Business

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 344’s trading results showed consideration of $318,396 from 28,564 shares traded in 11 transactions as compared to session 343 which showed consideration of $2,207,685 from 103,059 shares traded in 13 transactions. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) — An Italian-owned company has pulled out of an expected deal to buy three of Jamaica’s state-run sugar estates, the Caribbean country’s agriculture minister said.

By Marc Frank HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — The Cuban tourism season got off to a rough start in 2010, with arrivals down 4.9 percent in January from the same month of last year, according to a government report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

International ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s has raised Jamaica’s debt rating to B-minus from selective default.

(Prepared by the Guyana marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek News Business as a public service) The New Guyana marketing Corporation has agreed to provide us with the above information which we will publish on a weekly basis subject to receipt.

– T&T Finance Minister The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is prepared to go to some lengths to ensure the justice is served in the matter of the spectacular collapse of CL Financial, which has sent shock waves through the region and left thousands of investors and policyholders guessing as to when, perhaps even whether they will at least be able to retrieve their investments from the ill-fated group.

– says some miners still not comfortable with the status quo State revenues accruable from the mining sector could take a hit this year as a result of the recent disruption in the sector arising out of controversies sparked by new state-imposed mining regulations, according to Executive Director of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields.

The essence of the argument made by one of our regular columnists in today’s issue is that the merits of Scotia Bank’s recently launched Small Business Banking (SBB) initiative, notwithstanding, the criteria that distinguishes ‘small’ from ‘micro’ businesses essentially means that the window the bank has opened is still far too small to accommodate the entrepreneurial ambitions that continue to mushroom all across the country.

Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice-President of the Lending Services Division.

By Jacquelyn Hamer Just over a week ago all of the various sections of the print media published reports on the launch by Scotia Bank of its Small Business Banking (SBB) an initiative which this newspaper described as ‘a suite of products which promises to help proprietors grow their businesses.”

The Caribbean received around 800,000 less visitors in 2009 than in the previous year, a decline of 3.6 per cent in visitors’ arrivals to the 33 member countries of the Caribbean Tourist Organization (CTO) according to the organization’s Director of Research and Information Technology Winfield Griffith.

Female guards  suffer most …Labour Ministry source Reports of transgressions by Security Guard Services most of which have to do with discrepancies in the wages and salaries of their employees continue to be made to the Ministry of Labour at the rate of “at least one a week” according to a senior Ministry functionary.

Wants government to move to take advantage of Caribbean Association of Roads The restoration of a national highway laboratory that infuses a higher level of geo-technical capability into road construction in Guyana is indispensable to the creation of a durable and cost-effective national road network according to one of Guyana’ leading civil engineers.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 343’s trading results showed consideration of $2,207,685 from 103,059 shares traded in 13 transactions as compared to session 342 which showed consideration of $2,097,113 from 53,994 shares traded in 7 transactions. 

…but Chintamani says tax reform should move forward this year Nearing a week after Finance Minister Ashni Singh delivered his 2010 budget presentation to the National Assembly the major private sector bodies are yet to make any significant public response.

–but miners believe government in ‘a bind’ The Government of Guyana is well aware that the enforcement of its proposed controversial notice period for the commencement of mining on any new concession “will effectively kill off a number of legitimate small mining operations” but is caught in a bind because of its commitments to higher environmental standards, a mining industry source told Stabroek Business earlier this week.

Business Editorial One of the arguments being made by developing countries in what has become an increasingly acrimonious global environmental debate has to do with the fact that while all countries, rich and poor alike, have had to pay the price for the various forms of environmental degradation that have afflicted the planet, the “returns” – in terms of enrichment and material development – from harmful emissions, deforestation and the various other forms of environmental delinquency have accrued overwhelmingly to developed countries.

By Jacquelyn Hamer I doubt that too many people would agree with the argument that marketing is by far the sternest challenge facing small businesses in Guyana today.