• Digital payment wallet, Lynk, is hoping to tap into the multibillion-dollar market of monetary transactions that exist in Jamaica. Digital payment wallets are the platforms used to facilitate transactions of the Bank of Jamaica’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
• Speaking with JIS News, Chief Growth Officer at Lynk, Denise Williams, said the company is eyeing how they can make a greater impact in the growing digital market. With an injection of more than $250Mn in JAM-DEX incentives into the Lynk ecosystem, along with customers putting cash into their Lynk wallets, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transactions have taken place on its platform since inception.
• Chief Product Officer at Lynk, John Matthew Sinclair, said the digital wallet is fairly new to Jamaica and during this stage of the process they do have some limitations.
• “We do have ambitions to interface with the larger digital wallets in America where we have a large diaspora. Access to that type of network will have benefits to the holder of popular international digital wallets and Lynk,” Mr Sinclair said.
• “The company (Lynk) has been able to work out the technical hurdles that will allow interoperability locally through the CBDC network, and, eventually, we also aspire to do the same with international wallets-based regulatory approval and international money transfer services,” he added.

(Source: JIS News)

• Antigua and Barbuda, on Monday, reported a 7% increase in tourist arrivals in July as the country continues to record a “steady rebound” in visitor arrivals in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that had forced the closure of borders.
• The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) is attributing the 7% growth in air arrivals for the month of July 2022, when compared to July 2019, to increased airlift, aggressive destination marketing, easy travel protocols, the enthusiasm amongst consumers to return to travel, and their eagerness to participate in Antigua’s summer carnival once again.
• Tourism officials said an influx of visitors from the United States contributed to the increase with arrivals 30% higher than in July 2019. 13,305 of the visitors travelled by air from the United States in July, an additional 3,000 plus when compared to July 2019. There was also growth within the UK market, with an increase of 272 British visitors to the destination leading to a 5% increase in tourism arrivals over 2019; arrivals stood at 5,650 in comparison to 5,378 in 2019. Arrivals from Canada grew by 1% while the Caribbean market saw a decline of 19%.

(Source: Caribbean National Weekly)

• The board of directors of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Federal Reserve banks voted in mid-July for a full-percentage-point increase in the rate charged to commercial banks for emergency loans, minutes of their discount rate meetings showed on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. Directors on the Kansas City Fed's board voted for a half-percentage-point rate increase, the minutes showed.
• The recommendations from all three banks were overruled when Fed policymakers at their July 26-27 policy meeting opted for a 75-basis-point increase to the benchmark policy rate. The Fed's nine other regional bank boards had already backed a 75-basis-point increase in the discount rate.
• The split among the Fed banks over the proper setting of the discount rate - which is different from but moves in tandem with the rate set by the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee - suggests increasing discord over how aggressively the U.S. central bank should act in the face of decades-high inflation.
• Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard are the Fed's two most hawkish rate-setters, and both have pushed for steeper increases than most of their colleagues.
• Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who later this week hosts a key annual global central bankers' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, dissented in June against the Fed's first 75-basis point rate hike, saying she thought a half-point was more appropriate. In July she joined her fellow policymakers in what was a unanimous decision for a second 75 basis-point hike.

(Source: Reuters)

• Russia's economy has avoided the meltdown many predicted after Moscow sent its forces into Ukraine six months ago, with higher prices for its oil exports cushioning the impact of Western sanctions, but hardships are emerging for some Russians.
• After predicting at one point that the economy would shrink more than 12% this year, exceeding the falls in output seen after the Soviet Union collapsed and during the 1998 financial crisis, the economy ministry now expects a 4.2% contraction.
• High global energy prices have helped the Kremlin follow through on President Vladimir Putin's pledge in March to reduce poverty and inequality despite crippling Western sanctions and inflation. Some economists have compared the situation to the COVID-19 pandemic when authorities increased payments for those most vulnerable to the crisis.
• "So far, there are no signs that the drop in living standards could lead to unrest," said Alexei Firsov, founder of social studies think tank Platforma."The living standards decline has not reached the point where attitudes towards reality start to change significantly and the fridge begins to beat the TV" - a reference to a Russian saying that describes the tension between people's experiences and what state television has led them to expect.
• As it is important to note that, Inflation, which soared to a 20-year high of 17.8% in April after the rouble collapsed to a record low against the U.S. dollar, is now seen ending the year at 13.4%, according to the economy ministry.

(Source: Reuters)

• The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says the country has adequate gross and net international reserves to finance its obligations, cushion against exogenous shocks, and address near to medium-term eventualities.
• The gross reserves total US$4.24Bn, representing 129% of the level deemed sufficient according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) measure of reserve adequacy.
• Further, the Net International Reserve (NIR) was approximately US$3.66Bn at the end of July 2022 which indicates 23.67 weeks of goods and services imports. While the total NIR is 7.7% below the level at the beginning of October 2021, when the Bank adopted a more stringent policy stance in relation to inflation, Senior Deputy Governor, Dr. Wayne Robinson has indicated that the Bank has more than sufficient reserves.
• The NIR reflects the difference between gross reserves and the country’s IMF loan debts. Gross reserves measure the total value of foreign exchange and monetary gold reserves, special drawing rights, IMF reserve positions, and other assets denominated in dollars.
• Maintaining an adequate level of reserves is one of the key pillars of underwriting and ensuring macroeconomic stability. This is important given that the country is small and open and vulnerable to a myriad of shocks due to its dependence on other economies highlighted by the balance of payment deficit.

(Sources: The Bank of Jamaica & JIS News)

• Sagicor Group Jamaica (SGJ) on August 15, 2022, announced that its subsidiary, Sagicor Investments Jamaica Limited (“Sagicor Investments”) has completed the purchase of the securities dealer book of business of Alliance Investment Management Limited (AIML), having satisfactorily completed all due diligence and regulatory requirements.
• Sagicor Group Jamaica President and CEO, Christopher Zacca stated that: “This client portfolio purchase expands the business of Sagicor Investments, offering an opportunity to serve a wider client base. We are delighted to welcome our new clients to the Sagicor family and look forward to giving them stellar service, personalized attention, sound financial advice and diversified investment products and services to meet their investment goals.”
• Sagicor announced its intention to purchase the client portfolio of AIML in April of this year. The company also completed the purchase of 100% of the shares in Alliance Financial Services (AFSL) on April 1, 2022. ASFL is now fully enabled on the international MoneyGram platform.
• The acquisition of AFSL and purchase of AIML are aligned to the Group’s overall strategy for growth as it will allow the company to move into new business segments and expand its product offerings to its clients and boost profits.

(Source: JSE)

• Real GDP growth in Costa Rica is expected to reach 3.7% in 2022, from 7.6% in 2021. This is an upward revision of the 2022 forecast from 3.0% previously, as growth outperformed expectations in Q2 2022 at 5.4% y-o-y.
• This follows an 8.4% print in Q1 2022, with robust activity in the manufacturing and transport sectors supporting headline growth. In addition, Costa Rica’s tourism sector has seen a rebound in recent months, driven by lower health restrictions and stronger demand for international travel.
• Despite this upward revision, Fitch Solutions maintains its view that growth will decelerate in H2 2022 as unfavourable base effects mount, elevated inflation eats into household purchasing power and tighter monetary policy limits investment.
• In July, inflation reached 11.5% y-o-y, the highest rate since April 2009, largely driven by high food and transport costs. It is expected that global commodity prices will remain well above historical trends through the end-2022 as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues and supply chain issues linger. 
• Easing inflation and looser monetary policy will support stable growth in 2023, at 3.2%. This is largely in line with pre-pandemic trends, where growth averaged 3.4% from 2015-2019, and will be underpinned by stable private consumption and investment growth.
• The Central bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) will likely ease rates in response to falling inflation, cutting by 150bps to 7.00% by the end of  2023. This will support stronger private consumption and investment growth as purchasing power rises and borrowing costs fall. That said, US growth will slow from 1.8% to 1.6% in 2023, which will limit the upside for Costa Rica’s goods and services export growth.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• The Government of Dominica continues to implement measures to keep fuel prices under control as the global price of oil continues to rise.
• Given the present global market prices and this new price cycle, the Government has decided to further subsidize the cost of petroleum to reduce the impact on residents and to allow for sustainable economic activities.
• The government will continue applying a waiver of the Customs Service Charge on gasoline and diesel and the granting of the subsidy of EC$0.21 per gallon on diesel.
• Further, due to a greater increase in the global price for gasoline, the Cabinet approved an increase in the subsidy on this product from EC$0.60 per gallon to EC$0.85 per gallon with immediate effect until the retail price of each product returns to below EC $15.00 per gallon.
• Important to note is that this implementation of the measures will result in continued revenue loss to the state. However, the Government of Dominica remains committed to actions to cushion the impact of escalating world fuel prices and the current inflationary increases affecting basic household items.

(Source: Dominican News Online)

• British consumer price inflation is set to peak at 18.6% in January, more than nine times the Bank of England's target, an economist at U.S. bank Citi said on Monday, raising his forecast once again in light of the latest jump in energy prices. Consumer price inflation was last above 18% in 1976.
• Citi forecasts that the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) will raise the tariff cap to the equivalent of 3,717 pounds from October, with further increases to 4,567 pounds in January and 5,816 pounds in April 2023. In its forecasts at the start of August, the BoE assumed the cap would rise to around 3,500 pounds in October and that energy prices would then stabilise. Consumer price inflation would thus peak at 13.3% in October.
• With inflation now set to peak substantially higher, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee was likely to conclude that the risks of more persistent inflation had intensified, Citi said. "This means getting rates well into restrictive territory, and quickly," Nabarro said. "Should signs of more embedded inflation emerge, we think a Bank Rate of 6-7% will be required to bring inflation dynamics under control. For now, though, we continue to think the evidence for such effects is limited."
• The BoE announced a rare half-percentage-point interest rate increase earlier this month and investors expect another big move when the Monetary Policy Committee makes its next scheduled monetary policy announcement on Sept. 15.

(Source: Reuters)

• The Bank of Japan will likely cut its economic forecasts at its next quarterly review in October, as slowing global demand and a resurgence in COVID-19 infections hurt exports and consumption, the bank's former top economist Seisaku Kameda said on Monday, August 22, 2022.
• Japan's economic recovery is at a "critical juncture" as consumption appears to have stalled during the summer, dashing policymakers' hope households will boost spending with savings accumulated during the pandemic, Kameda told Reuters.
• "There's a chance consumption will stall or only barely grow in the third quarter," as a renewed increase in COVID-19 cases and rising living costs hit households, he said. "The economy's recovery from the pandemic may be under threat," Kameda said the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may cut its growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2023 to 2% or lower, from the current forecast of 2.4%, made in July.
• On the price outlook, Kameda said Japan's core consumer inflation may briefly reach 3% later this year due to soaring fuel and food costs. While inflation will moderate next year as the effect of energy costs dissipates, it may still hover around the central bank's 2% target longer than expected as companies continue to pass on rising raw material costs to households, he said.

(Source: Reuters)