The Week in Review: January 19 – 23, 2015

The milestones made by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for the week ending January 23, 2015, were as follows:

Monday January 19, 2015

• In keeping with the Government’s mandate to build capacity within the Civil Service and to promote abled Turks and Caicos Islanders to key executive positions within the Service, the Government announced the appointment of Ian Astwood and Desmond Wilson as Permanent Secretary and Deputy Secretary, respectively. As executives, Mr. Astwood and Mr. Wilson will be assigned each to a Ministry for the administrative management of the Human Resource and the implementation and execution of Ministerial Policies.
• Premier Ewing in assuming his portfolio responsibility for Health and Human Services, along with the Minister of Finance, Investment and Trade, Hon. C. Washington Misick met with consultants and potential investors for the establishment of Medical Tourism Services in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This was the second of such meetings which aims to fulfil the Government’s National Tourism Strategic plan to diversify the Tourism Industry.
• A key Stakeholders meeting took place, led by the Ministry of Health on Hotel Surveillance in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This “Partners in Health and Tourism” initiative seeks to ensure that greater collaboration and initiatives exist between the Health officials and the Hotel and Tourism Sector for the safe guarding against the spread of viral and infectious diseases that can bring harm to our visitors and residents and negatively impact the tourism industry.

The Week in Review – January 12 – 16, 2015

The milestones made by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for the week ending July 25, 2015, were as follows:

Monday January 12, 2015

• Flags were raised at half-mast in honour of the life of the late Hon. Rosita Butterfield, the first female elected Speaker to the House of Assembly, who passed while receiving medical treatment in Nassau Bahamas on Saturday January 10, 2015.
• Premier Ewing and his Cabinet Ministers met to finalize the Budget for Fiscal 2015/2016. Among the key components of this budget will be the revised salaries for the Civil Service, and the additional financing to ensure that the staff and the departments have the resources that they need and programs that will significantly improve the efficiency of the Civil Service.

THIS WEEK IN REVIEW – Week Ending July 25, 2014

The milestones made by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for the week ending July 25, 2014, were as follows:

Monday July 21, 2014

• Premier Ewing, other Ministers of Government and other Government Officials met with the Developers Desarrollos Hotelco Turks and Caicos, Ltd to discuss the investor’s commitment to contributing to the development of the Turks and Caicos Islands and a Government’s commitment to fast-tracking the development process, for the mutual benefit of all. Government aims to have a Development Agreement in place by September of this year, to allow construction to commence in early spring of 2015 on the US$202 million dollar, three-prong Hotel-Casino development that will span some 11 acres of the pristine coastline of the award-winning Grace Bay Beach in Providenciales, thereby creating some 300-400 jobs locally, before moving on to other equally-anticipated developments by the Desarrollos Hotelco Group for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

 

PREMIER RUFUS W. EWING’ FISCAL YEAR 2015 BUDGET ADDRESS

Progressive Agenda: A Pathway to Sustainable Economic Growth and Development
Premier Rufus W. Ewing’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Address

 

Honourable Speaker, Deputy Premier, Ministers of Government, Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Members of this House of Assembly, distinguished guests in the Gallery and fellow citizens of these, “Beautiful by Nature”, Turks and Caicos Islands, a pleasant good day.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination
Nelson Mandela

Humbly and soberly, I rise with anticipation for a healthy and meaningful debate as my Government propose today, not only a budget for the fiscal year 2014/15, but also a National Strategy that will secure the financial health and futuristic outlook for the people of our beloved country.

THIS WEEK IN REVIEW – Week Ending July 4, 2014

The milestones made by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for the week ending July 4, 2014, were as follows:

Monday June 30, 2014

• Premier Ewing’s Address to the Nation – Highlights included the Government’s decision to remove the Proposed Payroll Tax Bill from the House of Assembly; the announcement of planned NHIP Amnesty of penalties owed for arrears; planned reduction in penalty percentage for NHIP from 10% to 3%; planned reduction in Freight Insurance Tax from 15% to 7.5%; planned reduction in recently announced Business Licence Fees by up to 50% for some categories and a return to the former rates for some others.
• Helena J. Robinson High School Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony.
• The Grade Six Achievement Test Reward Ceremony for the Eliza Simons and Ona Glinton Primary Schools in Grand Turk.
• Premier Ewing and members of the Investment Agency met with developers of West Caicos as well as the British Overseas Territories Representative of the COMSE Fund to discuss the SME initiatives for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

TCI IS BBB+

On Tuesday of this week, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government announced that the Country had received its first ever Credit Rating from the highly acclaimed American Financial Company, Standard and Poor’s (S&P), who awarded the British Overseas Territory an impressive BBB+ rating. Now, for all intents and purposes, this appears to be great news, meaning, a BBB+ is just below an A-; most territories in the Caribbean, at the same time, were rated lower; the outlook was rated as stable, blah, blah, blah,… but certainly, the question on everyone’s mind is, what does this mean to me? And better yet, what does it mean to the people of these Beautiful by Nature, Turks and Caicos Islands?

That was truly the question of the week, and luckily we have the answer, so here goes.

First things first, A Look Back – Like most of the world economies, and certainly those of the Caribbean, The Turks and Caicos Islands was not immune to the perils of 2008 and the years following, in fact, much of what was endured in our little paradise was layers above anything else the world’s economies faced – a return to Sovereign rule.
What came next? Bounded in Bonds – In efforts that have not gone unrecognized, the UK Government, under the Interim Administration lassoed the country from the brink of bankruptcy, and provided a loan guarantee which gave financial institutions the surety they needed to bail us out. But even this was at a price.