Economy
Tourism fuels 2019 economic boom
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 3.4% in the first nine months of 2019, according to a report from the Economics and Statistics office released this week. Based on data collected between January and October, well before the COVID-19 pandemic shattered Cayman’s economic fortunes, the report showed […]
Bank’s law is barrier to small business loans
(CNS): The law governing the Cayman Islands Development Bank appears to be a barrier to small businesses accessing low-cost government-guaranteed loans to help them weather the COVID-19 economic challenges. Some CI$5 million has been set aside to fund a low-interest loan programme through the government-owned bank but uptake has been very low. So far, only […]
Premier defends focus on tourism support
(CNS): The government is giving direct assistance to Caymanians who worked in tourism before the COVID-19 pandemic struck because the sector “has crashed”, Premier Alden McLaughlin said Tuesday. As the most challenged sector, it was “right and proper that the government should focus on trying to assist people” with no work or any possibility of […]
ESO begins annual business surveys
(CNS): The Economics and Statistics Office has begun its annual surveys for the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Balance of Payments (BOP) covering 2019. The data collected is intended to help shape government policy and set out the country’s economic position, but given the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crash, what happened in […]
Local economy could contract by over 12%
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ economy could contract by as much as 12.2% this year, according to Finance and Economic Development Minister Roy McTaggart. The gloomy forecast for the country’s short-term economic fortunes was not unexpected, but with the reality of a 19% unemployment rate, government will now need to create public sector jobs and fund […]
CIG’s 1st Q results provide $25M buffer
(CNS): The public purse collected $25 million more than it expected during the first three months of this year, providing an additional buffer that will help the country brace for the expected massive decline in revenue in the second quarter, resulting from the economic lockdown in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 1 January […]
How to boil a frog and why it should terrify you
‘Oz’ writes: When the lockdown started the government talked about suppression and flattening the curve as the reasons for introducing widespread restrictions on our freedoms. Reducing the number of COVID-19 cases happening at once made perfect sense; everyone could easily understand the rationale of doing this and we happily complied. But somehow, and without our […]
Pension firms face 14,000 requests in a week
(CNS): Pension administrators managing the nine different pension funds for private sector workers have faced a barrage of emails and messages in the wake of the new law passed by government to allow people access to their money during the COVID-19 health emergency. Deputy Director of Pensions Amy Wolliston said they were all in a […]
16% jobs lost in first month of lockdown
(CNS): A straw poll of some 300 members of the Chamber of Commerce showed that between 13 March and 17 April those businesses laid off more than 1,400 employees, which is around 16% of the respondents’ pre-COVID-19 workforce. Chamber President Woody Foster said that this survey covered only a small percentage of employers, so the […]
Miller argues alternative to pension withdrawals
(CNS): MLA Ezzard Miller (NS) has proposed an alternative to allowing people to access their pension funds as a way of injecting cash into the economy to battle the financial fallout from the COVID-19 panic. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Miller said that while he supports the pension holiday he is the only […]
Pension cash to take over six weeks to come
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has said that it will take several weeks for people to actually get their hands on the cash that they will be able to access from their pension funds when government amends the National Pensions Law on Thursday. Some pension companies have told their clients that it will take 60 days […]
