Tag: Featured
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 […]
Four accused of sophisticated $500k+ bank burglary
(CNS): Almost eight years after burglars made off with over CI$500,000 from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in George Town in a sophisticated inside job, prosecutors opened their case against four people on Tuesday after a long and complex police inquiry involving “cutting edge investigatory techniques”. David Samuel Bodden Jr, who worked at the […]
Number of work permit holders reaches new record
(CNS): After a slight decline at the end of last year, the number of work permit holders in the Cayman Islands, as of 11 March, reached a new record high of 36,972. According to a freedom of information request made by local attorneys HSM, this is an increase of 1,529 new permit holders since the […]
Expat walks free despite importing 3 unlicensed guns
(CNS): Prosecutors have dropped the case against Anton Parygin (45), a Canadian-Israeli-Russian citizen who arrived in the Cayman Islands in early 2022 with three unlicensed guns, despite being told by the police that he could not lawfully bring the weapons here until he had secured licences. In court on Friday, the crown officially stopped the […]
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 […]
Cayman’s GDP grew by 3.6% in the first half of 2023
(CNS): According to the Cayman Islands Semi-Annual Economic Report 2023 by the Economics and Statistics Office, the gross domestic product grew by an estimated 3.6% in the first half of last year. However, with inflation running at around 5.3% during the same six-month period, few people benefitted from the expanding economy. The weighted average lending […]
Inflation begins to slow but averaged 3.8% in 2023
(CNS): The cost of living rose by an average of 3.8% last year compared with 2022, the Economics and Statistics Office confirmed after releasing its Consumer Price Index Report for 2023 this week. While inflation slowed last year, particularly during the last quarter, the rise in the CPI followed the 9.5% average increase during the […]
CAL needs realistic budget to cover losses, says OAG
(CNS): Between 2018 and 2022, the Cayman Islands Government gave Cayman Airways Limited more than $152.5 million in funding, but each year the money was not enough to cover expenses. Over the same period, it received almost $24 million in supplementary appropriations after total losses of $34 million due to unrealistic budgeting. A new report […]