Compiled By NAN Business Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Feb. 21, 2020: Here are some of the top business and finance news making headlines across the Caribbean this week.
Regional
Several Caribbean nations are no longer being seen as a non-cooperative jurisdiction for tax purposes within the global International Business sector by the Council of the European Union (EU).
Barbados is off the grey list as of February 18, 2020 along with Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Curaçao and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
According to the EU, these countries managed to implement all the necessary reforms to comply with its “tax good governance principles ahead of the agreed deadline and are therefore removed from Annex II.”
Bermuda
Bermuda this week was thrown into the spotlight as the Democratic race for a nominee to face Donald Trump in November heats up.
With Michael Bloomberg spending hundreds of millions on ads and entering the debate stage for the first time Wednesday night, a senior adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders took a shot at the billionaire.
David Sirota, a Sanders speechwriter and Twitter attack dog, reminded voters that Bloomberg has called Bermuda his part-time home and touted business opportunities in the “notorious tax haven.”
In March 2019, Bloomberg speaking at an executive forum in Bermuda, said: “Bermuda is home to me. My business is also very much involved there. Bermuda is a great place to work and live and its culture is deep. Its proximity to the US, the business relationships we have, all of these things add up to providing a venue that’s the best to me for what I do.”
Guyana
Guyana could soon have its own Hilton Hotel. A sod turning occurred at Ogle Wednesday. Guyanese-born, US-based businessman Edmon Braithwaite, and a consortium of individuals, are reportedly behind the US$ multimillion-dollar venture there through his Caribbean Marketing Enterprises Inc (CMEI) and the Energy Real Estate Solutions (ERES).
A sod-turning ceremony was held Wednesday for the construction of a Hilton hotel at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.
The hotel will have all modern amenities such as a miniature golf course, clubhouse, entertainment center, swimming pool and a solar farm.
The land for the construction of the international hotel was acquired from the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
The news comes as Guyana produced 35,607 barrels of oil daily in December moving the government’s royalty on that production to 2 percent.
Jamaica
Blockstation, a Canadian digital asset trading systems firm, has built a fast-track disclosure filing process for companies hoping to list security tokens on the Jamaican Stock Exchange (JSE).
Announced Tuesday alongside JSE’s launch of a tokenized Initial Public Offering (IPO) platform, Blockstation’s new tool, called the Smart Listing Accelerator Process (SLAP), is designed to streamline the filing of required regulatory disclosures and prospectuses, said CTO and co-founder Jai Waterman.
Waterman said SLAP “lowers the barrier to entry” for companies that want security token offerings (STOs) but do not know how to sift through the corresponding paperwork.
Bahamas
Disney Cruise Line is pledging $1 million in funding for startup businesses in the Bahamas.
According to local Bahamian news source Eyewitness News Nassau, Disney Cruise Line is partnering with The Bahamas to help local startups in the Bahamian islands. DCL has entered an agreement with the Access Accelerator Small Business Development Centre and the Eleuthera Chamber of Commerce in the Bahamas to prepare startups and small businesses to participate in development projects that are currently underway in Central and South Eleuthera, including Disney’s Lighthouse Point.
Barbados
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and Dr Keith Rowley, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, have signed a unitization agreement for the exploration of hydrocarbon resources which straddle the maritime boundary shared by the two countries.
This allows both to carry out seismic exploration at each other’s border and jointly operate a producing reservoir of oil and/or gas that is found there.
They have also agreed to share diplomatic missions in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Dominican Republic
A Dominican Republic-born, Bronx entrepreneur has moved his dream of Don Carvajal Cafe to a thriving reality. His slogan is “Coffee That Cares,” a company that cares about the environment and the roots that grew the idea to fruition. He is now selling sells hundreds of pounds of coffee from Colombia, Haiti and his native Dominican Republic at 40 stores across the city from his Long Island City location.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Flourish Mushroom Labs Inc., a Vancouver company, has just entered into a binding letter of intent with Acres Agricultural Canada Corp. to jointly form a company in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Acres Flourish Labs (SVG) Ltd., to build a laboratory for the cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms and for research and development into compounds and therapeutic use of psychedelic mushrooms. With cannabis now legal in most parts of the U.S. for medicinal or recreational purposes, the magic mushroom story is taking center stage.
