TTMA IN THE NEWS
TTMA hosts physical trade mission to Guyana next week
The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) will be leading a physical Trade Mission to Guyana next week—28th to 31st March 2022. The delegation will be led by TTMA President Tricia Coosal. An official statement from the business lobby reports that the TTMA president will be joined by Dr. Ramesh Ramdeen, Chief Executive Officer, TTMA; Dhanraj Harrypersad, General Manager, exporTT; and Navin Dookeran, Chief Executive Officer, EXIM Bank. “TTMA looks forward to this physical trade mission on the invitation of His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali during his address at our President’s Dinner and Awards in November 2021, as we seek to pursue our goal of our Export Manufacturing Strategy of doubling non-energy exports by 2025,” the TTMA President stated. Read more here
NEWS
Ansa McAl boasts of pre-pandemic level profits
Conglomerate Ansa McAl Group on Thursday boasted of pre-pandemic type profits and projects continued success as the world relaxes covid19 restrictions. Speaking at a virtual stockholders meeting, group chairman Anthony Norman Sabga III said proficient leadership and committed staff led to $5.970 billion in revenue with a profit before tax of $935 million. Profit after tax was $595 million. Read more here
POLITICS
PNM corporations share Al-Rawi's 'excitement' on local government reform but not UNC bodies
Heads of two PNM-led corporations shared Minister of Rural Affairs and Local Government Faris Al-Rawi's excitement about local government reform, but two heads of UNC-led corporations wondered if reform could truly solve perennial problems of bureaucracy, speaking to Newsday on Thursday. Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation head Kwasi Robinson said, "The entire local government is emphatically excited to have Minister Al-Rawi here with us, in terms of his approach to work." Read more here
Gary hits back at PM, says he’s already started to be political
Gary Griffith has said he’s already begun to be political–and has promised to reveal, “in due course,” alleged “blatant political interference” into the T&T Police Service by politicians he’d seen. Griffith lashed out on Wednesday after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, at a PNM meeting on Monday night in San Fernando, mentioned the former police commissioner and police issues. The Prime Minister labelled the former commissioner as a “deranged imp.” Griffith retorted, “Try again Keith – you kept putting your nose in police business. Read more here
BUSINESS
Guardian Holdings reports $798m after-tax profit
Guardian Holdings Ltd is reporting an after-tax profit of $798.3 million for the financial year ending December 31, 2021. This is an increase from the $778.2 million the company reported for the 2020 financial year. Taxation was $215 million, down from $243.8 million. GHL said the profit for the year, after a deduction attributed to participating policyholders, was $785.8 million, up from $780.2 million. Read more here
CariCRIS reaffirms ‘good’ creditworthiness to NiQuan Energy
Rating agency CariCRIS has reaffirmed ‘good’ creditworthiness ratings for NiQuan Energy Trinidad Limited (NETL). CariCRIS explained that the stable outlook is based on the organization’s expectation that, “barring any other unforeseen circumstances or events, once commercial operations successfully begins within the second quarter of 2022, CariCRIS expects the NETL to comfortably meet all its interest and principal repayments.” CariCRIS added that the stable outlook is also supported by the strong actions taken by the company following the April 2021 explosion to prevent recurrence, including the commissioning of an independent Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report, and the successful implementation to date by the company of approximately 97 per cent of the recommendations from the RCA. Read more here
REGIONAL
Plenty room for business, investment, trade in Guyana
Even with Guyana having a robust plan to ensure that locals benefit from development across every sector within the country’s economy, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, has assured Trinidad and Tobago investors that there is still plenty of room for business, investment and trade. He made this announcement during an address at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce’s “Opportunities for Doing Business in Guyana” stakeholders’ meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. While on a two-day visit to the twin-island republic, Minister Mustapha met with several Guyanese-born businessmen and women and gave them a glimpse of some of the investment opportunities in the agriculture sector here in Guyana. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine War: Civilians abducted as Russia tries to assert control
Ukrainians are being arbitrarily detained and subjected to enforced disappearances in Russian-controlled areas, the UN has told the BBC. At least 36 cases of civilian detentions were verified by the UN, with families often denied any information about the fate of those being held. Ukrainians say they fear an escalating campaign of kidnappings and intimidation, as Russia struggles to assert control over towns it captures. Viktoriia Roshchyna, a journalist, was working in occupied areas in the east of the country when she was taken by unidentified men on 15 March. Her employer, Hromadske media, said she "was probably detained by the FSB", Russia's internal intelligence service, based on witness accounts of her being taken in the city of Berdyansk. Read more here
25th March 2022