NEWS
Republic Financial Holdings partners with Caribbean Export Development Agency to help SMEs
Hundreds of thousands of Republic Financial Holdings Ltd customers who operate businesses in the SME sector stand to benefit from a partnership between RFHL and the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) with the intention of increasing export potential and capacity. President and CEO of RFHL Nigel Baptiste announced the partnership with CEDA on Monday during a press conference held at Republic House in Port of Spain. Read more here
KFC now charging $2 for condiments
If you wish to dress your KFC on the go, it will cost you two dollars more. Customers of the popular fast-food franchise were surprised yesterday when they found an additional charge on their bills for condiments. The franchise started charging $2 for condiment bags comprising of four packets, usually three packets of ketchup or mustard and one packet of pepper according to the preference of the consumer. Several customers took to social media complaining of the charge after making the discovery on their receipts and KFC’s mobile app. Read more here
POLITICS
Senator writes DPP to probe Rowley on CoP merit list
Opposition Senator David Nakhid has written to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard asking that he investigate the Prime Minister for possible misbehaviour in public office stemming from the rescinding of the police commissioner merit list. Also writing to Gaspard was former commissioner of police Gary Griffith who called for a probe into why the police failed to investigate his reports on the same issue. He also copied the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and the Police Service Commission (PSC). Read more here
PM denies influencing Bliss: ‘Since when is providing information interference’
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday shrugged off any suggestion that there would be negative fallout from his admission that he was the “high-ranking” Government official who met with former Police Service Commission (PolSC) chairman Bliss Seepersad on the Commissioner of Police merit list last August. However, he has denied interfering in the PolSC’s process to select a CoP. Yesterday, the Prime Minister was reported to have admitted that he met with Seepersad last year in order to give her information that eventually led to her rescinding the Commissioner of Police merit list after handing it over President Paula-Mae Weekes. Read more here
BUSINESS
T&T Stock Exchange rings bell for gender equality
Chief executive officer of the T&T Stock Exchange Eva Mitchell yesterday called on private and public institutions to “not just talk the talk” but to “walk the walk” when it comes to the issue of breaking gender biases. “Here at the T&T Stock Exchange we are committed to breaking every bias. We have ensured that our recruitment process is focused on selecting the best candidate for the role regardless of gender,” Mitchell said. Read more here
REGIONAL
Removal of COVID-19 restrictions could drive prices down
Even as authorities work to institute further measures that could restrict the rate of inflation and its impact on Guyanese consumers, the country has not been exempted from the conditions faced by nations the world over as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, most recently, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had written in its most updated World Economic Outlook that rising energy prices and supply disruptions have resulted in higher and more broad-based inflation than anticipated. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine war: Sepsis and hunger among hundreds hiding in Mariupol cellar
Hundreds of people are crammed into the basement of a large public building in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, but are running out of food, with many also in need of urgent medical help. "Some have developed sepsis from shrapnel in the body," said Anastasiya Ponomareva, a 39-year-old teacher who fled the city at the start of the war but was still in contact with friends there. "Things are very serious." The city is encircled by Russian troops and remains under constant bombardment with almost 400,000 people still trapped without running water, and food and medical supplies quickly running out. The local authorities say the war there has left at least 2,400 civilians dead, but even they acknowledge that this is an underestimate. Read more here
15th March 2022