TTMA IN THE NEWS
Trade delegation to strengthen ties with Colombia
Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon will lead a delegation of 10 private sector companies along with senior executives of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) and state enterprise exporTT Limited on a Trade Mission to Colombia from September 2-6, 2018. The ministry says the thrust of the mission is in alignment with specific initiatives outlined in the Government Policy Framework to rebuild growth and sustain the manufacturing sector. The mission is to assist with further penetration of the Latin American market by providing opportunities for local exporters to gain first-hand knowledge of the market opportunities, explore new commercial prospects through organised business to business meetings and build networks which will facilitate increased exports to Colombia. Read more here
NEWS
Reports: Bank of Baroda closing TT ops
The Indian media are reporting that the state-owned Bank of Baroda is closing its TT and Ghanaian subsidiaries, as part of a strategy to “rationalise international operations.” The Indian financial news outlet LiveMint reported that this would be the first time any Indian state-owned bank had tried to sell its international units. Total business between the Ghana and TT operations is estimated to be less than US$150 million. Read more here
Thieves hit Republic Bank’s Avenue branch
Thieves made off with over $160,000 in cash after breaking into Republic Bank’s Ariapita Avenue, Port-of-Spain branch over the Independence long weekend. Police were told the break-in at the branch, located on the corner of Ariapita Avenue and Murray Street, occurred sometime between Saturday night and Monday morning. Security officers reporting for duty at the bank yesterday discovered that a wall near the vault had been busted into. However, it appeared the bandits were unable in their attempt to access the bank’s main vault. But further checks by bank officials revealed that a cash bin had been breached. Police said the bandits made off with TT$127,000, US$5,000, Cdn$500, £205 and Euros $427. Read more here
25 schools shut on first day
A total of 25 schools were unable to open or had to close prematurely yesterday because of incomplete repairs and damage caused by last month’s earthquake. Read more here
POLITICS
Carolyn challenges Khan to public debate on Petrotrin
Congress of the People (COP) leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan is challenging Energy Minister Franklin Khan to a public debate on government’s decision to close the refinery of state-owned Petrotrin. Seepersad-Bachan who served as Energy Minister between 2010 and 2011 is also calling for the details of the McKinsey report on Petrotrin to be made public. She made the call while speaking to Petrotrin workers in Penal on Sunday morning. Read more here
Fight to bitter end
Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget has admitted his union is in no position to buy Petrotrin’s billion-dollar refinery but says this is a ruse as the Government already has a purchaser in mind. His comments came hours after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, in a televised address to the nation on Sunday, offered the OWTU first chance at acquiring the refinery following Government’s decision last week to shut down its operations. Yesterday, Roget declared an all-out war on the Government against the treatment meted out to the working class and unions. Read more here
Energy Minister: No secret buyer
There is no secret buyer for the Petrotrin refinery, Energy and Energy Industries Minister Franklin Khan said yesterday. Read more here
BUSINESS
Petrochemical sector crucial to our economic prosperity
In just over a month, the country’s financial year comes to an end and the Minister of Finance will find that the energy sector has grown in 2018. This growth has taken place on the back of continued increase in natural gas production which has had the effect of increased production downstream commodities and increased export from Atlantic LNG. In fact, the Minister of Finance recently revealed that for the first half of the year the country had already collected 800 million more from the petrochemical sector than it had for the first six months of fiscal 2017. He said, “Drilling deeper into the figures, in the petrochemical sector, collection of corporation tax has moved from $371 million in the period October 2016 to April 2017 to $1.2 billion in the period October 2017 to April 2018, an increase year-on-year of $835 million.” Read more here
Tewarie: Unease over Petrotrin
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s offer to Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) to have first call on the refinery seemed to be “almost tongue-in-cheek”, Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie said yesterday. Read more here
REGIONAL
Culture Of Death - Rape And Incest Not Enough To Justify Abortion, Say Christian Lawyers
Given what they believe to be "a culture of death" in the country, members of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) are urging Jamaicans to reject abortion and instead place more efforts on saving mothers and their unborn babies. Towards this end, president of the LCF, Helene Coley-Nicholson, is hoping that Jamaicans will support the group's 'A Time for Life' campaign, which was launched yesterday at the New Testament Church of God headquarters at Fairway Avenue in St Andrew. The group is lobbying for the recommendation to decriminalise abortion to be aborted, among other things. "Jamaica has seen enough violence, enough deaths, enough murder, enough rape. There is a culture of death and it includes the killing of the unborn," she said during the press conference to launch the campaign. Read more here
INTERNATIONAL
Trump comes out swinging ahead of big political week
President Donald Trump couldn't wait to launch into the fall political season, an intense 10-week conflagration that marks a hugely consequential chapter in his turbulent presidency. He spent Labor Day, when campaign politicking goes into overdrive, unleashing a raging tweet storm blasting his beleaguered Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other favorite targets, such as fired FBI Director James Comey, officials leading the Russian probe and the media. But the critical period that might lay the foundations for the nation's ideological course for years and even decades to come will truly get underway on Tuesday morning when confirmation hearings start for Trump's second Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh. Read more here
Syria war: Russia 'resumes Idlib air strikes'
4th September 2018