• Days after the United States announced it would reimpose costly limits on Venezuela's oil sector, the South American nation braced for the consequences and its president warned that the "grave error" would also hit U.S. interests.
• Announced by U.S. officials, Venezuela's loss of a key U.S. license that allowed it to freely export and increase investment in its oil sector will hit the volume and quality of its crude and fuel sales, while prompting a flurry of requests for individual U.S. deal authorisations.
• Washington had warned it would not renew so-called license 44, absent progress by President Nicolas Maduro toward implementing an electoral roadmap agreed with opposition leaders last year that sought to ensure free and fair elections this year.
• Speaking at the Caracas headquarters of state oil company PDVSA, Maduro criticized the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden for making good on its "blackmail threat" in an address broadcast on state television.
• Venezuela's economy is suffering a long-running crisis, though the government has made strides on inflation control in the last year, bringing usually triple-digit 12-month figures down to about 68% in March.
• The country's prior six-month license did not provide enough time for Venezuela to secure long-term energy investments, but companies already in the country were negotiating expansions and projects linked to existing joint ventures with PDVSA.
• The loss of the U.S. oil license now raises questions about whether there will still be a push from Venezuela to control Guyana’s oil-rich territory, the Essequibo region, or whether the country will try to employ a more peaceful stance over the near term to maintain other global ties.

(Sources: Reuters & NCBCM Research)

• The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group has launched FINLAC (Financial Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean), a new initiative to promote financial inclusion by ensuring that the most vulnerable people in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can access the financial services they need.
• FINLAC, a joint effort by the IDB, IDB Invest, and IDB Lab, serves as a one-stop shop for advancing financial inclusion, supporting governments and accompanying firms, and igniting innovation in developing and implementing effective policies, reforms, and business practices to create inclusive financial markets in the region.
• The IDB noted that Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the world's most underserved regions in financial services. About 27% of individuals aged 15 and older are excluded from formal financial services, compared to 3% in high-income countries. Only three in ten persons aged 15 and older have obtained a loan with a financial sector entity in the last year, as opposed to three in five adults in high-income countries.
• The IDB said that the initiative will prioritise understanding the barriers to financial inclusion faced by rural communities, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, women, migrants, older adults, and micro and small businesses.
• It will also be promoting digital transformation to accelerate financial inclusion and resilience; enhancing payment ecosystems to facilitate fast retail transactions; and enabling responsible and consented financial consumer data-sharing with third parties, known as open finance.
• Finally, FINLAC will generate policy-relevant knowledge and data; test innovative business models and private-sector solutions; and disseminate recommendations, best practices and evidence on policies and innovations to build more inclusive financial markets, said Eric Parrado, chief economist and general manager of the Research Department at the IDB.

(Sources: IDB & Trinidad Express Newspaper)

• The Inter-American Development Bank on Saturday said leaders of 10 multilateral development banks committed to take action in five critical areas, including additional lending headroom totalling $300-400 billion over the next decade.
• The effort comes amid growing calls for these institutions to boost financing under favourable conditions to developing countries, which face greater challenges in climate transition and are more affected by the environment of higher global interest rates. Following a retreat held in Washington, on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, the MDBs said the agreed plan involves "joint steps to work more effectively as a system," as reported by Reuters.
• The group includes institutions such as the World Bank Group, the New Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the African Development Bank.
• The IDB said in a statement that the increased financing capacity will be supported by the offer of innovative financial instruments and by promoting the channelling of the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through MDBs. The IDB also foresaw actions providing more clarity on callable capital, which would help rating agencies better assess the value of callable capital.
• The MDBs also committed to boosting action on climate change, envisioning the delivery of a common approach to measuring climate results on adaptation and mitigation, and reporting climate financing jointly.
• The other pillars of work agreed upon on Saturday include strengthening country-level collaboration and co-financing, catalysing private-sector mobilisation, and enhancing development effectiveness and impact.

(Source: Reuters)

• The latest Federal Reserve survey shows a slight expansion in US economic activity from late February to early April. Firms anticipate stable inflation, hindering the central bank from lowering interest rates.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell now suggests a longer period of restrictive monetary policy due to consistently stronger-than-expected inflation data.
• Recent data challenges the positive trend Powell and colleagues relied on. Despite signs of inflation decreasing towards the Fed's 2% target, momentum has stalled, raising doubts about implementing the three planned rate cuts this year. Investors now anticipate the first cut in September, with dwindling odds for a second.
• According to the "Beige Book" survey, ten out of twelve districts experienced slight or modest economic growth, with a cautiously optimistic outlook among business contacts.
• While overall price increases were modest, some districts noted moderate energy price hikes, with manufacturers foreseeing potential upside risks in input and output prices. Firms expect inflation to remain slow, but their ability to pass on cost increases to consumers has weakened.
• The Fed is likely to maintain its current policy rate range, with slight increases in inflation and modest employment growth. Certain positions still face persistent shortages of qualified applicants, though wage growth rates have returned to historical averages in some areas.

(Source: Reuters)

• Tropical Mobility, an electric vehicle dealer majority owned by Tropical Battery Company (TROPICAL), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Santo Domingo-based Zero Emisión RD, to provide service on Tesla electric vehicles in Jamaica.
• Zero Emisión RD has been the leading electric vehicle (EV) dealer and service center in the Dominican Republic since the company was founded in 2016. It has been a major proponent of the shift to sustainable transport solutions in the neighbouring Caribbean country. The company has sold nearly 700 EVs over the past eight years, including more than 320 Tesla models.
• Under the terms of the MoU, Zero Emisión RD and Tropical Mobility will cooperate on training and technical support to deliver world-class service to battery electric vehicle drivers in Jamaica, including Tesla owners who had no local service up until now.
• The two companies will also work together to promote the adoption of specific electric vehicle brands and electric mobility solutions in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, and to advance the development of sustainable battery lifecycle solutions in both countries and across the wider Caribbean region.
• This forms part of the company’s broad strategy to expand further in the sustainable energy market by providing related products and services to grow the business.

 (Source: JSE)

• The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) along with several international partners are discussing a framework to establish a ‘Blue Green Facility’ –a blended financing structure–of up to USD 500 million over five years, which would include a contribution from the Government of Jamaica.
• Among the international partners are the Development Bank of Jamaica, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank Group, the European Investment Bank as part of Team Europe, USAID, and the United Kingdom.
• Such a programmatic approach will help catalyze climate finance by introducing systematic, coherent, and scalable approaches towards adaptation and mitigation needs. This support comes in the form of the US$764 million Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Executive Board in March 2023.
• Following the conclusion of Jamaica’s second review of the RSF, the IMF has disbursed an additional (Special Drawing Rights) SDR191.45 million (about US$254 million).
• The authorities continue to make swift progress in their ambitious climate policy agenda under the RSF to increase resilience to climate change and catalyze climate financing.
• Recent reforms include steps to establish a national natural disaster reserve fund, strengthen climate-related elements in public investment management, and enhance the climate risks assessment in the financial system to embed these risks into supervisory activities.
• These reforms have built on steps taken in early 2023 to strengthen the natural disaster risk financing policy, the policy framework for Public-Private Partnerships, the electric vehicle policy, and the guidelines for energy efficiency in public buildings.

• The United Arab Emirates and Costa Rica have signed an agreement that will help improve bilateral trade and investment ties, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Thursday, April 18.
• The Middle Eastern and Central American countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the president said in a post on social media platform X.
• CEPAs signed by the UAE are broad free trade agreements that typically include clauses covering investment and services.
• Bilateral non-oil trade between the two countries was worth $65Mn in 2023, up 7% on the previous year, according to a report carried by UAE's state news agency on the CEPA signing. The UAE is a major international re-export hub that handles goods being sent to and from Asia, Africa, Europe and elsewhere.
• This agreement will allow Costa Rica greater access to markets and trade opportunities in the UAE, which could likely result in improvements in its external account and international reserves if exports improve.

 (Sources: Reuters & NCBCM Research)

• Trinidad and Tobago’s inflation rate for March 2024 was 0.8% according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO), which released its Consumer Price Index.
• The inflation rate remained unchanged from what was recorded in the previous period (February 2024/ February 2023), the CSO said in a statement. The inflation rate for the period between March 2022 and March 2023 was 7.3%.
• The CSO stated that the Index for Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages decreased from 147.9 units in February 2024 to 146.2 units in March 2024, reflecting a decrease of 1.2%.
• Contributing significantly to this decrease was the general downward movement in the prices of fresh whole chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, cheddar cheese, table margarine, celery, fresh king fish, plantains, fresh carite and soya bean oil, the CSO stated.
• However, the full impact of these price decreases was offset by the general increase in the prices of grapes, hot peppers, oranges, melongene, bodi, ochroes, pumpkin, frozen whole chicken, parboiled rice and fruit drinks.
• A further review of the data for March 2024 compared to February 2024 reflected an increase in the sub-index for Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of 1.1%. This period also showed a decrease in the sub-indices for Clothing and Footwear of 0.2%, the CSO stated.

(Source: Trinidad Express Newspaper)

• International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva bemoaned the slow pace of global growth on Thursday, saying that Europe needed to do more to boost productivity and China should work to unleash greater consumer spending.
• Georgieva told a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington that several factors are converging to hold back growth in Europe and China, from ageing populations to sub-optimal allocations of capital, while the U.S. has far outperformed expectations.
• The IMF on Tuesday forecasted global growth at 3.2% for 2024. This is well below its 20-year pre-pandemic average of 3.8% amid lacklustre performances in Europe and China and the impact of high interest rates and regional wars on developing economies.
• Of note, it boosted its U.S. growth forecast by 0.6% to an above-potential 2.7% for 2024, while cutting the forecast for the eurozone by 0.1% to 0.8%.
• Georgieva said the U.S. has done a better job of harnessing technology innovation and turning it into scalable business activity. The U.S. also benefited from domestic energy production, which has kept energy prices low and immigration, which created an ample labor supply without too much wage inflation.
• Georgieva advocates for fiscal restraint among IMF member countries in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic challenges. She warns against excessive spending, citing heavy debt burdens and the need for fiscal resilience to prepare for future shocks.

(Source: Reuters)

• Brent futures saw a second consecutive day of lows since March 27, having settled at $87.11 a barrel, while WTI crude settled at $82.73. Mixed U.S. economic data, coupled with sanctions on Venezuela and Iran and easing tensions in the Middle East, influenced investor sentiment.
• Increased interest in energy trading was evident with open interest in Brent futures reaching its highest since February 2021. Additionally, U.S. diesel futures dropped to their lowest level since January, impacting refining profit margins, measured by the diesel crack spread, to their lowest since April 2023.
• Venezuela lost a key U.S. license for oil exports, impacting its crude and fuel sales, while U.S. sanctions on Iran targeted its unarmed aerial vehicle production. However, the sanctions did not extend to Iran's oil industry.
• While Geopolitical tensions and supply dynamics continue to influence oil market sentiments, investors are gradually unwinding the geopolitical risk premium in recent sessions.

(Source: Reuters)