BAHAMAS
Authorities in the Bahamas have taken control of cryptocurrency assets held by an entity of the bankrupt exchange FTX.
The Bahamas Securities Commission announced last week that it has directed the transfer of all assets of FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas-based unit of FTX that filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection last Tuesday.
The regulator said those assets are being transferred to a Bahamas digital wallet control regulator for “safekeeping”.
“The urgent interim regulatory action was necessary to protect the interests of customers and creditors” of FTX Digital Markets, the regulator said.
The move comes hours after Eron’s former lawyers oversaw FTX’s alarming regulatory filing in court that brought chaos to the crypto exchange.
The dossier painted a picture of the crypto empire that was massively mismanaged and potentially fraudulent, including misleading financial statements, misusing confidential data and using corporate funds to buy houses for employees in the Bahamas.
Recently, the Royal Bahamas Police Force announced that it is investigating possible misconduct in connection with the FTX explosion which moved its headquarters to the Bahamas last year.
The Bahamas Securities Commission will consult with regulators and other authorities around the world to obtain the “best outcome” for creditors’ customers and stakeholders.
BARBADOS
President of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Renee Coppin says that while hoteliers are expecting a favorable winter period due to subdued travel demand, they are concerned that it will not fill up to what is currently forecast to be a dull summer of 2023. , mainly due to reduced air transport to the island.
Copping told online publication BARBADOS TODAY that occupancy rates for members were now 75 percent for this month, 67 percent for December, 66 percent for January next year, 72 percent for February, 55 percent for March and April 37 percent.
“There are positive signs again for this winter…if we continue to see good bookings, we could surpass last year’s performance in January and February.
“March will be more of a challenge, given that the England cricket tournament, which took place in March last year and always provided a massive boom in tourism, will be absent this year (2023).
However, she noted that Coppin said bookings for this segment continue to increase this winter and the outlook for December-April is to improve occupancy levels for many members, hovering between 50 and 90 percent.
One member described it as the worst summer they have experienced in more than a decade.
The BHTA official said the new Tourism Minister, Ian Gooding-Edghill, has pledged to focus on air transport.
Caribbean
CARICOM has called on the world’s most developed economy to help create a plan for food and energy security, agricultural innovation and climate action.
Addressing the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, Suriname’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation Albert Ramdin said isolated solutions will never be enough.
“Food cannot become a luxury item and everything must be done to prevent this. Food security challenges cause conflicts or battlefields in the future, as a number of fertile agricultural lands are also declining due to climate change,” Ramdin said at the conference, as he replaced CARICOM chairman and Suriname President Chandrikapersad Santokhi.
Ramdin said food and energy security are at the heart of societies and economies globally, nothing a State of Food and Nutrition Security Report had warned by 2021, at least 40 percent of people in Latin America and the Caribbean will face food insecurity.
He said that this would be 10 percent more than for the rest of the world and that the situation has been worsened by rising inflation, a shortage of fertilizers and the continued rise in interest rates.
Ramdin said the situation offers no comfort to potential investors.
He said that all topics and policies are interconnected.
Ramdin said the food import bill reduction program aims to reduce the region’s import bill by 25 percent by 2025.
Guyana
Guyana is reporting 108 murders so far this year, the lowest level in a decade after law enforcement authorities last week indicated that serious crime in the country had dropped by 19 percent.
Addressing the launch of the Christmas Policing Plan 2022, Acting Deputy Commissioner and Chief Crime Officer Wendell Blanhum said there were 331 fewer serious crimes reported between January 1 and November 13 compared to the same period last year.
Police said they had seized 68 illegal firearms so far this year, with the United States and Brazil the country where the guns originated.
Police said the number of murders, rape incidents and robberies fell in 2022 with authorities reporting no kidnapping cases last year and none so far this year.
Blanhum said that of all homicides recorded over a 10-year period between 2013 and 2022, this year recorded the lowest total so far.
GRENADA
A member of the recently established Commission on Cannabis Legislation and Regulation has warned that marijuana legislation will not happen overnight, and in the meantime recommends that people 25 and under who have been charged, convicted and imprisoned for simple possession cannabis to be pardoned by the governor general.
“This will not happen overnight, it will take time,” said lawyer Anselm Clouden, who represents the Ministry of Legal Affairs on the commission.
He told reporters “for example, we have laws on the books that prohibit the possession of anything from a single marijuana cigarette to the possession of traffic.”
Clouden is of the opinion that while cannabis laws are under review, the government should clear the records of those who have this criminal conviction against their names.
The duties of the Commission on Cannabis Legislation and Regulations include holding public consultations as the government seeks to develop a framework for cannabis legislation in Grenada.
JAMAICA
The Jamaican government last week declared a state of public emergency (SoE) in the parishes of Clarendon, St Catherine and sections of Kingston, although it admitted that the country is not immune to the high level of crime facing the region.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, at a press conference, told reporters that an SOE has also been created for the parishes of St. James, Westmoreland and Hanover, as increased crime and violence pose a threat to property and public order.
He said that over the past six months there has been a significant increase in homicides on the island, adding, “Across the region, particularly along the Caribbean basin, societies like Jamaica are experiencing a steady increase in murders, shootings and crimes. others. “
Police Commissioner General Anthony Anderson told a press conference that as of November 13, the country had recorded a total of 1,360 murders. Last year, the figure was 1,231 for the same period.
TRINIDAD
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) last week announced that the government of Trinidad and Tobago has appointed a Trinidadian national as president of the IDB.
The Washington-based financial institution said Gerard Johnson, the IDB’s former general manager of the Caribbean Country Department, is among five candidates proposed by member countries for the top position.
The nomination period closed last Friday. The current General Manager of the Caribbean Country Department is Tatis Ali, whose appointment is effective September 1, 2022. Ali is also the IDB Country Representative for Jamaica.
The IDB said its governors, who are usually finance ministers or other top economic authorities from the bank’s 48 member countries, will have the opportunity to interview the candidates in a virtual meeting on Sunday.
IBD’s president is elected by the board of governors for a five-year term, according to a set of regulations consistent with the bank’s founding agreement.
— Compiled by Azad Ali
