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COLOR: white"> <TD borderColor=#808080 bgColor=#003300><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300"><FONT color=#ffcc66>Friday February 3rd, 2012</FONT><FONT color=#000000> </FONT></SPAN></TD> <TD width=1 bgColor=#003300><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300">&nbsp; </SPAN></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: right" colSpan=2><IMG height=222 src="http://www.firstcitizensinvestment.com/jumpstart/jumpstartyouriQ-header.jpg" width=810 border=0></TD></TR> <TR style="COLOR: white" align=middle> <TD style="HEIGHT: 36px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300" colSpan=2><FONT color=#ffcc66 size=2>Start Your Day With A Medley Of Financial News From Sources Around The World Courtesy First Citizens Investment Services</FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=tlheader style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" width="60%"><FONT color=#339966>Caribbean</FONT></TD> <TD class=tlheader style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" width="40%"><FONT color=#339966>Editorial / Commentary</FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=tableofcontents style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300" vAlign=top> <DIV class=tocbody> <UL> <LI><A href="#story01">Trinidad and Tobago: Govt puts $53m more into this year s Carnival</A> <LI><A href="#story02">Trinidad and Tobago: 'Republic' records $272m profit</A> <LI><A href="#story03">Trinidad and Tobago: WASA grants $5.2M contract to Spanish firm</A> <LI><A href="#story05">Trinidad and Tobago: Sagicor Financial up $0.02</A> <LI><A href="#story06">Barbados: State help  a must </A> <LI><A href="#story07">Barbados: Senator Benn: Too much VAT owed to Government</A> <LI><A href="#story08">Jamaica: IMF team to visit Jamaica this month </A> <LI><A href="#story09">Guyana: Guyana to benefit from Indian LCDS support </A> <LI><A href="#story10">St Lucia: OAS electoral observation mission reports on Saint Lucia 2011 elections </A> <LI><A href="#story11">Dominica: EU to Fund Study on Geothermal Link from Dominica to French Islands</A> <LI><A href="#story12">Cayman Islands: Cargo inspection goes hi-tech in the Cayman Islands</A> </LI></UL></DIV></TD> <TD class=tableofcontents style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300" vAlign=top> <DIV class=tocbody> <UL> <LI><A href="#story21">Barbados: The future of work in Barbados</A> <LI><A href="#story23">International: Europe s Leaders Shouldn t Sacrifice Union to Save Common Currency</A> </LI></UL></DIV></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=tlheader style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" width="60%"><FONT color=#339966>International</FONT></TD> <TD class=tlheader style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: white" width="40%"><FONT color=#339966>Weird News</FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=tableofcontents style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300" vAlign=top width="70%"> <DIV class=tocbody> <UL> <LI><A href="#story31"><FONT color=#ffcc66>Employment in U.S. Probably Rose in January</FONT></A> <LI><A href="#story32"><FONT color=#ffcc66>U.S. Stock Futures Advance Before Reports on Payrolls, Unemployment Rate </FONT></A> <LI><A href="#story33"><FONT color=#ffcc66>Greece Seeks Second Rescue, Fights for Euro</FONT></A> <LI><A href="#story34"><FONT color=#ffcc66>China s Stocks Advance, Capping Longest Stretch of Weekly Gains Since July</FONT></A> <LI><A href="#story35">Bets on Raw Materials Rising Most Since  06 as Factories Grow</A> <LI><A href="#story36">PetroChina, Shell Deepen Ties for  Powerful Shale Potential</A> </LI></UL></DIV></TD> <TD class=tableofcontents style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #003300" vAlign=top width="30%"> <DIV class=tocbody> <UL> <LI><A href="#story51">Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil says six more weeks of winter&nbsp; </A></LI></UL></DIV></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=2> <DIV class=tlheader style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%"><B><FONT color=#339966>Financial Indicators At A Glance</FONT></B></P> <TABLE id=table1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" borderColorLight=#000000 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=72 bgColor=#003300 height=47>&nbsp;</TD> <TD align=middle width=54 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">Yen/US$</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=61 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">US$/EUR</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=65 bgColor=#003300 height=47> <P align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">Crude Oil WTI(US$/bbl)</SPAN></FONT></P></TD> <TD align=middle width=78 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">Natural Gas Henry Hub (US$/ mmbtu)</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=66 bgColor=#003300 height=47> <P align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">US 10 Yr Treasury Yield (%)</SPAN></FONT></P></TD> <TD align=middle width=67 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">US 90 Day T-Bill Yield (%)</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=68 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">3 month Libor (%)</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=71 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">London FTSE 100</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle width=73 bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">US S&amp;P 500</SPAN></FONT></TD> <TD align=middle bgColor=#003300 height=47><FONT face=Arial color=#ffcc66><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">Japan Nikkei</SPAN></FONT></TD></TR> <TR> <TD align=middle width=72 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">02-Feb-12</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=54 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">76.22</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=61 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1.32</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=65 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">96.36</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=78 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">2.30</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=66 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1.82</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=67 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">0.08</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=68 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">0.53</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=71 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">5,796.07</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=73 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1,325.54</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">8,876.82</SPAN></TD></TR> <TR> <TD align=middle width=72 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">01-Feb-12</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=54 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">76.20</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=61 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1.32</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=65 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">97.61</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=78 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">2.32</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=66 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1.83</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=67 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">0.06</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=68 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">0.54</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=71 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">5,790.72</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle width=73 height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">1,324.90</SPAN></TD> <TD align=middle height=25><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt">8,809.79</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=stories align=left colSpan=2> <HR> <A name=story01></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Govt puts $53m more into this year s Carnival</H1> <H2>Trinidad Guardian - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>Cabinet has approved almost $100 million for Carnival 2012. Arts and Multiculturalism Minister, Winston Peters, said Cabinet approved an additional $53 million to supplement the $43.5 million, which was previously allocated for the event, dubbed the  Greatest Show on Earth . Peters said that during yesterday s weekly post-Cabinet news briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann s. It was chaired by Parliamentary Secretary in the Foreign Affairs and Communications Minister, Senator Nicole Dyer-Griffith. In explaining the reason for the additional $53 million, Peters said:  Carnival incurs a lot of debt (and) as a matter of fact we have debt that runs over from last year.  Some of these contractors we owe them from last year and we have to find money to pay them this year, so we owe a lot of money for different reasons. </P> <P>Peters said since last year there had been a  marked improvement in the facilities being constructed for the Carnival events. He said Carnival was a big business and the Government was attempting to do all it could to ensure this year s celebrations were the best ever. Peters also said State-owned national carrier, Caribbean Airlines, had confirmed bookings for 220,000 people coming for the celebrations, which culminate with two days of mas, on February 20 and 21, at venues across the nation. Peters said there would be no $2 million first prize for major Carnival competitions. He said:  There will be no $2 million payment by the Government but if the entities (TUCO/Pan Trinbago/ NCBA)... if they want to find their own money by raising it, they can do that. We are not stopping them. </P> <P>When Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced the $2 million payment in May 2010 she said it would be a one-off payment. He said the Government  funds every single thing that goes on with these entities and the Government doesn t get any returns from it whatsoever, none. He said all the entrance fees went to the respective organisations. Peters also said the Government was not prepared to accept a call from promoter of the International Soca Monarch, William Munro, for a US$1 million first prize. He added:  No, we can t give him that for the prize money but we are putting a significant amount of money into the Soca Monarch, the Chutney Monarch. </P> <P>Peters said the various Carnival bodies could used any initiative they saw fit to raise the money to increase the prizes. Meanwhile, Tobago Development Minister, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, said $3.2 million was allocated for 11 steelbands from Tobago to take part in the Panorama semi-finals and possibly finals this year.  In the event that all of them come through to the final the total figure will be $3.2 million, she added. She said if fewer bands from Tobago qualify the allocation would be less. She said that figure was for meals, accommodation and ground, air and sea transport.</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents] </A> <HR> <A name=story02></A> <H1>ÿþ</H1> <H1 class=title>'Republic' records $272m profit</H1> <H2>Trinidad Express - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>The Republic Bank Group has recorded increased profits for the first quarter of its financial year. </P> <P>For the first quarter ended December 31, 2011, the bank said it posted a profit attributable to shareholders of $272 million. </P> <P>"This represents an increase of 2.6 per cent over the corresponding period last year," the bank said in a statement yesterday. </P> <P>The group's assets are now $49.2 billion, which, when compared to that of December 2010, reflects growth of 8.3 per cent, the statement added. </P> <P>Chairman Ronald Harford, in announcing the results, stated: "The market continues to be characterised by increased liquidity and narrowing interest margins. In this environment, we continue to focus on asset quality, productivity and risk management." </P> <P>He added: "The IMF, Standard and Poor's and the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, all predict GDP growth in 2012, based on the energy sector prospects and the public sector investment programme. We share this optimism."</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story03></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>WASA grants $5.2M contract to Spanish firm </H1> <H2>Trinidad Guardian - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>SPANISH company, Agbar, has been awarded a $5.2 million consultancy contract for four months of work by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to make recommendations over the future operations of WASA, the Spanish firm announced yesterday. </P> <P>The contract is aimed at getting Agbar to come up with a detailed road-map and action plan in order to transform WASA over the next five years, according to the Catalan company in a statement issued on its website yesterday. The contract is worth Euros 600,000 (TT$5.2 million). </P> <P>According to its website, Agbar is based in Barcelona and specialises in the management of water supply and the environment. The company has a history spanning 147 years and has a presence in Spain, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Algeria and Peru. The company offers expertise in, water treatment, water quality control, hydraulic infrastructure, training, network efficiency, wastewater management and energy efficiency. Agbar has said that it began work on the contract in January, and the duration of the contract is expected to be four months. </P> <P>Checks by Newsday yesterday showed that Agbar does not appear to be registered in Trinidad and Tobago. There was no announcement of the contract on WASA s website up to yesterday afternoon. Efforts to contact WASA CEO, Ganga Singh, yesterday were unsuccessful. </P> <P>News of the award of the contract comes as the Parliament today is set to debate a motion to approve increases in WASA water rates for the Point Lisas Industrial Estate. It also comes after several months of complaints over the operation of WASA, including the recurring problem of chronic water shortages due to shut-downs at controversial desalination plants. There have in the past been reports of plans to privatise WASA. </P> <P></P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <A name=story04></A> <HR> <A name=story05></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Sagicor Financial up $0.02</H1> <H2>Trinidad Guardian - 02 February 2012</H2> <P>Overall Market activity resulted from trading in eight securities of which three advanced, one declined and four traded firm. Trading activity on the first tier market registered a volume of 60,268 shares crossing the floor of the Exchange valued at $444,277.76. The Composite Index declined by 0.40 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 1,009.98 while the All T&amp;T Index declined by 0.99 points, or 0.07 per cent, to close at 1,459.43. The Cross Listed Index advanced by 0.01 points, 0.01 per cent, to close at 70.17. </P> <P>Jamaica Money Market Brokers was the volume leader with 20,000 shares changing hands for a value of $16,400, followed by Sagicor Financial Corporation with a volume of 18,530 shares being traded for $148,786.40. One Caribbean Media contributed 18,401 shares with a value of $220,812.00, while National Enterprises Ltd added 2,834 shares valued at $42,339.96. Sagicor Financial Corporation enjoyed the day s largest gain, increasing $0.02 to end the day at $8.03. Conversely, Republic Bank Ltd suffered the day s sole decline, falling $0.30 to end the day at $96.</P> <P></P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story06></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>State help  a must </H1> <H2>Nation News - 02 February 2012</H2> <P>In the current environment, it is almost impossible to pull off a project like Four Seasons without some kind of Government assistance or involvement. </P> <P>This is the argument of Professor Avinash Persaud, chairman of Paradise Beach Limited, the company working to get the stalled Four Seasons hotel and luxury villa project restarted after it stopped two years ago. </P> <P>Persaud said there was a  lot of foolishness being said of Government involvement in the project started by British developer and hotel owner Mike Pemberton, who has lived in Barbados for 30 years, and other business partners. </P> <P> We are in the greatest recession since the 1930s. There is almost no major strategic investment occurring anywhere in the world outside of Asia without some form of government support today. </P> <P>There are 50 projects in the Caribbean and over 40 of those are stalled, he told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY. </P> <P>The economist, who was sought out by the late Prime Minister David Thompson to get Four Seasons restarted after more than 500 people lost their jobs when it stalled, said the global financial turmoil had affected many hotel-based projects across the region. </P> <P> I am saying that we would like it to start without Government support. I am saying that in this environment, we have tried but everywhere around the world they are experiencing the same issues and governments have stepped up to the plate. </P> <P>Largely a private operation </P> <P> There are few other projects of this kind going on in the Western Hemisphere without government support, he contended. </P> <P>Persaud said that Four Seasons had received state support because of the magnitude of its possible impact on the local economy, but it remained largely a private operation. </P> <P>According to the executive chairman, the $180 million Inter-American Development Bank loan was a commercial loan to Paradise Beach Limited, not to the Government of Barbados. </P> <P>Furthermore, he rejected suggestions that by supporting the project, Government was in some way bailing out wealthy villa owners. </P> <P> Villa owners are not investors. People have this idea that these famous people are being bailed out  that the Simon Cowells are investors in the project. They are not. If we were a furniture shop it would be like we sold them something and have not delivered it, Persaud noted. </P> <P>He reported that Paradise Beach Limited was on the verge of securing the last $10 million needed to restart construction at Four Seasons. </P> <P>It has secured a $60 million investment from the National Insurance Scheme, $10 million from Four Seasons, and $180 million from the IDB  in addition to the $120 million Government-guaranteed loan from the ANSA Merchant Bank in Trinidad and Tobago.</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story07></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Senator Benn: Too much VAT owed to Government</H1> <H2>Barbados Advocate - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>In the first sitting of the Senate this year, an Amendment to the Customs Act which is aimed at strengthening the existing provision for the recovery of duty owed to the Customs Department by a corporation was passed. </P> <P>This comes after revelations from the Minister of Finance, that there are a large number of companies in Barbados owing Value Added Tax to the Government, a total in excess of $300 million dollars. </P> <P>In his support of the amendment, Senator Haynesley Benn made his thoughts known on the need for the stricter law. </P> <P> There have been too many reported cases of companies and businesses owing money to Government through VAT. We heard that when we came to office in 2008 that about $192 million dollars was owed and& I now understand that it has now reached over $300 million. </P> <P>He also spoke to a high amount of bounced cheques and neglect by employers to pay into the National Insurance Scheme for their employees and also queried why the discussion on the  simple and straight forward amendment went on for a sizeable amount of time. </P> <P> We are here quarrelling about an amendment that is seeking to bring the Customs Act in line with other pieces of legislation so that we can do as good a job as a Government as we are capable of. </P> <P> Is there something wrong with the system of collecting Government revenue? Is the VAT office equipped with the necessary resources and equipment to determine what money is owed to Government? We need to put something in place, that we can easily determine what is owed to government, he stated emphatically. </P> <P>He then intimated that the situation is so serious that it affects the ability of Government to improve the lives of Barbadians, cementing his point with the statement :  If that $300 plus million dollars was paid in, I am sure it would be able to build a number of houses and do a number of programmes to take this country forward. </P> <P>Finally, he opined that the island s customs officers are extremely important and thus key to the development of this country.</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story08></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>IMF team to visit Jamaica this month&nbsp; </H1> <H2>Jamaica Gleaner - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>A TEAM from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Jamaica later this month to carry out an Article 4 evaluation of the country. </P> <P>Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips, who made the announcement on Wednesday, said the Government would hold detailed discussions with the IMF on a programme for the country. </P> <P>"In the interim, a Jamaican team will visit Washington and hold talks with the fund and other multilaterals on February 17," Phillips told members of the diplomatic corps at the Courtleigh Hotel. </P> <P>The finance minister said the administration would be completing "our economic programme for submission shortly to the IMF and start the negotiations". </P> <P>Phillips said the main plank of the immediate overall strategy of the Government was to work out a new arrangement with the IMF. </P> <P>"This is vital if we are to access the critical multilateral and bilateral funding support that we need. It is also vital for our engagement with the international capital market," he added.</P> <P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> </P> <HR> <A name=story09></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Guyana to benefit from Indian LCDS support </H1> <H2>Guyana Chronicles Online - 02 February 2012</H2> <P>THE Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) will soon benefit from implementation support through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Guyana and The Energy and Research Institute (TERI) headed by Dr. R.K Pachauri, Nobel Prize Laureate and Chairman of the Inter- Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Former President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo and Shyam Nokta from the Office of the President held discussions in Delhi with Dr. R.K Pachauri and TERI officials, which will see Guyana receiving support from TERI in the implementation of its climate initiatives and the LCDS. Among the broad areas identified for assistance include support for long-term strategy development in the energy sector with focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency and establishing a partnership for the setting up of a Centre for Biodiversity Studies. </P> <P>On the left Shayam Nokta and former President of Guyana, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, while on the right is Dr. R.K Pachauri, Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Pachauri, who has visited Guyana on several occasions and more recently in 2011 has been a supporter of Guyana s climate initiatives and the LCDS and through this has facilitated collaboration with TERI to support and share its expertise with Guyana in the area of climate change, energy, environment and sustainable development. Within the next two months, TERI will be sending a team of specialists who will be working with their Guyana counterparts on these priority areas.</P> <P>&nbsp;Former President Jagdeo has been requested by President Donald Ramotar to attend, on behalf of the Government of Guyana the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2012 which is being convened by TERI in New Delhi, India from February 2-4, 2012 under the theme  Protecting the Global Commons: 20 Years Post Rio.</P> <P>&nbsp;<A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> </P> <HR> <A name=story10></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>OAS electoral observation mission reports on Saint Lucia 2011 elections </H1> <H2>Caribbean News Now - 02 February 2012</H2> <P>The chief of the Organization of American States (OAS) electoral observation mission (EOM) that accompanied the November 2011 general elections in Saint Lucia, Rosina Wiltshire, presented a report on Wednesday before the Permanent Council that included recommendations to update the voters registry and improve transparency of campaign financing, among other things. </P> <P>Speaking before the gathered representatives of the Organization s member states, Wiltshire said the general recommendations of the OAS mission, from its arrival to the announcement of the results, included logistical and legislative aspects among the general recommendations presented by the mission. These recommendations were: the need for the government to undertake an update of the voters registry; establish immediately a commission on electoral boundaries to define, based on the April 2011 census results, a more equitable division of constituencies; and approve legislation on campaign financing, specifically rules to prohibit anonymous and foreign contributions. </P> <P> There needs to be established a mechanism or institution to control money coming in and out of campaigns, wider access to information for citizens on the use of funds, and requirements for political parties to disclose such information, said the chief of mission, who also mentioned the need to  seriously discuss the issue of voter participation, given the rate of participation, which decreased from 2006 ; invite voters to exercise their franchise; facilitate the voting process for handicapped voters with appropriate voting facilities; and promote  a serious discussion on the role of women in politics, specifically whether there is a need for a quota system to give incentives to female party activists, among other things. </P> <P>Finally, she congratulated the people of Saint Lucia for their participation and commended efforts  to maintain democracy in the country, and thanked the governments of Bolivia, Chile, the United States, and the United Kingdom for the support they provided the mission. </P> <P>The secretary general of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, recalled that  most of the elections carried out in the Caribbean in the past year were observed by the OAS, and encouraged those countries to hold electoral processes this year to request a mission from the Organization. </P> <P>Regarding the recommendations issued in this and other EOM reports, he said the Organization should  widen its program to be able to  follow up on the recommendations we make and even report every year to the Council on how these recommendations are being implemented.  The Mission puts forward some very clear recommendations for every country and we are certainly bound to follow up on those recommendations, he emphasized. </P> <P>The permanent representative of Saint Lucia to the OAS, Ambassador Michael Louis, gave special thanks to the secretary general, the OAS General Secretariat and the mission that followed the elections in his country for their work, adding that the report presented today  provides a constant reminder of the basic principles that cement relationships within this body, that of a system of government that transcends language barriers or economic or cultural differences among our member states. I refer to democracy. </P> <P>Louis recalled that throughout the period when Saint Lucia first obtained adult suffrage, its people  have always exercised the right to choose a government of their choice through elections that are peaceful free and fair. He furthermore said he would  undertake to transmit this report to our national authorities, who I assure you will be looking into the recommendations of the report and see what appropriate steps can be taken. </P> <P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> </P> <HR> <A name=story11></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>EU to Fund Study on Geothermal Link from Dominica to French Islands &nbsp;&nbsp; </H1> <H2>Caribbean Journal - 02 January 2012</H2> <P>The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide a 1.1 million Euro grant to enhance planning and study the feasibility of exporting geothermal electricity from Dominica to Martinique and Guadeloupe. </P> <P>The bank, which is the European Union s long-term lending institution, will look at possible links from Dominica to Guadeloupe to the north and from Dominica to Martinique in the south. </P> <P> Ensuring the most effective use of geothermal energy as a sustainable source of electricity generation offers immense potential for transforming energy use and economic growth in the Caribbean, said Plutarchos Sakellaris, European Investment Bank Vice President.  The European Investment Bank is pleased to contribute to overcoming specific technical and engineering challenges essential to lowering the energy costs in Dominica and to significantly increase electricity generation from renewable energy sources in the East Caribbean. </P> <P>Dominican Public Works, Energy and Ports Minister Rayburn Blackmore said having the EIB on board was  very instrumental in giving the country s geothermal programme exposure to  attract the best in geothermal business. </P> <P>The EU contribution will help a project that could generate up to 120 megawatts for export and 200 megawatts domestically. </P> <P>Currently, the government of Dominica, supported by the European Union and the Agence Francaise de Developpement is drilling three test wells in Laudat and Wolten-Waven to determine the potential of geothermal in the country s Roseau Valley and plans to build a 5 megawatt test plant. </P> <P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> </P> <HR> <A name=story12></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Cargo inspection goes hi-tech in the Cayman Islands</H1> <H2>Caribbean News now - 03 January 2012</H2> <P>With a new non-intrusive inspection system (NIIS) days away from going operational, the Customs Department in the Cayman Islands will soon put into action its long standing goal of inspecting every container that arrives on, or leaves, Grand Cayman. </P> <P>The new equipment will pave the way for a new freight security initiative that Customs will introduce in early February as part of routine import and export procedures, Customs authorities said. </P> <P>With a new container traffic flow design and the new scanning procedures at the Cargo Distribution Centre, it is anticipated that traders will continue to receive cleared goods in the customary timely manner they are accustomed to, they stated. </P> <P>"So far, it was logistically impossible to inspect every container manually, given the numbers," Collector of Customs Carlon Powery said. </P> <P>"I am now delighted that we can meet our goal of one hundred percent inspection with the extra boost the new equipment provides. But more importantly, we are improving our border management capacity for security, trade facilitation and social protection," he commented. </P> <P>Smiths Detection was the successful bidder for providing the NIIS when the Customs Department issued a request for proposal in March 2011. </P> <P>The Heimann Cargo Vision Mobile (HCVM) x-ray inspection system is currently being tested, having arrived on the island recently after having undergone factory testing in France and Germany, assistant collector of customs and NIIS project coordinator Jeff Jackson said. </P> <P>Also, four more conventional x-ray inspection systems will be arriving shortly. They will be installed at the Airport Post Office, the Customs courier service facility, the airport transit warehouse and inside the inland depot warehouse, he stated. </P> <P>Simultaneously, training is underway for end users including truckers and local traders to sensitise them about radiation and associated risks as well as to address their concerns about a system that is extensively used worldwide, he said. Customs personnel are also being trained in the operations and maintenance of the systems. </P> <P>The system will be a boon to end-users, the majority of whom are law-abiding, Jackson said. However, it will also enhance Customs' border control capabilities and guard against terrorism without disrupting traffic flow, he emphasised. </P> <P>"These X-ray inspection systems are specifically designed to scan mail, baggage, pallets, trucks, cars, watercraft and shipping containers," he noted. "They will dramatically upgrade our ability to identify suspect goods including weapons, narcotics and other types of contraband. It will also enable quick, accurate and reliable verification of manifests in unopened loads, reducing the need for manual inspection." </P> <P>Additionally, the HCVM system can detect the presence of radioactive materials inside the container or vehicle, which enhances terrorism detection. </P> <P>"This makes it an ideal tool to efficiently guard against terrorism, without disrupting traffic flow," Jackson said</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story13></A><A name=story21></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>The future of work in Barbados </H1> <H2>Nation News - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>By Guy Hewitt</P> <P>LARGELY UNTOUCHED by the winds of economic change, the Caribbean seems confounded by the shift in the global economic power from the North-West to East-South, specifically to the newly advanced economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China  the BRIC countries. </P> <P>Burdened by debt and confronted by a loss of geopolitical significance, one thing seems certain: if Barbados and her neighbours are to remain relevant to the 21st century, urgent and aggressive economic transformation is needed. </P> <P>In a human resource-rich economy, our people remain our greatest resource. As a nation, we have defied the odds and punched above our class to become the most advanced developing country. </P> <P>All that is now required is for us to dig a little deeper to fashion a new type of worker to accompany this 21st century economy. </P> <P>The new worker typology can only be constructed out of an understanding of our new economy. </P> <P>The Barbados economy for the 21st century should be characterized by a smaller yet more responsive and efficient public sector; a dynamic and competitive private sector; competent leaders and managers; workers who are proud, industrious and innovative; workers representatives who adhere to an honest day s pay for a decent day s work; and with the Church and civil society reaffirming the Protestant work ethic. </P> <P>Following global trends, future job opportunities will be predominated by science, technology and information. However, with an aging population and overwhelmed parents, the social care sectors should provide career opportunities. </P> <P>But the burning questions are, what s the next big thing, and what s going to be the big money-maker? </P> <P>Key to finding the jobs of the future will be to know where to look  which will be to companies that entrepreneurs are still to create. </P> <P>Recent employment studies suggest that an entrepreneurial mindset will be a prerequisite for career success. Going forward, we must all be entrepreneurs, even those who work in the public sector or large corporations. </P> <P>In a recent USA Today study exploring the changing face of employment over the next 25 years, 32 per cent of employees surveyed believed that having a degree will be far less valued in 20 years. </P> <P>As workers find they need to adapt to changing career paths, continuous training and professional development will be essential. The need for individuals to constantly evolve their own skill set will be crucial  and exciting. </P> <P>Never before has there been such choice or encouragement to explore different professional avenues. </P> <P>Previous generations generally built  lifelong careers at one company or at least in one particular field. However, tomorrow s workplace will be dramatically different, and many of the strategies that worked in the past are no longer viable. </P> <P>While the economy may recover significantly in the coming years, we need to all redefine our approach to work and career development. Learning will cease to be something delivered in large chunks and become more modular, delivering what you need when you need it. </P> <P>Apart from specialist workers, future career success will require multiple competencies in leadership and management, sales and marketing, coaching and mentoring, starting a new business or a business unit within a larger organization, customer service and improving performance, and a responsiveness to the environment and sustainable ways of working. </P> <P>The worker of tomorrow will require a new education system today. The current system of school and university education dominated by the rote system of learners answering questions and carrying out assignments is redundant. </P> <P>Future career success will require active learning to foster a very different set of skills  framing questions, planning, organizing, finding and analyzing information, problem solving, working with others, assembling key resources and tools, testing out ideas, and trying again. </P> <P>Our education and training institutions need to be able to cultivate these multiple intelligences. </P> <P>Bringing such characteristics and skills inside the curricula and pedagogy is one of the major challenges of education reform. For too long, terms like  technical ,  vocational and  applied have been perceived as a second-class offering to  academic rigour and devotion to abstract topics or concepts. Ignoring the false dichotomy between  head and  hand , </P> <P>technical and vocational education connects  knowing and  doing . </P> <P>Technical and vocational education is more than preparing  children for jobs or doing something for the  non-university able . </P> <P>Rather, career and technical education encompasses a set of key practices  including intellectual curiosity sparking a need to know, creative energies and productivity driving a need to do, the opportunity to work alongside experts or professionals, the challenge of meeting real standards of accomplishment, and offering young learners the opportunity to explore future career possibilities. </P> <P>All this makes for a more effective transition to the real and adult world. </P> <P>While we can t predict the future, we can plan for it. If our economy is to respond to the challenges of the 21st Century, our children, young workers and even the more mature will need a new toolkit to build careers for the future. </P> <P>City &amp; Guilds sees itself as a strategic partner with the Government and private sector to retool the workforce for economic transformation and growth, and sustainable development.</P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <A name=story22></A> <HR> <A name=story23></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Europe s Leaders Shouldn t Sacrifice Union to Save Common Currency</H1> <H2>Bloomberg Editorial - 02 January 2012</H2> <P>The euro-area crisis is forcing many of the European Union s long-running political disputes to the surface at the same time. As they wrestle to save the currency, Europe s leaders -- above all Britain s David Cameron, France s Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany s Angela Merkel -- need to make sure they don t dismantle the union in the process. </P> <P>Political tensions peaked in December, as Europe s leaders were rushing to put together a fiscal compact that would convince markets that euro-area countries can get their sovereign debts under control. Cameron tried to leverage the need for a treaty to protect the U.K. s lucrative financial sector from new EU regulations, in particular a transactions tax that is being proposed by France. When he failed, he vetoed the treaty, forcing the others to work outside the EU. </P> <P>As after any domestic fight, it s taking awhile for EU leaders to figure out whether their marriage of 27 can be the same again. In one positive sign, despite political opposition within his party, Cameron agreed this week to make an important concession: The U.K. won t stand in the way of letting other EU members use the union s buildings and bureaucracy to carry out their new, non-EU, fiscal compact. </P> <P>Act of Sanity </P> <P>Cameron s act of sanity shouldn t obscure that this is a dangerous moment for the EU. This remarkably successful political project -- aimed at preventing a repeat of the horrors of two world wars -- is often misunderstood. Euro-skeptics like to portray the EU as a leviathan that has subordinated national sovereignty to eurocrats; federalists present it as a train rolling on tracks that lead inexorably toward a United States of Europe; outsiders often see it as a genteel post-modern union, in which nations work out their differences by committee. </P> <P>The reality is messier, more competitive and more vulnerable. It is a union achieved over decades with as much bubble gum and spit as vision, in which the critical players struggle continuously for the power to shape the union to their advantage and bide their time when obliged to cut deals and compromise on goals. To complicate matters, populist movements in many EU countries, from Hungary to France, are now targeting the EU as a proxy for complaints about globalization. </P> <P>The perennial tension between the European Commission (an unelected European bureaucracy based in Brussels) and the European Council (which brings together the elected leaders of national governments) is also coming to a head. Part of the deal in the EU has long been that big countries rule at the Council, but the little ones are protected by the Commission. Yet as Germany takes the lead in forging a tighter fiscal union, inevitably the Commission is being sidelined. Rarely, if ever, has the EU been so dominated by a single country. Any crude move -- such as Germany s rapidly dropped suggestion that a European budget czar be able to veto Greek fiscal policy -- can become political dynamite. </P> <P>Then there is the longstanding debate between integrationists -- who want a smaller, more unified EU -- and those who favor an EU that is looser and keeps adding members. The EU is already running at multiple speeds to accommodate these competing views, but the euro-area crisis has given new life to the argument that the bloc should divide more formally into a tightly integrated inner core and the rest. </P> <P>What you might call the EU s ideological balance also risks being upset. Traditionally, France and Germany pushed for more continental solutions to Europe s problems, including extensive labor regulations and other elements of what s often called  social Europe. The U.K., often allied with Scandinavian and Eastern European countries, pushed for more market-based solutions. Cameron s self-inflicted exile risks weakening the impetus for changes that the EU still badly needs. </P> <P>Resist Temptation </P> <P>Merkel and Sarkozy are right to focus all their efforts on the euro right now. Indeed, they should be doing more and faster to ensure the currency survives -- the fiscal compact itself is a longer term fix of little immediate interest to markets. Failure would be calamitous for the EU and the world s economy. But they need to resist the temptation to use this moment to sideline the non-euro countries and create a dual Europe, no matter how attractive it may seem to be rid of the awkward Brits. The onus on Cameron is to restore confidence in his government s commitment to the EU. </P> <P>Otherwise, saving the euro may come at the expense of breaking the EU into a divided Europe of core and periphery countries. That outcome would make Europe poorer and weaker at a time when it needs all the strength it can muster to compete on the global stage.&nbsp; </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <A name=story24></A> <HR> <A name=story31></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Employment in U.S. Probably Rose in January</H1> <H2>Bloomberg -&nbsp; 03 February 2012</H2> <P>Employers probably increased payrolls in January, a sign companies are gaining confidence the U.S. expansion will weather Europe s slump, economists said before a report today. </P> <P>Employment grew by 140,000 after rising by 200,000 in December, according to the median forecast of 89 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate may have held at an almost three-year low of 8.5 percent. Another report may show service industries expanded at a faster pace last month. </P> <P> The labor market continues to churn out new jobs at a respectable pace, said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York.  We aren t back to normal yet, but we are on our way. </P> <P>More hiring and larger wage gains are needed to ensure that consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, strengthens after growing at the weakest pace of any post-World War II expansion. Concern that the jobless rate remains too high is one reason the Federal Reserve last week said it will keep interest rates low for a longer period. </P> <P>The Labor Department s jobs report is due at 8:30 a.m. Payroll estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from increases of 95,000 to 225,000. </P> <P>Transportation Jobs </P> <P>The estimated gain in January payrolls is smaller than the prior month s increase as economists, including Ellen Zentner at Nomura Securities International Inc. in New York, forecast a surge in hiring at transportation companies will be unwound. The Labor Department may have had trouble adjusting the data for swings in hiring and firing of roughly 40,000 workers temporarily employed during the holidays by delivery companies like United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp.. (FDX) </P> <P>Private payrolls are forecast to rise by 160,000 in January, after a 212,000 gain the prior month, the biggest back- to-back increase since March-April, according to the survey median. Manufacturing payrolls are forecast to rise by 13,000 after a 23,000 gain. </P> <P>Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), the world s biggest maker of earthmoving equipment, plans to increase employment this year as it expands facilities, including in Victoria, Texas, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Chief Financial Officer Edward Rapp said yesterday. </P> <P> Those are the things that will lead to employment growth here, Rapp said in an interview with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television s  In the Loop. </P> <P>Signs in recent months of an improving economy have helped drive up stock prices. The Standard &amp; Poor s 500 Index has climbed 17 percent since the end of the third quarter. </P> <P>Fed s View </P> <P>High unemployment is one reason why the Fed on Jan. 25 said it would keep its benchmark lending rate low at least until late 2014 from a prior estimate of mid-2013. </P> <P> We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the House Budget Committee in Washington yesterday.  Fortunately, over the past few months, indicators of spending, production and job-market activity have shown some signs of improvement. </P> <P>With today s jobs report, the government will issue its annual benchmark update, which aligns the data with corporate tax records and covers the period from April 2010 to March 2011. The Labor Department estimated in September that payrolls for the 12 months would be increased by 192,000. </P> <P>It will also include changes to the figures used to adjust the data for seasonal swings which will affect numbers back to January 2007. Revisions Included </P> <P>In addition, the report will include methodology changes to the household survey, incorporating new population data from the decennial census, according to the Labor Department. </P> <P>The government last week reported the economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter after a 1.8 percent gain in the prior three months. </P> <P>Consumer spending rose at a 2 percent pace last quarter, less than the median forecast of economists surveyed. Household purchases climbed 2.2 percent in 2011 after an increase of 2 percent in 2010, the weakest two-year performance of any expansion since the end of World War II. </P> <P>A report from the Institute for Supply Management at 10 a.m. will show the non-manufacturing index that tracks almost 90 percent of the economy rose to 53.2 this month, the highest since August, from 53 in December, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed. A reading greater than 50 signals growth. </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story32></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>U.S. Stock Futures Advance Before Reports on Payrolls, Unemployment Rate</H1> <H2>Bloomberg - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>U.S. stock-index futures advanced, as the Standard &amp; Poor s 500 Index headed for the longest streak of weekly advances in a year, before the monthly jobs report. </P> <P>Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (BRCD) rallied in Germany after a report that Blackstone Group LP, the world s largest private-equity firm, is studying a leveraged buyout of the company. Acme Packet Inc. (APKT) fell in early New York trading after earnings missed analysts estimates. </P> <P>Futures on the S&amp;P 500 expiring in March rose 0.2 percent to 1,325.2 at 11:57 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge has climbed 0.7 percent so far this week, poised for a fifth straight weekly increase. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,684 today. </P> <P>The S&amp;P 500 has rallied 21 percent since its low on Oct. 3 as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low through 2014, economic data topped estimates and the European Central Bank provided cheaper lending to help banks. Companies added 170,000 workers to their payrolls in January, ADP Employer Services data showed Feb. 1. </P> <P> The state of the jobs market remains in the spotlight with the January jobs report, after this week s ADP numbers came in on the light side of expectations, said Michael Hewson, a markets analyst at CMC Markets in London. </P> <P>The Labor Department s monthly payrolls report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show that the world s biggest economy added 140,000 jobs in January, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Employers added 200,000 posts in December. The jobless rate held at an almost three-year low of 8.5 percent, according to the economists. </P> <P>Pace of Recovery </P> <P>Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke reiterated his concern about the health of the U.S. economy yesterday, answering questions from Republican Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee. </P> <P> The pace of the recovery has been frustratingly slow, particularly from the perspective of the millions of workers who remain unemployed or underemployed, Bernanke said.  Moreover, the sluggish expansion has left the economy vulnerable to shocks. </P> <P>Earnings beat projections at 66 percent of the 258 companies in the S&amp;P 500 that reported results since Jan. 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&amp;P 500 is trading for about 13.8 times its companies earnings. </P> <P>Brocade rallied 3.6 percent to $6.04 in Germany. While Blackstone is in talks with Brocade which has been seeking a buyer since 2009, reaching a deal may be difficult, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Brocade, a maker of switches for data-storage networks, has a market value of $2.65 billion. </P> <P>Acme Packet slumped 11 percent to $27.40 in pre-market New York trading. The maker of devices that help transmit voice and data over Internet networks said fourth-quarter earnings excluding some items were 26 cents a share, missing the average analyst estimate by 2 cents, data compiled by Bloomberg show. </P> <P>&nbsp;<A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> </P> <HR> <A name=story33></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Greece Seeks Second Rescue, Fights for Euro</H1> <H2>Bloomberg - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>Greece s fight to win its second international bailout may only open a new chapter in its struggle to remain in the euro area. </P> <P>The rescue plan, which European officials and Greek creditors say may be wrapped up in coming days, includes a loss of more than 70 percent for bondholders in a voluntary debt exchange and loans likely to exceed the 130 billion euros ($171 billion) now on the table. </P> <P>That won t stanch the bleeding, say economists including Holger Schmieding of Berenberg Bank in London. Greece will be saddled with too much debt, too little growth and too large a budget hole to do without even more money that euro nations led by Germany are increasingly reluctant to offer, they say. </P> <P> Greece is in deep trouble, Schmieding said in a Jan. 30 report.  The current Greek adjustment program is failing. Excessive austerity, a lack of supply-side reforms, administrative incompetence and political deadlock have pushed the Greek economy into an apparent death spiral. More of the same will not work. </P> <P>As Greek officials negotiate with representatives of the so-called troika -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann may travel to Athens this weekend for talks over a swap involving Greek debt with a face value of about 200 billion euros. </P> <P>Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said today the country is close to completing the bailout talks. </P> <P> Final Phase </P> <P> We are in the final phase of this very critical process to shape a new financing program for Greece and to complete the loan agreement which will lighten the burden of public debt and ensure funding for years to come, Papademos said in a statement posted on his website. </P> <P>The euro is headed for a weekly decline against all of its 16 major peers. It rose 0.2 percent to $1.369 at 11:45 a.m. in London. The yield on Germany s benchmark 10-year bond fell 1.5 basis point to 1.84 percent, while the yield on Italian 10-year bonds declined 2 basis points to 5.58 percent. </P> <P>Creditors are prepared to accept an average coupon of as low as 3.6 percent on new 30-year bonds in the exchange, said a person familiar with the talks, who declined to be identified because a final deal hasn t been struck yet. The aim is to cut Greece s debt load to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from 162 percent in 2011. The alternative is an uncontrolled default that may lead to deeper losses and ripple effects throughout Europe. Agreement Seen </P> <P>An agreement could be reached  in the coming weeks, maybe days, said Ackermann, also chairman of the Institute of International Finance. The group, based in Washington, has more than 450 financial firms as members and is representing private creditors in the talks. </P> <P>Meantime, the finance ministers of the AAA-rated euro countries -- Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Finland -- are set to meet today in Berlin to discuss options. </P> <P> We can t pay into a bottomless pit, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday.  Greece needs a new program, there s no question about that, but Greece must create the conditions for it. </P> <P>Greece remains in intensive care more than two years after triggering Europe s debt crisis, testing the patience of other European Union nations. Last November, when discussing the Greek situation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time raised the prospect of a country s exit from the euro. </P> <P>Contagion </P> <P>Failure to control Greece s troubles helped to push Ireland and Portugal into rescue programs, to raise borrowing costs for Italy and Spain, to embroil the European Central Bank in a controversial program of sovereign-bond purchases and to prompt Standard &amp; Poor s to strip France of its top credit rating. </P> <P>Greece has lagged behind budget targets set when it won an initial, taxpayer-funded rescue of 110 billion euros in May 2010, prompting euro-area threats to cut off aid and hastening a German push to make bondholders contribute. The country is in its fifth year of recession, with a budget deficit still close to 10 percent of gross domestic product and unemployment of around 18 percent. Bond Payment </P> <P>Facing a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment on March 20 and general elections as soon as April, Papademos s caretaker government must heed familiar calls by the euro area and the IMF for tighter austerity to complete the talks on a second aid package. The demands are also for lower wage costs and the deregulation of professions including lawyers and truck drivers. </P> <P>The cuts risk triggering a  social explosion, Hieronymos II, the head of Greece s Orthodox Church, said in a statement posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Athens. </P> <P> We are being asked to take even larger doses of a medicine that has proven to be deadly and to undertake commitments that do not solve the problem, but only temporarily postpone the foretold death of our economy, the Archbishop said. </P> <P>Greece will default on its debt and is likely to leave the euro, Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman said yesterday at a conference in Moscow. </P> <P> The Greek situation is essentially impossible, Krugman said.  They will default on their debt. In fact they already have. The question is whether they will also leave the euro, which I think at this point is more likely than not. </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story34></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>China s Stocks Advance, Capping Longest Stretch of Weekly Gains Since July</H1> <H2>Bloomberg - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>China s stocks rose, driving the benchmark index to its longest stretch of weekly gains in seven months, on speculation the central bank may take more measures to boost economic growth and signs that a cash crunch is easing. </P> <P>China Construction Bank Corp. (939) and China Merchants Bank Co. led an advance for lenders on prospects the central bank may lower reserve-ratio requirements. Xinjiang Dushanzi Tianli High &amp; New Tech Co. jumped 10 percent, pacing gains for a gauge of small companies, after the government said it will promote the role of technology in agriculture. </P> <P> Though China s growth is slowing, it won t be a hard landing, said Zhang Ling, general manager at Shanghai River Fund Management Co.  Monetary policy is starting to ease and the market s expectations of a reserve-requirement cut are rising. Stocks are also really cheap now. </P> <P>The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) rose 17.85 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,330.41, the highest level since Dec. 7. It climbed 0.5 percent for a third weekly gain, the longest since the period ended July 15. The CSI 300 Index advanced 0.8 percent to 2,506.09. The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, added 0.6 percent yesterday in New York. </P> <P>The Shanghai Composite has climbed 6 percent this year, after plunging 33 percent in the previous two years, on speculation slowing economic growth will push the central bank to relax monetary policies and the government will take measures to support stocks. The measure trades at 9.6 times estimated earnings, near the record low of 8.9 times reached on Jan. 6, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg. </P> <P>Cash Crunch Eases </P> <P>Stocks advanced this week after a report on manufacturing expanded more than economists forecasts and Premier Wen Jiabao said the government will support small companies with a 15 billion-yuan ($2.4 billion) fund amid a cash crunch. </P> <P>The seven-day repurchase rate, which measures interbank funding availability, dropped 98.1 basis points, or 0.981 percentage point, to 3.35 percent as of 3:35 p.m. in Shanghai, according to a weighted average compiled by the National Interbank Funding Center. It s the biggest drop since Jan. 19. </P> <P>Construction Bank, the nation s second-biggest lender, added 0.8 percent to 4.89 yuan. China Merchants rose 0.9 percent to 12.98 yuan. China Minsheng Banking Corp. (600016), the nation s first privately owned bank, advanced 0.9 percent to 6.55 yuan. </P> <P> I still expect China to do something and cut reserve ratios this month, Frances Cheung, a Hong Kong-based strategist at Credit Agricole CIB, said yesterday.  I think liquidity is still going to be tight, if there is no liquidity injection. Smallcaps Rise </P> <P>Xinjiang Dushanzi Tianli jumped 10 percent to 6.90 yuan, leading gains in the CSI Smallcap 500 Index, which rose 1.7 percent. The ChiNext index of start-ups advanced 2.2 percent. </P> <P>China will promote the role of innovation and technology in agriculture for better harvests and to guarantee the supply of agricultural products, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said in a statement posted on the central government s website. </P> <P>Equities fell earlier today after industrial companies profits and a gauge of service industries expanded at a slower pace. </P> <P>The non-manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 52.9 from 56 in December, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement today in Beijing. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion. </P> <P>The January non-PMI reading was  not that bad given the timing of the Chinese holiday this year, Bank of America Corp. China economist Ting Lu said in a report. The Lunar New Year holiday ran from Jan. 22 through Jan. 28. </P> <P>Chinese industrial companies profits climbed 25.4 percent from 2010 to 5.45 trillion yuan last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That compared with a 49.4 percent gain in the first 11 months of 2010. </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story35></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Bets on Raw Materials Rising Most Since  06 as Factories Grow</H1> <H2>Bloomberg - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>Investments in commodities are expanding at the quickest pace in six years on signs of rising economic growth, even as JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warn that some prices have rallied too fast. </P> <P>The number of futures contracts on 24 commodities from oil to copper rose 9.3 percent last month, the most since January 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Speculators are the most bullish since November, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Gold and silver had the best start to a year since 1983, orange juice posted its biggest rally in more than three decades, the LMEX gauge of six industrial metals rose the most since 2006, and cattle futures advanced to a record. </P> <P>Raw materials are rebounding from the first annual drop in three years on growing signs the world will skirt another recession and reports that manufacturing is expanding from China to India to the U.S. Investors are betting record-low U.S. interest rates and China s efforts to shore up growth will bolster demand. The optimism is being tempered by Europe s widening debt crisis, with the International Monetary Fund warning it could derail the global economy. </P> <P> The economic news has been good, and people were underinvested, and that s a recipe for markets to rise, said Jess Gaspar, a managing director of Commonfund Asset Management in Wilton, Connecticut, which oversees $25 billion of assets.  If the economy continues strong and central banks continue with monetary easing, then that would be very bullish for risky assets and for commodities in particular. </P> <P>Commodity Rebound </P> <P>The Standard &amp; Poor s GSCI Total Return Index (SPGSCITR) of 24 raw materials rose 2.2 percent in January, rebounding from last year s 1.2 percent decline. Silver, zinc and nickel led the gains, while natural gas plunged 16 percent and crude oil slipped 0.4 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index (MXWD) of equities rose 5.8 percent including dividends, the best start in 18 years. Global bonds climbed 0.6 percent and the U.S. Dollar Index (MXWD) retreated 1.1 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. </P> <P>Federal Reserve policy makers pledged last month to keep borrowing costs near a record low at least until late 2014, and there is mounting speculation that China will ease curbs on lending to shore up growth. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the U.S. reached a 10-month high on Jan. 6, signaling data is beating analyst forecasts. </P> <P>The S&amp;P GSCI gauge rose for three consecutive days after the International Monetary Fund said Jan. 24 it now expects global growth of 3.3 percent this year, compared with a September estimate of 4 percent. The index also advanced the day after the World Bank reduced its forecast by the most in three years on Jan. 18, to 2.5 percent from 3.6 percent. </P> <P>Demand  Spark </P> <P>The divergence between those forecasts and price gains is spurring some analysts to warn the rally may end. This year s surge in metals prices isn t sustainable because the economy lacks the demand  spark, Michael J. Jansen, an analyst at JPMorgan in London, said in a report Jan. 30. The bank cut its 2012 price estimates for aluminum, nickel, silver and gold. </P> <P>Goldman s commodity research team, led by Jeffrey Currie in London, withdrew a recommendation to buy copper on Jan. 31 after a 16 percent advance in about six weeks. While any decline may be  limited, the rally was  too much, too soon, they wrote in a note. The bank forecast Jan. 13 that the S&amp;P GSCI Enhanced Commodity Index (SPGCESTR) would gain 15 percent in 12 months, led by energy and metals. The gauge rose 1 percent since then. </P> <P> Rising on Air </P> <P>Aluminum, zinc and lead are  rising on air and the gains in copper and tin are  too far, too fast, Macquarie Group Ltd. said in a report Jan. 30. The bank sees industrial output expanding 2.3 percent this year, from 4.9 percent in 2011. </P> <P> You can t really explain rationally why there isn t more caution in the markets, said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, a consultant in Holland, Pennsylvania.  Markets are probably a little more bullish than they should be given the risks out there. </P> <P>The 17-nation euro region will probably contract 0.5 percent this year as its debt crisis widens, according to the median of 18 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Europe accounts for about 16 percent of global oil demand and 18 percent of copper consumption, data from the International Energy Agency and Barclays Capital show. </P> <P>China Slowing </P> <P>China, the biggest user of everything from energy to copper to cotton, reported fourth-quarter growth of 8.9 percent on Jan. 17, the slowest pace in 10 quarters. That increased speculation the People s Bank of China would allow banks to set aside less of their deposits as reserves to stimulate lending. The bank did so for the first time since 2008 on Dec. 5. </P> <P>Gasoline demand in the U.S., the world s largest energy consumer, is the lowest in a decade because of increased fuel efficiency and slower economic growth. Stockpiles of motor fuel reached 230.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 27, the highest since February, the U.S. Department of Energy said Feb. 1. Prices at the pump have tumbled 13 percent since May 1 to $3.455 a gallon, according to AAA, a motoring group. </P> <P>Crude futures in New York, after rallying 25 percent in the fourth quarter and reaching a seven-month high of $103.74 a barrel on Jan. 4, were little changed in January. Oil traded at $96.52 today, still 17 percent above the average over the past five years. Copper, Palladium </P> <P>Shortages </P> <P>While global growth may be slowing, the consumption of commodities is expanding faster than supply. Morgan Stanley predicts shortages in copper, palladium and iron ore this year and Barclays anticipates the same thing for tin. The London- based bank also expects oil inventories to drop in the third and fourth quarters as production falls short of demand. Rabobank International forecasts deficits in coffee and cocoa. </P> <P>Depleting metal and energy deposits have spurred company takeovers as industrial growth stokes demand. Glencore International Plc, the world s largest publicly traded commodities supplier, is in talks with Xstrata Plc to merge in a deal that would create an $82 billion rival to BHP Billiton Ltd., the top miner. Global mining deals surged to $98 billion last year, the highest since 2007, and energy takeovers totaled $337 billion, just under the record $340 billion in 2010. </P> <P>The supply shortfalls may deepen should growth accelerate. China s official purchasing managers index increased to 50.5 last month, the highest since September, data from the statistics bureau on Feb. 1 showed. India s manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in eight months in January, HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics reported the same day. The Institute for Supply Management s U.S. factory index rose to the highest level since June last month, the group said two days ago. </P> <P> Healthy Growth </P> <P> The European situation hasn t been resolved, and that will impact the global economy, but we are still seeing growth, said Colin O Shea, the head of commodities at Hermes Investment Management Ltd. in London, which has about $2 billion of raw-material assets.  It s these areas that will lead the relatively healthy growth for 2012, which should also translate into higher demand and prices in commodity markets. </P> <P>The U.S., the biggest consumer of crude and corn and the second-biggest buyer of metals, will grow 2.3 percent this year, accelerating from 1.7 percent in 2011, according to the median of 72 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg. </P> <P>Fed Policy </P> <P>Fed policy makers said Jan. 25 they will keep their target interest rate for overnight loans between banks near zero at least until late 2014 and didn t rule out buying more bonds. The Fed set rates at a record low in December 2008 and has since bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds that ended in June 2011. During that period, the Standard &amp; Poor s GSCI Spot Index of commodities jumped more than 80 percent. </P> <P> There are strong fundamentals for commodities, particularly if the economy continues to improve, said Christopher Burton, who is a New York-based portfolio manager at Credit Suisse Asset Management, helping oversee $10.6 billion.  The U.S. in particular seems to be getting stronger. There is still significant focus on what s going on in Europe, especially the debt situation, but on the margins, things are looking more positive. </P> <P>Hedge funds and other large speculators are holding a net- long position, or bets on higher prices, of 742,902 contracts across 18 U.S. futures and options, up from 454,512 in December, CFTC data show. Open interest, or contracts outstanding, across 24 commodities traded in the U.S. and Europe jumped to 10.43 million contracts on Jan. 31, from 9.54 million on Dec. 30, exchange data show. </P> <P> The world didn t end last quarter, and it increasingly looks like it s not going to end, said Marshall Berol, the chief investment officer at Malcolm H. Gissen &amp; Associates in San Francisco, which manages about $300 million of assets.  People are realizing that there s still growth going on around the world. </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <HR> <A name=story36></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>PetroChina, Shell Deepen Ties for  Powerful Shale Potential</H1> <H2>Bloomberg - 03 February 2012</H2> <P>PetroChina Co. (857) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) deepened their collaboration in exploring unconventional gas resources with the Chinese company investing in a Canadian project and the European oil producer pledging to help it step up drilling to tap shale reserves in the second-largest economy. </P> <P>China s biggest oil producer said yesterday it bought a 20 percent stake in Shell s Groundbirch shale-gas project in British Columbia. The two companies also plan to increase drilling in China to 20 to 25 wells this year from 15 in 2011, Shell s Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said. </P> <P>Shell and PetroChina s parent, China National Petroleum Corp., agreed in June to increase cooperation in energy exploration in China, estimated to hold the world s largest shale-gas reserves. The partners invested more than $400 million in Chinese shale projects last year, Henry said. </P> <P>China s shale gas potential  could be very powerful, Henry told reporters yesterday in London.  We ve got the same acreage in China that we have in North America, the equivalent of about 3 million acres in each region, he said. </P> <P>PetroChina has gained 2.9 percent in Hong Kong trading in the past year, compared with a 13 percent slump in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The stock fell 1.2 percent to HK$11.48 at the close. Shell has advanced 3 percent in a year. </P> <P>Chinese shale may hold 1,275 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable gas, or 12 times the country s conventional natural-gas deposits, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report published in April. China s  technically recoverable reserves are almost 50 percent more than the 862 trillion cubic feet held by the U.S., the EIA said. Horizontal Drilling </P> <P>Shell and CNPC completed the country s first horizontal shale-gas well in March. China held its first auction of shale- gas exploration rights last year and the country is yet to produce shale gas commercially. The government estimates output of the fuel trapped in rock may reach 6.5 billion cubic meters in 2015 and surge to 80 billion cubic meters by 2020. </P> <P> The quality of the wells has gone from the best they ve ever had in China to a couple with disappointment, Henry said.  Overall we are a bit better than expected. </P> <P>Shell will make a decision at the end of the year on whether to go ahead with the large-scale development of shale gas production facilities in China, the CFO said. </P> <P>PetroChina expects to surpass its target of producing 1 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2015, Mao Zefeng, the Beijing-based senior assistant secretary to the company s board, said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. Commercial output of  a few hundred million cubic meters is possible by 2013, according to Mao.  Making Good Progress </P> <P> We re making good progress in drilling, he said.  The question is now not whether China has shale gas, but how we can streamline the production process and deliver the scale. </P> <P>PetroChina and domestic rivals are seeking technology to tap China s shale gas resources through partnerships and acquisitions. Cnooc Ltd. acquired stakes in U.S. shale-gas acreage from Chesapeake Energy Corp. for a total of $1.65 billion in February 2011 and November 2010. </P> <P>PetroChina plans to pay more than $1 billion for a stake in the Groundbirch property, Hong Kong-based FinanceAsia reported on its website, without saying where it got the information. </P> <P> I can confirm that CNPC will join us in Canada, Shell s Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said in London yesterday.  It s part of our global partnership to optimize our business working environment inside and outside China. </P> <P>Voser and Mao declined to give the value of the deal. </P> <P>Shell will remain the operator of Groundbirch, and the project will continue to supply its customers in North America, Mao said. In the long term, PetroChina will explore the possibility of exporting the fuel to Asia in the form of liquefied natural gas, Mao said. </P> <P> Although PetroChina will gain just a minority stake, the firm can re-deploy any advanced technologies acquired overseas back home to better exploit China s vast shale-gas reserves, Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Asset Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, said by e-mail.&nbsp; </P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <A name=story37></A> <HR> <A name=story51></A> <H1>&nbsp;</H1> <H1>Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil says six more weeks of winter</H1> <H2>Yahoo News - 02 February 2012</H2> <P>Winter 2012 will have an extended stay on America's calendar, according to today's annual Groundhog Day forecasting event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. </P> <P>Each year on February 2nd, people from around the world, including 5,000 in the small town today, watch this tongue-twisting small town for a sign from one groundhog that supposedly predicts when that year's spring will arrive: </P> <P>If it's a cloudy day outside when the groundhog emerges from its burrow, then spring will arrive early that year. However, if it is sunny outside, the groundhog will supposedly be scared by its own shadow, retreating underground for six more weeks of cold weather. </P> <P>Of course, Punxsutawney Phil's prediction is no more able to guarantee the extended forecast than your local weatherman. ABC News reports that an analysis by the National Climate Data Center found that Phil's predictions are more often wrong than right. </P> <P>Phil is also found of gloomy predictions. Ever since 1887, he has predicted 99 extended winters and just 16 early springs. Nine of the year's predictions were unavailable, according to ABC. </P> <P>The holiday began as a German tradition in 18th century Pennsylvania and became even more of a cultural phenomenon after the 1993 film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. </P> <P>Punxsutawney Phil has become a celebrity in his own right. Each year, the chubby rodent is watched by millions as he emerges from a burrow in the town he is named after. Phil has become so beloved by the town that he actually lives in the local library with his "wife" Phyllis. </P> <P>Taking inspiration from the plight of Bill Murray's character in the classic film, Yahoo contributor Owen Rust says Groundhog Day is a good time to reflect on one's routines.</P> <P></P> <P></P> <P><A href="#top">[Back to Contents]</A> <A name=story52></A></P> <HR> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD align=middle colSpan=2><BR>For further information contact: <A href="mailto:research@firstcitizenstt.com?subject=<Jumpstart> insert comment here">research@firstcitizenstt.com</A><BR>To unsubscribe, send an email <A href="mailto:research@firstcitizenstt.com?subject=Unsubscribe Jumpstart <insert your email address here>">here</A><BR><BR></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=2> <DIV id=disclaimer> <H1>DISCLAIMER</H1>The information contained in this documentation is for your information only. 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