TTMA IN THE NEWS
TTMA happy with US$100m facility
Manufacturers are happy they now have access to a US$100 million facility. Read more here
NEWS
Tremortised
A massive earthquake, magnitude 6.8, yesterday rocked TT, sending the country’s 1.4 million citizens into a tailspin and damaging several buildings in and around Port of Spain, and other parts of the country. The earthquake, believed to be the largest ever in the country’s history, was reportedly felt in several other Caribbean islands, including Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Guyana and neighbouring Venezuela. Read more here
No bad blood over dousing
Less than a week after he was doused with flood water by a group of irate Beetham Gardens residents, local government councillor Akil Audain returned to the community to hand out food hampers yesterday. However, Audain did not venture back to the exact location where he and Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds were attacked, instead opting to utilise the Beetham Gardens Community Centre, which also houses the community’s Police Youth Club. Questioned over the move, Audain claimed it was a strategic decision taken to ensure those most affected by last week’s flash flooding benefitted. Read more here
Biggest quake in two centuries
The earthquake that rattled T&T and Venezuela yesterday was the largest such event in this area in the 20th and 21st centuries. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the magnitude-6.9 quake was the 18th one in this geographical area. Read more here
POLITICS
Imbert: UNC’s NIF claim ‘baseless’
Finance Minister Colm Imbert is “rejecting in its entirety” claims by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar that insurance companies broke the law by purchasing National Investment Fund bonds. At a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of Finance in Port of Spain, Imbert sought to “state the facts,” denouncing Persad-Bissessar’s “unfounded and baseless accusations” made at the UNC’s Monday Night Forum in Chaguanas. Read more here
PM must clear air
Which People’s National Movement (PNM) Government Minister’s wife is working with a company which has received several Government contacts? Questions on the alleged situation were raised last night by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who called on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Health Minister Dr Terrence Deyalsingh to clear the air on the issue so the public can be assured the contracts were awarded above board. Speaking at the party’s Monday Night Forum at the Chaguanas South Secondary School, Persad-Bissessar claimed there was a “Wives’ Club” in the PNM. She claimed this “Wives Club” had benefits and company where the minister’s wife worked had acquired several contracts. Read more here
Rowley: I was scared
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said last night Trinidad and Tobago is in an earthquake zone and we should brace for aftershocks in the aftermath of the monster earthquake which struck yesterday. Read more here
BUSINESS
Data shows decline of Carnival visitors
This year’s Carnival visitors spent a total of $318 million, according to Camille Robinson-Regis, Minister of Planning of Development. However, there was a decline in visitor arrivals from 2017 to 2018. “The total visitor arrivals to Trinidad and Tobago were 33,873 persons, with Trinidad recording 31,877 and Tobago 1,996 for the period under review. When compared with the Carnival period for 2017 (February 10 to 28), data showed a 3,575 or 9.5 per cent decrease in visitor arrivals to Trinidad and Tobago.” Read more here
Enemployment up, saving deposits down
Economist from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Canada’s fifth largest bank by assets, estimated late last week that Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) unemployment rate has returned to its 12-month high of 5.3 per cent. They also noted savings deposits in the local financial system are down 4.5 per cent. Read more here
REGIONAL
Untold Stories Of National Awardees | Ward’s Unrelenting Faith In Jamaica
When proprietor of Ward's Power Tools, Howard Ward, learnt of his pending Order of Distinction award, for business and community service, he was in the middle of an intensive construction project out west. "I was busy at work, and would you believe that one of my competitors, who is also my friend, Mr Donovan Chinsee of National Supply, sent me a text saying: 'Congrats OD'. I will always remember that. That stands for unity, which I like to see in the business. Because, although we are competitors and we have similar businesses in some aspects, to see him text me to say 'Howard congrats', that was heart-warming," Ward reminisced. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Michael Cohen trial: Trump's former lawyer 'happy' to testify
How Brexit could smash the British pound a second time
Brexit has already slammed the pound once. It could happen again. The currency would be put under severe pressure if Britain crashes out of the European Unionnext year without striking a deal on trade, according to analysts. "The day after the UK voted for Brexit, the pound suffered the biggest single day loss for a G10 currency in recorded history," said Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at online trading platform City Index. "The pound could potentially replicate this decline." Read more here
22nd August 2018