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.