for his callous behaviour at the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber's annual post-budget by a woman, Finance Minister Colm Imbert yesterday turned his ire on another, this time economist Marla Dukharan. Read more here

 

BUSINESS

Dillon waits for full report

National Security Minister Edmund Dillon is currently awaiting a comprehensive report involving two T&T Defence Force (TTDF) members who were accused of stealing relief items in Dominica a few days ago. The T&T Guardian received information that the two soldiers were on patrol with relief items in their possession when they were intercepted and searched by other law enforcement officials believed to be from Dominica. The soldiers were accused of pilfering items and were subsequently detained for questioning. Read more here

Large businesses will survive, small will die

University of the West Indies economist Dr Vaalmikki Arjoon is predicting the survival of only large businesses as the business sector is set to further contract given the recent levelling of taxes outlined in the 2018 budget by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Monday. Speaking at a post-budget panel discussion held at St Mary’s College in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Arjoon said it was a known fact that there was a chronic decline in revenue, adding that there was no real strategy coming out of the budget to carry the country out of the deficit. Read more here

Imbert: Listen to the cries of the ordinary man 

Finance Minister Colm Imbert says Trinidad and Tobago will become a poorer country, in terms of what poor people can afford, and the cost of living will increase if there is a substantial depreciation of the TT dollar. Read more here

 

REGIONAL

Editors' Forum | Gov't Choking Ja - Environmentalists Demand Greater Responsibility From Agencies Polluting The Environment

In bemoaning the adverse findings of the Air and Water Quality Report for Jamaica, a study conducted by the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), veteran environmentalist Peter Espeut says that the country must advance to a point where government officers are held personally responsible for the success or failure of their ministry, particularly where management of the environment is concerned. "It seems to me that one of the greatest polluters in Jamaica is the Government, whether through the National Solid Waste Management Authority or the National Water Commission, and so on, but what we lack is a proper mechanism to call the Government to account for its behaviour," Espeut stated yesterday during a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the company's North Street office. Read more here

 

INTERNATIONAL

Trump wins, Congress loses with Iran deal politics

President Donald Trump has a message to Republicans in Congress -- you don't like the Iran nuclear deal, so you deal with it. His expected decision to decertify the agreement would allow him to save face and dent Barack Obama's legacy. And by handing its fate to lawmakers, he would also limit his political exposure to any decision to kill off a pact backed by US allies. Read more here

Anti-nuclear weapons group ICAN wins Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican). Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Nobel committee chair, said it was due to the group's "groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty prohibition" on nuclear weapons. "We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time," she continued. She cited the North Korea issue. Read more here

6th October 2017

Back

Copyright © . Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers' Association All Rights Reserved.