A disappointment the blogmaster holds of the incumbent DLP government of ten years is the inability to communicate forthrightly with Barbadians. Whether at a personal or impersonal level, without clear communication, a wholesome relationship will be elusive. What is the state of the foreign reserves, important to infusing investor confidence? Why has the governmentagain withheld the IMF report from the citizenry?
The following message was posted to the timeline of leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley. It is a message worthy of unpacking for a BU discussion made so in a poorly performing economy. We eagerly await the Quarterly Economic Review of the newly installed Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados.
Zip it Minister Sinckler!
Stop fooling Bajans.
When discussing the state of Barbados’s international reserves earlier this week, Minister Sinckler urged people not to panic. We would concur that panic is seldom a productive reaction. However, the Minister fails to understand that the Government’s practice of infrequent release of information itself breeds distrust and fear. This Government seems surprised that, even at a time of national crisis, the people of Barbados would want even monthly updates.
Minister Sinckler, if there is no need for noted regional economists, such as Ms. Dukharan, to be concerned, then why has the Government refused to release the 2017 Article IV report approved by the Executive Board of the IMF in January? The publication of Article IV reports is widely considered around the world to be sound practice in terms supporting transparency in economic policy-making and strong investor relations. It is only troubled governments, fearful of the political fallout of IMF criticism, that shun publication. While we have been the first to question prescriptions of austerity, we believe that transparency and openness to debate are essential in our democracy (and we note that the IMF Article IV reports from the BLP years are available online for all to scrutinise). What is in the document that Minister Sinckler does not want people to find out as elections loom?
Minister Sinckler, if there is no need for ordinary Barbadians not privy to ‘the facts’ to worry, then why are there rumours circulating that the Central Bank is desperately knocking on doors, pleading with financial institutions to pledge their foreign assets and those of their clients in order to allow the Central Bank to then use these assets to raise emergency external on a secured basis? When the Central Bank reports on the first quarter results later this month, will it confirm these last-ditch schemes, which skirt the Parliamentary approval process, or deny them?
Minister Sinckler, reserves are now at a crisis level of 6 weeks’ worth of imports – half the CBB’s target: if the people are not panic, they will need to have not just the facts, but also the details of how the Government plans to save our dollar. This plan must be a credible one that goes to the heart of our economic malaise, and not one that pathetically relies on uncertain, one-off fire-sales of Barbados’s national assets for a temporary recovery in reserve levels.
The Minister is totally out of his depth. He is swimming in waters too deep. I am Not having a debate with Chris Sinckler on the economy. He is looking for a political landing platform.
The Governor of the Central Bank needs to take notice – he must decide which God is he serving, Barbados or the Minister of Finance. The Governor of the Central Bank is a servant of the people – not a creature of the Minister of Finance.
To tell us that the country is good because the reserves are at $420m – only $10 million more than December 31 – . is to distract when he knows that the trajectory is going downward; when he and everyone else in the financial sector locally knows that the Central Bank has been desperately seeking to get a loan of US$100 million and asking people to bring back home their second tier reserves.
Chris you are swimming in waters too deep for you – you need to stop it and zip it up and stop fooling people.
The Minister needs to speak plainly to the country but, maybe, that is what he is afraid of.Barbadians need to be told:-
- How many times you have been written by the same Governor of the Central Bank with respect to the state of affairs. And when? Has he not told you that there is an urgent need to seek foreign financing to support the reserves given the delays in your planned divestments and the high levels of foreign debt financing the country must face.
- Why you as Minister of Finance will not release the IMF Article IV Report for last year.
- That there were no foreign debt payments in March unlike February; and that when combined with the inflows from CDB/IDB meant that there was no decline in what would otherwise be higher receipts in March. Bajans need to know that there will be more than $330 million in foreign debt payments in the next 12 months – provided that there are no further downgrades – BUT THE official projected foreign exchange inflows are less than $100 million.
- That even with that, the increase in March 2018 is less than half of what the incerease was in March 2017.
- What will be our fate in June? How much foreign debt must be paid in the month of June? Is it not more than 3 times what we had to pay in foreign debt payments in February. Do we not have to pay $120m in foreign debt payments, immediately after the date by which the election must be held?
- Is there a Central Bank projection that places the worst case scenario of our Reserves as low as $100 million in December 2018.
The Governor of the Central Bank must speak plainly to Barbadians and not allow a Minister with an electoral interest to serve to paint a picture with his blue-Coloured lenses.
The Minister is consumed with telling us that his policies are working. That is his only interest. The Minister is taking figures out of context deliberately. It reminds me of the story once told in Parliament of the man who jumped out the skyscraper from 120th floor and when he passed the 30th floor he said “So far so good”.
This notion that better cannot be done is a nonsense. And too much mock sport is now being made of Bajans and the state of our country.
Our Debt was unsustainable for years now. And we have said it – Clyde, Ryan, Marsha, myself – the former PM, Minister Estwick and independent economists.
There is a way out of this, of our economic malaise.l We have said over and over we will do whatever makes sense to the local, regional and international community and economists. But we need to see the data – unvarnished. We need ALL of the facts – all of the arrears.
If things are getting better why has the PM abruptly ended negotiations with unions.
Why is it that your boast of VAT Returns causes us to ponder? Some people may have had VAT returns paid but at what costs? Some say 20% 30% – I don’t know. What I do know is that Not Everyone is getting their returns.
Look Barbadians need independent data so that they may understand how serious the country is. What are our true vital statistics? The blood pressure improving early in the morning and then dropping dangerously low again by the next day or next week cannot be used as a measurement that the patient is out of the woods and is recovering. The truth is the underlying bleeding will resume with a vengeance in June and December. And we have not prepared for those moments.
The Minister needs to release the 2017 IMF Article IV REPORT TO THE PUBLIC.
Equally the Governor must ensure that he is not put in an awkward or invidious position. The Minister is trying to write the Governor’s Quarterly Report for April for him. He is putting the pressure on the Governor causing people to believe the Nation’s back page story of the IDB Report that places our Central Bank at the bottom of the pack when it comes to independence and transparency of Central Banks – a horrendous 84th place out of 89. Now you know why I have pledged for the last 4 years to deal with the independence of the Bank. The Governor needs to tell the country what he has written under sections 25 and 48 to say.
Whether there can only be recovery of reserves if the sale of assets.
Whether the Bank is warning that there will have to be more printing of money or building up of arrears or both to meet both the domestic deficit and foreign debt payments.
Independent economists, who the minister is intent on attacking, must not take fear. They must continue to speak truth to power about the state of our economy.
This Minister is out of his depth and really needs to zip it. It is no longer cute to be trifling with our economic well being – we cannot be the props to his re-election campaign.
Barbadians need the facts as they get ready to make decisions about their future in the upcoming elections.
We need to get on with our lives and let us all get on with the business of fixing this country.4th April 2018
P
On Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:04 PM Barbados Underground wrote:
> David posted: “A disappointment the blogmaster holds of the incumbent DLP > government of ten years is the inability to communicate forthrightly with > Barbadians. Whether at a personal or impersonal level, without clear > communication, a wholesome relationship will be elus” >
Barbadians ADD loans in forex to their reserves instead of SUBTRACTING the interest for these loans and NEUTRALIZING the loan itself. When I borrow 1 million USD, I have to pay back the loan PLUS interest. So I am poorer than before.
B I G M I S T A K E.
A LOAN is no positive asset for the sake of accounting!!! Also not in economy and law. Get that right.
In the future, Barbadian men must prepare themselves for a nice Arabian or Guyanese pegging instead of a dollar peg.
Absolute hog wash !
Three choices.
1. Float bajan dollar
2. Scrap bajan dollar
3. Use £ € or $ as legal tender
Or return to bartering
Chicken for flying fish
Says simple simon
An absolute waste of time. The average voter doesn’t understand or give a damn about the island’s financial affairs.
Do not expect now at the 11th hour, anything to change. We all know the Article IV report isn’t good, one only need read the final paragraph of the IMF Directors report
“Directors emphasized that stronger and deeper structural reforms are critical to unlock the economy’s growth potential and maintain macroeconomic stability. They underscored that reforms should focus on strengthening the business environment, facilitating economic diversification, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery. Directors supported the authorities’ efforts in improving the timeliness and quality of economic data.”
NONE of this is NEW?
Exactly,
The Barbadian masses are clueless and needy. They still think they are the master race of the Caribbean while Jamaicans and Guyanese laugh about them and nobody takes Barbadian economists seriously anymore. I was also told that EU is considering to rescind the visa waiver for Barbados since they fear mass emigration.
Only empty shelves in the supermarket, lack of medicine and fuel and the necessity for civil servants to go into prostitution will change their minds.
The DLP will fish at least 40 % of the votes and catch at least 10 seats in parliament, given that the local population is highly uneducated when it comes to financial matters. Also: Do not forget the very many DLP civil servants who will do everything to sabotage economic recovery after next elections.
Crooks do not communicate their intentions.
Surprisingly on the eve of a general election one would have reasonably expected for a matter like this to hold traction. We allow the politicians to mamaguy. There is no financial intelligence capacity demonstrated by local media.
@Tron
“The DLP will fish at least 40 % of the votes and catch at least 10 seats in parliament.”
Only 10????
@David
“We allow the politicians to mamaguy.”
And thus it has been for time immemorial.
Employment OR Economic Growth OR Social Services – Pick one, can’t get all.
Just observing
In the first pass the poll system a % of the vote is not the best indicator of wins and losses.
@David
Wily has come to the conclusion that the MAJORITY of the BU family understand the seriousness of the Barbarian political situation. It’s unfortunate however we all have corrective ideas and suggestions, that we apparently do not know how to effectively instill on the populace and politicians. It is becoming increasing apparent that a total failure of the Barbadian economic and political system maybe the only corrective measures that will be effective. In all senarios the social lifestyle of ALL BAJANS is going to be downgraded and social unrest will result. The only question is will Barbados ever recover to an assemlance of it’s past stature.
Hey Donville…. Ya got enough balls ta publicly tell Bajans who is the real enemy of the state?……ask Kelly.
Wily – “BARBARIAN POLITICAL SITUATION” Spot on!!
Wily Coyote April 11, 2018 6:18 AM
It is becoming increasing apparent that a total failure of the Barbadian economic and political system maybe the only corrective measures that will be effective. In all senarios the social lifestyle of ALL BAJANS is going to be downgraded and social unrest will result. The only question is will Barbados ever recover to an assemlance of it’s past stature.
……………………………………………………..
The biggest threat to our post-2018 economy is the 2013 – 2018 divestment of Bajan businesses from said economy. We did our best to weather the 2008 – 2013 lunacy but no-one with any economic sense could believe Fumble’s Fools would have won the 2013 election.
There was never any chance of economic recovery under Fumble’s teefin’ Fools. That set business survival tactics in motion, mainly local preservation and foreign expansion. Shore up the fort to protect what you have and send out patrols to get more.
Mia’s biggest challenges will be enticing foreign and local business investment back here through a massive civil service shake-up and consequential business facilitation and providing the FX to fuel consequential renewed growth.
If this country is to be taken seriously again, prosecution of the corrupt will be necessary.
All the people who matter to the economy understand the situation. The idiots who voted for the DLP in 2013 do not but I think most of them have felt the consequences.
Fruendolittle and his gang won the 2013 election with the collusion of Cambridge Analytica and all the corruption that entailed… I was stunned when I heard they were reelected back then, I dont think the electorate is that uninformed or misled now.
Here listening to some person sending a message to VOB about sending home 7500 people from the civil service and saying typical to myself in the box solution that has not been working. I believe done right 40% of the civil service can work from home and save government millions of dollars in rent and building upkeep. We continue to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
Telecommuting has been around for couple decades, but when you have backward small island government ministers whose sole purpose in life is to suppress the progress of the country and people so they can engage in continuous corruption to enrich themselves, that is what you are left with…an antiquated, totally outdated, taxpayer funded money sucking civil service…mostly filled with useless, unproductive yardfowls.
The Bajan civil service have been the ‘elephant in the room’ for the past 30 years.
Good governments work around them to keep us moving forward.
Fumble’s teefin’ gov’t take advantage of their uselessness to extort bribes.
No-one has yet put forward any tangible ways of solving the problem. Even ISO9000 implementation ideas aren’t backed up with remedies and punishments for failing to meet standards.
Under Grenville’s delusions and with the Weatherhead cockroaches in the background, corruption and tiefing from the majority population will be taken to a whole nother level…multiple people have already voiced those concerns on Facebook no less.
ISO is meant for leadership and management who actually know what they are doing, it was not designed for a den of thieves.
@ Roverp
Prior to the 2008 election the EPD occupied the buildings of the old hospital on Jemmott’s Lane. Sometime after the election (around 2009 i think) they were moved to the NUPW building (Dalkeith).
Want to hazard a guess as to how much they pay the NUPW in rent per month
The truth is salaries have not increased since this administration took power but transfers and subsidies have exploded.
Reigning in the transfers and subsidies will be met with fierce resistance from the civil servants and the benefactors like the NUPW
Redguard April 11, 2018 3:27 PM
@ Roverp
The truth is salaries have not increased since this administration took power but transfers and subsidies have exploded.
Reigning in the transfers and subsidies will be met with fierce resistance from the civil servants and the benefactors like the NUPW
………………………………………………………
Much worse situation at new BWA Pine offices and SSA Vaucluse offices, both BOLT arrangements with plenty steal in the buildings.
Statutory corporations are rife with teefin’, tender legislation doesn’t apply to them.
All must go.
Bajans have had enough.
By any review of the poor performance of the DLP administration, every DLP candidate deserves to lose his or her deposit. Yet such foolishness as “Mara is a good woman, she does bring me corn beef and groceries” abounds and may cause some of the DLP scamps to get elected.
It is a myth that a bloated civil service can be tamed, can be transformed into a highly productive unit.
Check Parkinson’s law of triviality. Only a small civil service will be productive, will facilitate private business.
The next gov has to make a hard decision: Either to sacrifice the whole country for the sake of the civil service or to shrink the civil service from the present abnormal size to a size more suitable for a country with zero growth and a very high debt load.
Time is running out. Forex depleted in December 2018.
Barbados must be the island equivalent of the Al Capp character “Joe Btlsplk” who appeared in the Lil Abner comic strip. Joe was the worlds worst jinx and whenever he appeared there was a dark cloud hovering overhead. The latest dark cloud is the Supreme Court building which is now said to be overrun with mould which resulted in the staff downing their tools and abandon their desks. This is a new building that should still have the “new car smell” and is already an environmental concern.
Would the last person leaving turn off the lights.
This is a BOLT building isn’t it, constructed when Mia was AG with direct responsibility?
@Sargeant April 11, 2018 8:48 PM
I assume for the Supreme Court that a) the A/C does not work properly or was switched off to save energy, b) the windows are super-tight and do not let in fresh air and c) they did not open the windows regularly to let in fresh air.
It is really sad to read that the so-called local elite cannot handle simple things like shi… and A/C. And that 52 years AFTER independence in the early 21st century, not ONE year after emancipation in the 1830s. Every smart owner of a villa in Barbados with proper, sealed windows knows how to handle A/C and fresh air. Marston Gibson and his registrar are obviously not amongst these smart locals. Does Gibson know at all how to drive his silver Mercedes or does he also need some foreign helper to sort it out?
Today’s Barbados Today editorial. There is a long memory.
Tron April 11, 2018 4:16 PM
It is a myth that a bloated civil service can be tamed, can be transformed into a highly productive unit.
Check Parkinson’s law of triviality. Only a small civil service will be productive, will facilitate private business.
The next gov has to make a hard decision: Either to sacrifice the whole country for the sake of the civil service or to shrink the civil service from the present abnormal size to a size more suitable for a country with zero growth and a very high debt load.
…………………………………………………………………………….
But here is the contradiction:
There is hardly a civil servant who is paid enough to save anything.
That means that every cent paid to them in salaries and wages is instantly re-cycled back into the economy. The loss of civil service jobs will immediately result in economic contraction.
The statutory corporations and other non-producing, money-pit gov’t assets hold the key.
UCAL was supposed to be the gov’t privatisation model. BTB workshop employees were given the choice of either taking severance cash and walking or investing that cash into shares in the new company. This model can still work without political meddling.
Good point Frustrated Businessman, it is all connected. Careful scenario planning is required.
@David
“Good point Frustrated Businessman, it is all connected. Careful scenario planning is required.”
It’s a point, however it’s NOT GOOD. Everyone except for a few idiots know the civil service is bloated beyond reason and has to be reduced. Yes there will be significant severe impacts however this medicine is necessary for patient survival. Barbados has dug itself into a deep hole from which it will be difficult to climb out of. Surplus money in circulation is the problem and defenitely not a solution. We all agree the impacts will not be pleasant however it’s time to BITE THE BULLET and move on.
Wily, don’t confuse a ‘good point’ with a ‘good situation’; in this case my point, as you infer, represents a grave danger.
Let’s assume that 2/3 of monthly gov’t costs are civil services and 1/3 are statutory corporation subventions.
Business people in Bim would be happy to pay 2/3 of the taxes we do if there was real civil service facilitation that would increase business efficiency by 20%. They don’t need to be fired if they would just do their jobs.
The real money pits are the statutory corporations for inefficiency, unwanted goods and services, gov’t meddling, unfair competition in the economy and outright teefin’.
That was my point. The statutory coprporations are the real problem.
The issue is not that the public service is bloated. It is how does one modify the existing and not cause the damn thing to crash. Some are saying, like the Governor to slash by thousands, the merger packages given will be enough to mitigate the problem. The blogmaster says bullshit.
@Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim.
April 12, 2018 7:05 AM
Frustrated,
Agreed that a transition period of five years is preferable to shrink the public service and to privatize statutory corps.
However, little was done during the past ten years to transform Barbados from a socialist welfare state to a modern, open economy. When the reserves are gone at the end of the year, as MAM predicts, there will be no time for any transition.
Either cut off the inflamed limb or die.
Again, there is the political reality that BOTH political parties have engaged in padding the public service because it is the only tool the duopoly in Barbados has used as the avenue to sustain popularity by rewarding party faithfuls.
Incumbents will retrench when there is no choice read the economy is tanking.
@Tron
We can blame Marston for some things but we shouldn’t blame him for building maintenance or shoddy construction. This is a part of a systemic failure in Barbados note the issues with NIS building, Treasury building and the formerly Custom building now hosting the Immigration Dept. A few years ago I used to walk around the Gymnasium and I noticed the building was deteriorating, I haven’t been there recently but I heard it has reopened after being closed for “repairs” , perhaps the Parliament building is one of those “sick” buildings but we will never know as the MP’s don’t spend much time there.
From the time the uselessly weak government brought Cambridge Amalytica into the last general election, they sealed their own fates and any future control blacks had on the island is less than tentative.
Sputnik the russian mediabis very in tune with every news item coming out of Barbados and are broadcasting it across europe and on facebook…ordinarily they would not give 2 shits.
Black politicians are their own worse enemies, they had control of the island for decades, instead of building a strong base to benefit everyone, particularly their own people, they played fast and loose, greedy, deceitful and corrupt, using extortion and bribery for self enrichment…..now it is not easy to tell who actually has control of the island, although I have very strong suspicions but it is becoming very clear that the ministers and politicians dont, whatever little grip they had left, is gone, they lost control …… unless a new government legislate and enforce new laws to get the intruders the DLP idiots let in, gone from the island..
From Sputnik:
“Sputnik International
all editions
15:24 GMT +312 APRIL 2018SEARCH
LIVE:
Barbados Freed to Kill Again? Convicted Murderer Arrested in Caribbean Over Woman’s Death
EUROPE
14:30 09.04.2018(updated 15:25 09.04.2018)
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A convicted murderer who attacked a teenage girl and then spent more than 20 years in a British prison for killing a man has been charged with another murder on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
Lawrence Mullin, 58, has been charged with murdering Laura Springer, 56, whose body was found at her home in the small town of Christ Church on March 19.
Mrs. Springer’s daughter became suspicious after her mother failed to answer phone calls and police learned a man had been seen running away from her house a few hours after the last time she was seen alive.
Barbados-born Mullin was deported from England three years ago after serving 21 years of a life sentence for a horrific murder in Essex.
Essex Police’s newspaper reports Mullins’ conviction in 1994
© PHOTO: ESSEX POLICE
Essex Police’s newspaper reports Mullins’ conviction in 1994
Horrific crime in 1993
In March 1993, Barry Bradford was attacked in the grounds of Highwood Hospital in Brentwood, just outside London.
Mullin, who is also known as Mullins, stabbed him several times in the throat and chest, stripped him from the waist down and stamped on his head.
He then threw mud over Mr. Bradford’s face and, in a sinister ritual, placed a single daffodil on either side of the dead man’s head.
When police arrested Mullin they learned he had also attacked a 16-year-old girl in a similar random attack.
Pulled Teenage Girl’s Teeth Out
The girl, who never recovered enough to be able to give a statement to police, had teeth literally pulled out of her mouth by Mullin during the barbaric attack.
“You are plainly an extremely dangerous man. I will recommend to the Home Secretary that you are imprisoned for many, many years,” the judge, Lord McPherson, told Mullin.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum tariff of 20 years.
Detective Superintendent Malcolm Hargreaves, who led the investigation into Mr. Bradford’s murder, described Mullins as “evil”.
He is not the first killer to have been freed only to be accused of more crimes.
Mullin has been remanded in custody and is expected to go on trial later this year. Barbados does have the death penalty but sentences are usually commuted to life by the Privy Council in London, which is the ultimate court of appeal.”
There are always several critical comments about the “bloated” Civil Service to which I respond “Be careful what you wish for you might get it”.
The Civil Service isn’t the only institution that is “bloated” there are many instances where private industry can be considered “bloated”, I am not going to list the instances (don’t want to give any smart person ideas) but I saw them every day.
If we reduce the Civil service and those private Industries to mean, lean fighting machines think of the human toll that would exact. If we are unhappy with shit flowing in the streets, how would we deal with blood flowing in the gutters from a violent army of unemployed people?
We don’t want a repeat of the headline “Barbados, no blasted paradise”
All that is necessary to solve the civil service problem is proper management and the ability to hire and fire based on merit.
This cannot happen without the support of the unions.
I maintain that civil service numbers do not need to be culled.
All the savings that need to be made can come from shedding statutory corporations and leasing of attendant gov’t assets.
BWU supported the clsure of the BTB workshop because it represented a saleable ‘free-market’ opportunity in UCAL which was actually further gov’t subvention in the form of BTB maintenance contracts.
We all know gov’t has no maintenance capability. So why do we allow them to acquire assets at our expense?
The purpose of gov’t is to LEGISLATE, REGULATE AND FACILITATE, NOT OPERATE.
I maintain that civil service numbers do not need to be culled.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well said Frustrated B.
But you cannot expect brass bowls to grasp that kind of thinking.
There is no way on God’s Earth that it could ever make sense to cull a workforce if it was productive, creative and innovative.
Culling ONLY makes sense where we are dealing with infected, diseased, unproductive, stagnant brass bowls.
By focusing on culling, we are admitting that we are INCAPABLE of being productive.
“PROPER MANAGEMENT” is the concept of releasing the inherent productivity of the human potential
This CANNOT be executed by idiots, morons, mendicant dimwits or political yardfowls.
In sum.
The REAL solution for Barbados is to identify and to implement – wise, competent, proven and measurable MANAGEMENT systems -based on merit.
…..shiite, the workforce may even grow….
Instead, we have opted for the dregs of our society – idiots who could not even manage to pass the damn 11+; who never managed ANYTHING successfully before in their ENTIRE lives; ….and handed them the role of ‘management of the country’ …
…and now that they have failed miserably – we are looking to prostitutes and pimps.
What does THAT say about us….?
Wuh…
If a fool and his money are soon parted … what the hell would you expect of a fool and OUR money…?
Like ISO 9001 Bushie?
“UCAL was supposed to be the gov’t privatisation model. BTB workshop employees were given the choice of either taking severance cash and walking or investing that cash into shares in the new company.
Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim
Yes, I agree “This model can still work without political meddling.”
“Without the political meddling,” Michael Lashley, as the minister responsible for the Transport Board, would not have had the opportunity to systematic attempt to destroy UCAL. Majority of the work once undertaken by UCAL is being outsourced to other businesses, especially one owned by an individual that is known to the minister.
The Transport Board could be privatized as well…….government does not need to be involved in transport services to maintain buses fares at $2 or allowing senior citizens and police officers to travel free, for example.
Government also “missed the ball” when they refused to give retrenched workers from Beautify Barbados and NCC the opportunity to invest and operate Beautify Barbados, rather than outsource the operations to a company owned by Mark Maloney……or these workers could have been in incorporated in any agreement with Maloney.
But you will also have to look at SOE that provide similar services, such as National Assistance Board, Urban & Rural Development Commissions, National Housing Corporation, Constituency Councils and the Poverty Alleviation Fund.
The services now being rendered by the UDC & RDC were once undertaken by the National Assistance Board, under the Housing Welfare Program……..which was closed to facilitate the establishment of UDC & RDC.
Additionally, the Enterprise Growth Fund, Fund Access and the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme provide similar services……“empowerment and development through the establishment of viable and sustainable micro and small businesses.”
@FB
“The statutory coprporations are the real problem.”
I agree that statutory corporations are part of the problem, however the bloated under performing civil service is the major part of the problem. Take at look at properly functioning countries and compared their civil services numbers to Barbados with respect to total population,and you’ll note that Barbados has 2 to 5 times the number of civil servants as these countries. At the moment approximately 60% of the workforce in Barbados is either directly or indirectly employed and paid by the GOB. Does this 60% represent 60% of the GDP, not even close. All civil service positions and SOE must be able to show how they contribute to the GDP, if they can’t their gone.
@ David
Like ISO 9001 Bushie?
+++++++++++++++++
A Co-operative structure would be better, but that would require some imagination.
ISO 9001 is more up our street – that would be a straight albino-centric copy.
Dumbville can’t even comment on this one, he can’t cuss them or deny it, he can’t open his mouth, no one in the government can, not now that all their pigs and those of the KNOWN crooks in the minority business community have all come to fine market..lol
when you sell your soul, there is always a reckoning, there are more but I know of at least one involved who is now an international person of interest.
Damning report
Article by
Marlon Madden Published on
April 11, 2018
Proceeds from illicit activities abroad are being laundered through Barbados, according to the latest International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.
The United States report, dated March 2018, said the information was based on a review done last year.
“Narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and firearms trafficking are major sources of illicit funds in the country. In addition to the use of financial institutions, money is laundered through a variety of businesses and through the purchase of real estate, vehicles, vessels, and jewellery,” said the 215-page report, which pointed out that “bearer shares are not permitted [and] there are no free trade zones and no domestic or offshore casinos”.
Barbados was one of 92 countries examined under the money laundering and financial crimes section of the 2018 report, which included the United States, as well as several Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Cuba, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the United States Virgin Island.
The report described Barbados as a regional financial centre with a sizeable international business centre (IBC) presence whose “susceptibility to money laundering is primarily associated with the domestic sale of illegal narcotics and the laundering of foreign criminal proceeds.
“There are reports of proceeds from illicit activities abroad being laundered through domestic financial institutions,” the INCSR 2018 said.
It recalled that authorities here revoked the licences of four international businesses after they were found guilty of money laundering and corruption in other jurisdictions, including the US.
“The Government should continue to take a more aggressive approach to conducting examinations of the financial sector and asserting more control over vetting and licensing of offshore entities,” it recommended.
Minister of International Business Donville Inniss, who had announced last October that his ministry would be revoke the four licences, would not comment on this latest report, which pointed out that the local Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was administrative in nature, which “means that it does not have the capacity to do investigative work or resolve legal issues”.
The human resource management (hiring, promoting, training and additionally firing) of the civil service needs to be de-centralised.
Permanent secretaries and senior management in ministries need to be empowered and allowed to play an intimate role in how ministries are staffed, how the staff is developed. This foolishness of a Minister sending a person to a ministry for a job must stop.
While some may argue that for a civil service the size of ours (25000) centralised HR management is necessary, I think a better approach is The ministry of the civil service provide oversight and guidance but the actually work of HR management be left up to the respective ministries.
And most importantly Ministers should have absolutely no role in HR management.
We could discuss.
https://www.iso.org/iso-9001-quality-management.html
If any incoming government with ethics and integrity cannot see that this is the best and only opportunity they will ever get to clean up the corruption and criminal enterprises operating in the business sector and in government completely, put those in the business sector who have recently lost control, have been exposed worldwide to various investigating agencies and are intent on continuing to commit crimes on the island…in prison where they belong.
Instead of Dumbville bitching and whining that they do not have the legal framework available on the island to investigate and make arrests, what the hell has the government been doing for 10 years that they never asked for Interpol or FBI help in investigations and arrests of the criminals in the business community who are all well known to everyone, it’s not like Dumbville and Adriel Nitwit et al did not know what was going on, they are all friends
why did Dumbville et al not also as well ask other agencies that exist who are skilled at developing such
legal and investigative frameworks….for help…they had 10 freaking years to clean this up.
it is my hope that international warrants come down eventually and with the names of all the culprits/suspects and their enablers in the outgoing government attached…what a thing…lol
No more diplomatic immunity, no more protecting minority criminals and their crimes against Bajans..what a thing..lol
WHEN YA SEE CARSON C. CADOGAN…on barbadostoday website badmouthing white and Indian business people in the community…ya know the shit is well and properly turned up…the message has been received loud and care, it’s every wannabe slave master for himself, they house negros have revolted, lol, lol, hahahaa.
house negros are revolting yall…murder..lol
See for yaselves:
“CARSON C. CADOGAN
We have a very poor private sector. They wait on Govt. for everything unlike the other private sectors throughout the Caribbean. The Barbados private sector is made up largely of moaners and groaners. Complaining about everything is their stock in trade.
Innovation is not their watch word. And strangely enough the private sector is made up largely of persons from the White Bajan plantation class and Indians who believe that they are entitled. People with only a buy and sell mentality.
They are led by a man called CHARLES HERBERT who tried very hard to fool Bajans that 2017 was the worst year in the history of Barbados which of course was a bloody lie. And that is how the Barbados private sector spend most of their time telling lies, lies, and damn lies. No wonder they are so closely aligned with the Barbados Lying Party sometimes known as the Barbados Labour Party.”
Ah guess we will see more black owned businesses in Barbados now, hundreds more, as I have been saying for the last how many years….. this day will go down in history, recorded as the day yardfowls and ministers on the island mysteriously had an epiphany ….if I did not know better, I would be wondering what caused that major and well deserved backstabbing.
let’s call today ….
When Ya Own House Negros Bite Ya..lol
April 12th , 2018
David
That BT editorial was so full of crap from a biased bitter editor. Ms Mottley defeated her in the law courts so she has a vendetta against MAM.
She is an acolyte of OSA so no surprises here. I wait to read a similar editorial on the ramblings that are going on in the DLP.
“the local Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was administrative in nature, which “means that it does not have the capacity to do investigative work or resolve legal issues”
Translation
Some people have some cushy jobs, big titles, drawing large salaries, but they are toothless dogs. They cannot do shit
.
Yeah, but Dumbville is acting as though he just found that out and has not known it for 10 long years…and did nothing about it, did nothing to correct it, neither him nor Adriel Nitwit the attorney general who still does nothing but collect a free salary.
ah hope he knows he is fooling no one, at least not me and definitely not the agency that wrote that report and certainly not those who are duty bound to investigate those criminals under international law.
“The High Court of Trinidad & Tobago has thrown out the country’s buggery laws, which punished same-sex relations with
up to 25 years in prison. The statute was rarely enforced, but had a chilling effect on the country’s LGBT population.”
Will Barbados be next when the MIA/BLP win the next election.
Thirty eight days have gone since Parliament dissolved itself………..one ignorant man said he deliberately allowed it to dissolve it self to make history.
I am of the opinion that the dems have over played their hands and no matter what they are planning, plotting and scheming…….the people are sick and tired of them, they have made up their minds and will deal with them whenever that person decides to call the election or when it calls itself.
Here is what a Barbadian, Colin Daniel posted on his Facebook page:
“I am not in a very tolerant mood this morning and it has to do with politics.
Three times this weeks I have heard people say that it is perfectly legal to use the 90 days after the dissolution of Parliament before an election is called. While may be legally so and I have opinions to the contrary it is horribly and immorally wrong.
We have a PM and his party constantly harping that the Opposition is impatient and wants to gain power to run the country. How is that different from the PM clinging to power in the worse economic climate that this country ever experienced.
This whole exercise demonstrates to my mind when the PM and his followers should be cast aside to the political wilderness for many years to come. They have done everything to destroy the once great party that the DLP was.
The pertinent issue is that we elect people to Parliament to represent us first….not to be members of the executive. The time of Kings and Queens of this country is long pass.
Get out now, if you think you can win call the election and let the people speak. You serve at the pleasure of the people. The people do not serve the PM or his party.
Stop loitering and destroying this country. get out of the way and let someone else chart a new course. PM you and your government have FAILED”.
………………………………………………………………………………….
Well said, Mr Colin Daniel.
What is the urgency ?
You have suffered for 5 years so how much difference will a month or two make ?
His Majesty King 👑 Freundel Jerome Stuart is on good legal grounds when it comes to announcing the General Elections date 2018 .
It’s MAM and her caravan of BLP bandits who are on ILLEGAL grounds !
Imagine since January 1 , 2018 she and her BLP bandits have refused to remove their posters ILLEGALLY mounted on the Barbados Light & Power poles !
Shameful BLPites !!
“Will Barbados be next when the MIA/BLP win the next election.”
++++++++++++++++++++
I believe you should first ask if the Dr. Keith Rowley People’s National Movement administration influenced “the High Court of Trinidad & Tobago’s (decision) to throw out the country’s buggery laws.”
If the answer is “yes,” then perhaps a Mottley led BLP administration may follow the precedent set by Rowley and influence or order the High Court to likewise throw out Barbados’ buggery laws as well.
++++++++++++++++++++
Fcuktured BLP
“Imagine since January 1 , 2018 she and her BLP bandits have refused to remove their posters ILLEGALLY mounted on the Barbados Light & Power poles!”
If the posters were “ILLEGALLY mounted on the Barbados Light & Power pole,” surely you must agree that the Attorney General has condoned the “illegal activity,” since he has not found it necessary to instruct the Commission of Police to take the relevant action or bring charges against the BLP.
Instead, Adriel Brathwaite left the task for a stupid yard-fowl to feel proud coming to this forum with shiite!!!
Artax
You last comments shows that you are having a panic attack !
Your BLP team is crumbling !
The long wait in the field have the BLPites stretched !
Still have a few more weeks of waiting……..let MAM stew in her sweat !!
https://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/local/ag-state-will-appeal-ruling/article_9f2f03d8-3eb9-11e8-a51a-9ff18c25cafd.html
No doubt MAM & Petra Wickham would have celebrated this T&T Court ruling with ” Gay Abandon ” !
The Paradise Papers Link is always interesting to navigate. Of the many companies found in the data dump, one can always bet to find the name Philip Tempro. The blogmaster hastens to add that being listed in the Paradise data dump is no indication of wrong doing.
Here is the link to Barbados registered companies https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/120013036
Here is the link to PBFG Energy Inc where Tempro appears to be the sole director https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/100337432
Your first link is faulty….all of CAIPO is on there in one form or another. See how many link to Donville (also shown as Donville O), and the address in the Harbour Industrial park….go and find me 8A lol. Who has the most directorships? STC
Fractured BLP – who pays you to write your dribbling excreta, you cretinous yardfowl?
Touchy, touchy..lol
Behind Haiti, Barbados is now the worst failed state in the Caribbean.
The local black elite and their white so-called donors from the construction business have failed in every aspect:
They are not able to run a single public building without mold.
They are not able to manage sewage.
They are not able to handle crime.
They are not able to contain corruption.
They are not able to facilitate private business.
They are not able to hand over democratic institutions in time.
All they do is begging Arabs and Chinese for money they will never be able to pay back.
Independence has failed. Governance has failed. Society has failed.
Just look at the so-called platinum coast: Villas and hotels for billions, but the local elite is not able to provide a single public road without 10,000 potholes. All nice roads left are within gated communities. I doubt very much that the masses in Barbados have ever seen a road longer than 10 m without a pothole.
Here is what Stephen Lashley opines about government not sharing the Article IV IMF Report.
What has to be admired about Stephen is his ability to lie with an absolutely calm demeanour, and with consistency – somewhat like a radio announcer reading news in a professional, impersonal style.
Bushie even believed (for a few seconds) that we would have raised that $30M dollars for the new stadium …and that the Empire building would have been refurbished … and that …
Even if we accept Lashley’s position on the non release of the report, should the reply have come from the authoritative source read the MoF?
Bush Tea April 13, 2018 6:47 AM
What has to be admired about Stephen is his ability to lie with an absolutely calm demeanour, and with consistency – somewhat like a radio announcer reading news in a professional, impersonal style.
Bushie even believed (for a few seconds) that we would have raised that $30M dollars for the new stadium …and that the Empire building would have been refurbished … and that …
……………………………………………………………………………………………
“He is a modest man; with much to be modest about.”
Let some of us understand what is being stated here. You expect a third political party with a fledgling support to declare that it will slash and burn the public service should it gain the office of government?
Is the blogmaster correct?
A fledgling political party that must rely on popular support to make head way?
usually the IMF splashes those final reports across media so that the people can read themselves, but knowing this lying deceitful loitering bunch, they would maliciously delay amendment to the report that can be revised in 2 weeks for an extended time period of 3 months or more…to fit their rotten election agendas.
David April 13, 2018 7:16 AM
Let some of us understand what is being stated here. You expect a third political party with a fledgling support to declare that it will slash and burn the public service should it gain the office of government?
Is the blogmaster correct?
……………………………………………………………………………
No, you are not correct.
Once again, this idea that civil servants must be fired to make the system efficient is flawed.
The civil service must be MANAGED to make the system efficient.
Various flexible management tools and strategies must be brought to bear and that cannot be done without the cooperation of the unions.
Which potential gov’t ministers have engaged the unions in this regard and with what outcome? More backroom deals?
What the business people of this country need to hear from potential gov’ts before we re-engage the economy is how the management of the civil service is going to be improved so that business facilitation is improved.
With Dippa, Tom and Owen it was easy. Once you got air-time with them and they believed in a project, proposal etc. they micro-managed the situation to facilitate.
Fumble’s Fools couldn’t micro-manage making tea, that is why we are in our current position.
How long will it take to ‘manage’ the systematic problem (different to employee count) to reduce wage bill and increase productivity?
“You(r) last comments shows that you are having a panic attack!”
Fcuktured BLP
Having a panic attack??!!??……………far from it, yard-fowl.
I went to karaoke at Jack’s Bush Bar in Pile Bay last night. While there I saw Michael Carrington, Donville Inniss, Donville Batson, former Inspector of Police Simmons (of TNT Barbeque Hut fame) and members of Inniss’ “entourage” ………..all DEMS…….. mingling and drinking with their BLP counterparts…….as is the norm every Thursday night at that venue.
Actually, Inniss and the woman you paid to cuss, Mia Mottley, are regular patrons of the Bush Bar…….and they socialize with each other.
While the DEMS socialize with their BLP counterparts, they send jackass yard fowls, such as you, Angela “ac” Cox-Skeete, Carson C. Cadogan, NationBLPnewspaper, Alvin Cummins, Kevin and the other DLP yard-fowls to social media, to do their dirty work………..i.e. cussing the BEES.
And the jackass you are, you feel proud being used.
Artax,
It is good to know that the blue and red politicians dine together. So nothing will change after next elections. Barbados will remain the darkest plantation in the Caribbean with zero growth, highest debt burden, most potholes, laziest civil servants, highest prices and no prospect for young people expect the entourage and courtesans of the white and black plantocrats.
No wonder the British, Dutch and French overseas territories are now 30 years ahead in terms of human and economic development.
David April 13, 2018 9:37 AM
How long will it take to ‘manage’ the systematic problem (different to employee count) to reduce wage bill and increase productivity?
………………………………………………………………………..
Civil servants are retiring at the rate of 5% per year.
If no new ones are hired after elections, the ‘count’ will reduce from 30,000 to 23,000 over the next five years by doing absolutely nothing.
If the DLP had not hired lackies but had frozen all hiring in 2008 when the world economy crashed, we would have 18,000 now.
As I said, the problem isn’t civil servant numbers, it is management and yard-fowlism.
The word should be systemic. Yes attrition is one approach but it must be balanced with having the requisite skillsets to assure efficiency.
The IMF issued a press release months ago on Article IV
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2018/01/30/pr1833-imf-executive-board-concludes-2017-article-iv-consultation-with-barbados#_ftn1
Based on this, there were a few “spins” reported in the media
1. https://www.barbadosadvocate.com/news/imf-deficit-declining
2. https://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/stories/2017/12/2017-12-01-ga-barbados-budget-cl.html
3. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/the-barbados-economy-is-slowing-down-warns-imf_124078?profile=1056
4. http://www.caribbean360.com/business/not-enough-imf-says-barbados-government-needs-fix-economic-problems
No government would wish to release this information pre-election. So argue/debate a few moot points, and blame the delay on ‘ongoing discussions’. “De IMF unfairing we”, plays much better than “MoF projections miss again”.
Just read that the union wants to close the supreme court building for THREE months. Why not one year? NOBODY will miss the court, given the amount of backlogs and missing files.
Welcome to the postcolonial era! No clean water anymore, millions of potholes across the island, rising crime and the highest debt burden and the lowest growth in the whole Caribbean.
Are there more targets to “achieve” for the so-called elite?
@Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim.
April 13, 2018 9:46 AM
You can speed this up, lowering pension age to 55 or 60 for 10 years. Of course, we need to optimize pensions for this case, say 50 % cut. The pensions for the public servants are definitly too high. They do not need a car or a holiday anymore after retirement. Rum, beach, church and singing are good enough.
Barbados,a one-eyed town with one TV station owned and controlled by the Government of Barbados and dedicated to give a one-sided view of the state of the economy.The Prime Minister is the equivalent of Vladimir Putin and CBCTV and radio 100.7fm are the equivalent of Pravda.Formerly known as the land of milk and honey,it is now known as the land where sh..t is flowing in the streets and uncollected garbage is rummaged and redistributed by rodents 24/7.Taxes are wasted on paying salaries,fees and pensions of human leeches called the DLP wild boys,none of whom has a clue what is meant by the word confidence.Even academics like don who support these wild boys find amusing reasons to convince themselves that the 90 day grace period is inclusive of the mandate to remain in control of the government.What a bunch of clowns associated with the name of UWI and specifically the scholar Arthur Lewis.What the RH wrong with these people doh!You mean dey en got nuh shame?
@ Artax who wrote “While the DEMS socialize with their BLP counterparts,”
That is how it has been over the last 50 years.
While their respective idiot yard fowls hate and cuss each other, maybe the idiots deserve it.
As usual, Ulric Sealy was good in fake news in his latest DLP propaganda lecture.
He says “common characteristics of a failing state included”
“loss of control of territory”: yes, Black Rock and other places are no-go-areas for the police.
“erosion of legitimate authority to make decisions”: the figures in parliament have no say, but the four “High Whites” aka Baloney, Jerkham and the Williams Bros.
“inability to provide public service”: yes, look at the many potholes and at the health services.
“widespread corruption and criminality, sharp economic decline”: read the Daily Telegraph and Russian news.
“and inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community”: Barbados is the laughing stock at CARICOM. No one wants a Barbadian judge at the CCJ to mess up things and to create a backlog longer than the distance between earth and moon.
You know when a mindless, mentally enslaved yardfowl is jumping out to defend the failed government leadership, corruption and collusion between minority business people now being investigated on the international arena and stupid, greedy politicians/ministers, that they all live in this alternate universe where reality does not apply.
That is why I want to see some ministers and thiefing crooked, criminal white, indian and syrian minorities taken off the island in handcuffs and drag the yardfowls off with them too, that should jump start the ones remaining into reality.
There’s a flurry of political activities slated for this weekend, especially among the two major parties.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/147816/busy-weekend-ahead
@Hant
There was a break for Lent, we are a religious country after all!
@Artax April 13, 2018 8:59 AM “I went to karaoke at Jack’s Bush Bar in Pile Bay last night. While there I saw Michael Carrington, Donville Inniss, Donville Batson, former Inspector of Police Simmons (of TNT Barbeque Hut fame) and members of Inniss’ “entourage.”
Whats with Donville and his entourage thingy? He comes to my church from time to time, and always with an “entourage”, a bunch of tough looking guys.
What’s that all about? In church even?
@ Simple Simon
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. …
So the choice is to flee … or to hide behind an ‘entourage thingy’…
What’s with Donville and his entourage thingy? He comes to my church from time to time, and always with an “entourage”, a bunch of tough looking guys.(Quote)
Gangster?
@ Simple Simon who wrote ” a bunch of tough looking guys”.
What do “tough looking guys” look like ?
Dumbville is a legend in his own mind, he probably thinks his past will catch up with him, but all that entourage talk, if it really happens, watch how quickly the entourage will run and leave him, he knows bajan men are born cowards already, all that is for show to fool yardfowls.
I suppose the condemned turkey wings investigation by dumbville and paul, consigned to Baboolal the claut seller,has died a natural death.
Simple Simon
I saw Donville and several people dressed in yellow “T shirts,” bearing his name and with a slogan that made reference to his representation as being “tried, tested and proven.”
My use of “entourage” was not meant to be taken SERIOUSLY……..I used the word to “jokingly” describe the people accompanying Donville.
@Hants April 14, 2018 12:37 PM. “What do “tough looking guys” look like ?”
Large, muscular, unsmiling. The sort of guys little old ladies would not want to meet while walking home from church late at night on a lonely country road. Especially when the old lady is only armed with her pocket book.
The churches is Barbados are still filled with ladies (mostly middle aged or older) and with little girls in shoes and socks and ribbons, or sandals and cotton dresses, and little boys in dress pants and their good short sleeved shirts, and a few old devoted (mostly elderly) husbands.
Not scary places at all.
No need for the entourage thingy.
FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited (FCIB) has got cold feet.
The Barbadian-based bank announced late yesterday that in light of “market conditions at this juncture” it was withdrawing “the [United States] registered public offering and listing of its shares” on the New York Stock Exchange
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/149677/bank-backs-us-share-offer
Thanks Hants!
@Sargeant, Artax, Northern Observer
Why would First Caribbean put themselves in a position to withdraw given that the market conditions have not changed significantly.
@David
Why would First Caribbean put themselves in a position to withdraw given that the market conditions have not changed significantly
++++++++++++
That question is above my paygrade but I’ll speculate. The HO in Toronto calls the shots and when an IPO is launched the stock is first offered to the “Institutional Investors” at a price somewhat south of what the public I.e. people like yours truly can purchase same.
The “Institutional investors” have deep pockets and will purchase millions of these stocks which they can then unload to some favourite clients. My guess is that CIBC found that the market from those “Institutional investors” was luke -warm or down right cold and rather than have egg on their faces from an undersubscribed offering they pulled the offer.
Folks like NO who is more tuned into the market may have a different perspective
That is a good stab at it Sargeant!
Many of the articles I read on this issue did not specify what were the “market conditions at this juncture.”
However, according FCIB, CIBC owns approximately 92% of FirstCaribbean (FC), “which has about US$12.4-billion in assets and earns most of its revenue in Barbados, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands.”
Although noting there have been some improvements in FC’s financial performance during the past few years, CIBC expressed some concerns about the protracted weak economic conditions in many Caribbean islands, as well as money laundering risks and the recent active hurricanes that caused catastrophic damage in some islands.
CIBC wanted to diversify from its domestic market because of decreasing home prices in Vancouver and Toronto. The Bank also examined the idea of expanding in North America and give customers access to banking services in the US. Last year, in June 2017, the bank acquired the Chicago-based PrivateBancorp Inc. for US$5B (paying US$2.4B in cash and the remainder in approximately US$32.3M CIBC shares) and subsequently rebranded it to CIBC.
Perhaps CIBC believed expansion in the US was a priority at this time…..hence the decision to file a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and offer 9.6 million of FCIB’s shares at US$22 to US$25 on the NYSE in an attempt to raise US$240M…….which would have probably been used to facilitate this expansion.
Unfortunately, “the initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. failed to garner enough support,” and FC decided to withdraw the offering “in view of market conditions at this juncture.”
But it is interesting to note that, also according to FCIB filings, “had the IPO been successful, CIBC intended “to divest itself of its controlling interest in us over time.”
“CIBC profit jumps 25% in 4th quarter to record $4.7B for the year”
Profit comes in better than what analysts were expecting
.
The Canadian Press · Posted: Nov 30, 2017 9:04 AM ET | Last Updated: November 30, 2017
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cibc-bank-earnings-1.4426113
If CIBC is exploring the idea of expansion on the North American market…….. and although noting there have been improvements in the financial performance of FCI…..….admit they have concerns about the prevailing economic climate and risks as a result of hurricanes and money laundering in this region………..
…………and admit their intension to divest in FCI…….if the IPO was successful……..
………..then I find it reasonable to agree with Sargeant re: “CIBC found that the market from those “Institutional investors” was luke -warm or downright cold and rather than have egg on their faces from an undersubscribed offering they pulled the offer.”
Canadian banks may all leave the Caribbean.
FCIB: You cannot sell a bank sitting on all these Barbadian government bonds and other financial bombs called Barbadian mortgages, facing devaluation.
Very soon, it is D-Day. Barbadian middle-class, goodbye!
Welcome to the new masters of Barbados, the Guyanese oil barons!
@ Artax who wrote “.admit they have concerns about the prevailing economic climate and risks as a result of hurricanes and money laundering in this region”
There is also the cost of maintaining branches in 17 Island nations.
Trying to understand the appetite of CIBC to enter the US market when it was touted as the reason the Canadian banking system escaped the ravish of the global meltdown of 2007/8.
David BU
According to CIBC’s President and CEO, Victor Dodig, entering the U.S market “is purely a client-driven strategy.”
“A significant number of (our commercial banking clients) have banking requirements in the U.S. we were not able to fulfill.”
Understood Artax, one would expect the wish to satisfy the client is accompanied by a risk framework to mitigate the challenges the US market presents. Anyway this is above the level of the blogmaster.
CIBC is already in the US market, they paid a premium to acquire this US commercial Bank as the shareholders didn’t accept its initial offer and held out for more. The bank’s client profile is what attracted CIBC.
Bottom line CIBC wants to divest itself of FCIB but it doesn’t want to hold a “fire sale”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/cibc-in-49-billion-deal-to-buy-chicago-based-privatebancorp/article30672130/
@Artax
Didn’t see your previous comment about CIBC’s acquisition of PrivateBank Corp
@ Sargeant who wrote ” Bottom line CIBC wants to divest itself of FCIB but it doesn’t want to hold a “fire sale”
You could be right. I think this could have been the plan when they created FCIB.
I concur. CIBC could not generate enough market interest, even at the 30% discounted price being floated. FCIB had the “For Sale” sign out for a few years, without attracting interest at a price acceptable to CIBC. The other reason for pulling the NYSE listing is IF they have indeed sold FCIB. (I doubt that) Last year, Butterfield Bank [Bermuda] listed on the NYSE and it was successful. Then again, the credit rating of Bermuda is not that of Barbados, and the IPO market has been spotty.
I was interested to see how they were going to handle the “cross listing”. The initial ‘circulars’ referenced shareholders “resident in Barbados” but what about others? Could I, not a resident, now buy FCIB on the BSE and sell it on the NYSE? Money would pour out of Bim?
Imagine that Mia Mottley mounted her party’s posters for 110 days & counting ILLEGALLY on the Light Power electricity poles ……..
But mekking noise that PM Stuart has LEGALLY delayed by 90 days……the calling of General Elections 2018 !
Mia Mottley should be in jail by now !
Btw ….. the said posters mounted on 1st January 2018…the images on them look like they were attack by chemicals being used in Syria 🇸🇾!!
I always watch how the lads at FCIB headquarters work in Bim. Lazy they are. Very lazy. Going to work at 9 AM and returning 3 PM, having an extensive break between.
No wonder that FCIB is for sale. CIBC should close Warrens headquarters plus the big new retail center nearby and relocate the bank to the Bermudas, if they really want to sell the bank. There is no way to sell FCIB with a millstone around your neck called Barbadian work ethic and Barbadian credit rating.
The failed sale of FCIB is just another symptom that Barbados falls apart.