Politics
UPM issues policy priority document up to 2026
(CNS): With a year to go before Cayman Islands voters go to the polls, the United People’s Movement Government has released a new document to cover its strategic priorities between now and 2026, which appears to be based on the broad outcome in the budget and strategic policy statement delivered by Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly last […]
Bryan: Ministers need more say in CS recruitment
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan wants Cabinet ministers to have more power in government’s hiring of Caymanians because people expect their MPs to help them get work. Speaking on Radio Cayman yesterday, he admitted that the current immigration system had created challenges for local people, from the increasing population to the housing crisis. He said […]
Civil service headcount increased 4.6% in Q3 of 2023
(CNS): Alongside the unprecedented growth in work permits over the last year, the civil service headcount grew by 203 (4.6%) between September 2022 and September 2023, when it stood at 4,629, according to the Economics and Statistics Office’s latest publication. The Third Quarter Economic Report 2023 said there were 36,079 work permits during this period, […]
Deputy premier seeks to win hearts and minds in USA
(CNS): Deputy Premier and Financial Services Minister André Ebanks spent last week in Washington DC and New York City attempting to win over the hearts and minds of US politicians and the media in relation to the Cayman Islands’ position as a financial centre. Ebanks was in the US for over a week, from 13 […]
The brain power of our lawmakers is questionable
Lite Poll writes: The principal job of lawmakers in the Cayman Islands is to make laws, and the point of holding elections every four years is to elect lawmakers. However glaringly obvious that sounds, it seems to be a fact that is lost in every general election and points to an ability that is depressingly […]
Cayman continues to import a huge volume of vehicles
(CNS): According to the unaudited Third Quarter Economic Report 2023 covering government earnings and spending up to the end of September, a significant boost to the surplus at the time came from fees on imported motor vehicles. The earnings surpassed budget expectations by $7.8 million due to the volume of vehicles being imported. While the […]
Bryan challenges report on low value of Cayman tourism
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has criticised a report by regional economist Marla Dukharan on the Cayman Islands’ economic fortunes in which she found that the tourism sector contributes a relatively small amount to the economy. Challenging the narrative that tourism is a twin pillar alongside financial services, Dukharan said that Cayman is almost entirely […]
$1M set aside to start low-cost homes on the Bluff
(CNS): Four years since the Sister Islands Affordable Housing Development Corporation last built an affordable home on Cayman Brac, it will soon begin building two new housing developments on Bluff land purchased by the Cayman Islands Government. Over CI$1 million has been allocated over the next two years to build the developments, named The Highlands […]
Survey launched to help UPM with housing challenge
(CNS): Almost two years after the government established a cross-ministerial task force to examine the housing crisis in the Cayman Islands and develop a policy, it is now seeking ideas from the public. Fuelled by competing demands and exceptionally high prices, the housing market in Cayman has become unaffordable for almost all but the very […]
CIG still dodging CI$2.2B CS retirees healthcare liability
(CNS): At a Public Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday, senior officials once again dodged questions on how and when the Cayman Islands Government proposes to place its liability for the future healthcare needs of retired civil servants squarely on its books. This financial liability is currently only included in supporting notes that form part of […]
Redacted report reveals little to justify subsea cable
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has released a heavily redacted outline business case, compiled by consultants Grant Thornton, on the government’s plans for a new telecommunications submarine cable. Key details have all been omitted, such as costs (estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars), its length and where it will be linked […]
