Daily Briefing
Friday 8th May, 2015
NEWS
PNM Boycott
As of today, People's National Movement (PNM) MPs will boycott the House of Representatives until Government lifts last Wednesday's suspension of Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley over the emailgate affair, the PNM General Council decided last evening. Saying Parliament acted illegally in suspending Rowley, the PNM will also explore other avenues including a possible approach to the law courts. However the PNM said its Opposition Senators will continue to attend the Senate. After a three-hour emergency meeting, the General Council issued a resolution declaring their full support for Rowley and setting out the party's response to the suspension, including a call to hold the General Election now. Read more...
Debate on Amendment to Constitution bill
PARLIAMENT today sits to debate a special-majority bill to amend the Constitution to change the way judges are appointed to the Industrial Court. The debate will see an unprecedented empty Opposition benches after the People's National Movement (PNM) last night decided that its MPs will boycott sittings of the House of Representatives for the remainder of this session in solidarity with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley who on Wednesday was suspended from the rest of the session after Government moved a censure motion against him. It is not known if Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, who is opposed to the Government but is not a PNM MP, will also choose to boycott the Parliament in support of the Opposition, who in a recent previous sitting Warner declared as, "my PNM family." Read more...
Lead investigator to take the stand
The lead investigator into the kidnapping and murder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman is expected to testify in her murder trial today. When retired ACP Nadhir Khan takes the witness stand in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court this morning he is expected to give an overview of the seven-month-long police investigation which led to the 12 accused men being charged with the crime. After Khan completes his testimony prosecutors are expected to call six more witnesses before they close their case. The state's main witness, Keon Gloster, who completed his testimony before presiding Judge Malcolm Holdip and the 12-member jury this week, claimed he was coerced by police into signing a series of sworn statements in which implicated the accused men. Read more...
POLITICS
PM: No abuse of process in suspension of Rowley
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said there was no abuse of due process in the suspension of Opposition leader, Dr Keith Rowley, from the Parliament.Rowley was suspended from the Parliament on Wednesday after Government used its simple majority to pass a motion to suspend him on the basis of claims he made with respect to the emailgate scandal. Speaking to the media during the sod-turning ceremony for the new Arima Hospital in Arima, yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said she spoke at length in the Parliament on Wednesday night when she responded to Rowley's claims of abuse of process. Read more...
Sharma: 'It's karma'
FYZABAD MP Chandresh Sharma - who was suspended by way of a motion passed by the PNM Government a decade ago after he raised a complaint in relation to the infamous tea-cup affair - yesterday described the suspension of Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley on Wednesday as "karma.". Wednesday's date marked exactly ten years since a motion of censure was passed against Sharma in the House of Representatives by a PNM government. "It may well appear to be karma to those with spiritual eyes," Sharma told Newsday. "But the Parliament has its business to do. The Committee of Privileges is a sub-committee of the Parliament. "In this instance, the entire Parliament met. The suspension is within the law of the land and Dr Rowley cannot be treated any differently. Those who chose not to participate have also exercised their right. But what was the difficulty with Rowley defending himself? He would have had enough opportunity. Read more...
BUSINESS
Downgrade for First Citizens
First Citizens Bank Limited is the latest local entity to be downgraded by Moody's Investor Services. The banking group's latest long term local and foreign currency deposit ratings has gone down to Baa2 from Baa1 and it has been assigned a counterparty risk assessment of Baa2(cr) / Prime-2(cr). In addition, First Citizens' foreign currency short-term deposit rating was downgraded to Prime-3 from Prime-2, while the Prime-2 local currency short-term deposit rating was affirmed. Its outlook has been revised to negative from stable, although its baa3 baseline credit assessment (BCA) was unaffected. Moody's said the bank's negative outlook reflects the negative outlook on the government bond rating. However, its baa3 BCA reflects its robust capitalisation and liquidity buffers. Read more...
Proposed merger of CAL and LIAT
A merger has been proposed between State-owned Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) and Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT), whose majority shareholders are Antigua, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines.The proposal came Wednesday evening from Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines during a High Level Round Table discussion on day two of the "Forum on the Future of the Caribbean" at Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. "We would have better service in the region, and use that as a base to start to involve Suriname Air, Bahamas Air and so on, and let us have a proper functioning regional airline (that) would inter-link the islands in the region," Gonsalves declared, much to the delight of the large audience of regional decision-makers. Read more...
THA's Finance Secretary: S&P may follow Moody's with downgrade
Joel Jack, Secretary of Finance and Enterprise Development in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), expects the recent Moody's downgrade of T&T to be followed by similar action from another ratings agency, Standards and Poor's."That downgrade is likely to be of the same order of magnitude as the Moody's downgrade, that is one notch. Whether Standard and Poor's also places a negative outlook or maintains stable at the revised rating level remains to be seen and will depend on measures the government takes in the next few weeks," he said at a THA post-Executive Council media briefing. Jack said the Moody's downgrade could further dampen investor and consumer confidence in the economy and worsen already limited prospects for economic growth. Read more...
BPTT: Speak to TOFCO
BPTT yesterday advised contractor workers from TOFCO, who are involved in the fabrication of the Juniper Platform in La Brea, to direct their concerns to Tofco. The company made this statement after some of those workers protested outside its offices in Port-of-Spain.In a statement, BPTT said it has " heard the concerns of the contractor workers from TOFCO." The company continued, "We understand that the safety issues previously raised are being addressed by the contractor and subcontractor. Other matters pertaining to their terms of employment can only be addressed by their employer and we therefore encourage the workers to dialogue with their employer TOFCO to address these concerns." The Juniper facility will be a Normally Unmanned Installation (NUI) and will take gas from the Corallita and Lantana fields located 50 miles off the south east coast of Trinidad in water-depth of approximately 360 feet. Read more...
REGIONAL
Guyana says oil discovered in offshore block
Exxon exploration well, the Liza-1 on the Stabroek Block, using the drill-ship, Deepwater Champion located approximately 120 miles offshore Guyana, has encountered hydrocarbons, according to minister of natural resources and the environment Robert Persaud during an interview reflecting on the performance of natural resources and environmental sectors. However, he pointed out that it is too early to confirm whether there are commercial quantities of hydrocarbons, specifically light crude. Persaud revealed that a full evaluation of the results is underway from the exploration company. Further, the minister remains optimistic of a hydrocarbon discovery of commercial quantities, which will further transform Guyana's economy for the benefit of all Guyanese. Read more...
EC dollar as strong as ever, says ECCB deputy governor
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has said that the EC dollar is as strong as ever despite the withdrawal of the currency's one-cent and two-cent coins.
Deputy governor for the ECCB, Trevor Brathwaite, said the Eastern Caribbean currency has been pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of EC$2.70 for the past 39 years - which has worked well for the OECS currency."The EC dollar has been pegged to the US dollar since 1976, and that peg is the anchor that gives investors and citizens of Eastern Caribbean certainty and confidence in the stability of the currency," Brathwaite said. He added that the backing ratio of the EC dollar is "high up" in the 90 percent range. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
UK election shock: David Cameron defies polls with clear victory
Pundits had predicted the UK election would be a close one and suggested there would be days of post-vote, backroom talk to thrash out a power-sharing deal. Instead, it's turned into a thumpin'. With almost all the results in, British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party have claimed an outright majority in Parliament, with 327 seats out of 650, and can form a new government. As the dust settled Friday, three party leaders resigned, including opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. What this means for the UK is that the Conservatives get to govern alone after five years in a coalition, though with a slender majority. Millions in Britain cast their vote, but the rest of the world should also pay attention. Read more...
China's exports fall 6.2% in April against a forecast rise
8th May 2015