CDB seeks funding change

The president of the Caribbean Development Bank, Compton Bourne, has told BBC Caribbean that the bank would like to raise additional funds to onlend to the region.

But he said the member countries would have to agree to raise current limits on how much the bank can borrow.

Caricom countries have agreed to coordinate their efforts to source international funds to help them through the economic crisis.

Bourne said the bank was willing to do what it can to assist, and had already relaxed some lending conditions.

Parliament to debate elections bill

The Trinidad and Tobago parliament was due yesterday to debate a bill that seeks to postpone local government elections for the fourth time since 2003.

The government has indicated that it wants to complete electoral reforms.

The plan to defer voting has been criticised by opposition parties. The main opposition, United National Congress said it would lead to an erosion of democracy.

The third party, The Congress of the People said the timing of the elections should be at the discretion of the Prime Minister.
Survey: West Indians among the happiest

A British thinktank says the world’s happiest people live in Costa Rica followed by the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

The report by the New Economics Foundation devised an equation that weighed life expectancy and people’s happiness against their environmental impact.

By that formula, Costa Rica is the happiest, greenest country in the world.

Latin American and Caribbean nations generally fare well, bagging nine of the 10 top spots.

Seven Caribbean nations are among the 143 on the index, which covers 99 percent of the world’s people.

The other five are Cuba at number 7, Belize (27), Trinidad and Tobago (30), Haiti (42) and Guyana (63).