Finance

TCI Trade Deficit likely to continue, Imports Soar as Exports Sink

Published

1 year ago

April 21, 2023

Deandrea Hamilton

By Sherrica Thompson

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, April 21, 2023 – The Department of Statistics has forecast that due to the current growth of the tourism sector, the attraction of new direct investment, the projected growth in the construction sector of the TCI economy, and the lack of a more diversified group of exports, it is likely that the trade imbalance will continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

Earlier this week, the Department revealed that the TCI had experienced a dramatic increase in its import bill for the period of January to September 2022. This was revealed in a Trade Statistics report provided by the Statistics & Customs Department.

According to the report, merchandise imports into the TCI during the period of January to September last year totalled approximately $497.4 million, representing a whopping increase of $155.9 million or 45.7 per cent in imports compared to the same period in 2021.

Interestingly though, while imports increased, that was not the same for exports from the country as from January to September 2022, the TCI’s export value was at $1.8 million, compared to $2.3 million during the same period of 2021.

Due to this trade imbalance, the country saw an overall merchandise trade deficit of approximately $495.6 million and an increase in the overall trade deficit by about $156.5 million over the nine months.

The Statistics & Customs Department report indicated that this rise in the trade deficit was due to a $0.5 million decline in the value of exports when compared to a $155.9 million increase in the value of imports.

The three largest sources of imports during the period of January to September 2022 were Mineral fuels, lubricants & related materials, which amounted to $105.0 million, or 21.1 per cent of imports; machinery and transport equipment at $95.6 million, or 19.2 per cent of total imports; and in third place was food at $89.4 million, or 18.0 per cent of total imports.

In addition, the United States, Switzerland and Haiti were the three major trade partners for the TCI during the first nine months of 2022, accounting for major increases of 48.8 per cent, 54.8 per cent and 71.3 per cent for merchandise imports, respectively.

It is also important to note that despite the fuel tax break and the reduction of the Customs Processing Fee (CPF) that was introduced in April last year, there were still major increases in the revenue collection as fuel tax saw a 20.8 per cent increase while CPF saw a huge increase of 80.3 per cent from what was collected in 2021.

All in all, the annual dollar change in imports for the TCI from January to September 2022 has been the highest since the same period in 2006, which reported an annual dollar change of 73.1% compared to 45.7% for 2022. All the other years have been below 31%.

Related Topics:#CPF #magneticmedianews #tciexportsink #tciimportsoar #tcitradedeficit

Up Next

Caribbean countries should strengthen their democratic institutions – Guyana’s Minister Teixeira

Don't Miss

No Money Returned to Usain Bolt, cases trudges along

Deandrea Hamilton

Caribbean News

RBC appoints new Head of Caribbean Banking

Published

1 week ago

April 24, 2024

Shanieka

NASSAU, April 21, 2024 – RBC Financial (Caribbean) Limited, (“RBC”) has appointed Chris Duggan, a native of the Cayman Islands, as Senior Vice President and Head of RBC Caribbean Banking, effective April 1, 2024. He succeeds Chris Ronald, who has been leading the bank’s operations in the Caribbean for the last 2.5 years and has recently returned to Canada as Regional President, Atlantic Provinces at RBC.

Duggan, who is based in Nassau, The Bahamas, is taking on responsibilities as Head of RBC Caribbean Banking to carry out the bank’s strategic direction and manage the overall business strategy and vision across the Caribbean region. He has a career spanning more than two decades in the financial industry across both the United States and the Caribbean.

Most recently, he was the Cayman Islands Government Representative to North America, in Washington DC, primarily focussed on financial services. Prior to his tenure for the Cayman Islands Government, he served as a senior executive at DART Family Office and Butterfield Bank.

RBC’s Executive Vice President, Personal Financing Products, Erica Nielsen said “We’re delighted to welcome Chris to RBC. Born and raised in the Caribbean, Chris has a deep understanding of the regional financial landscape and a passion for representing the culture. He is highly driven, outcome focused, and passionate about building trusted relationships with clients, communities, and employees. His appointment demonstrates our continued commitment to the region. I am confident that under Chris’ leadership, Caribbean Banking will continue to grow and serve our clients and communities.”

As an active member of the communities where he lives and works, he has held leadership roles on the boards of numerous charitable organizations over the years. Duggan was awarded the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour in recognition of his outstanding service to the Cayman Islands community during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Finance

Largest ever Nat’l Budget to end on $436 million

Published

3 weeks ago

April 8, 2024

Shanieka

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

After two increases the Turks and Caicos budget is expected to end the financial year with expenditure below $440 million according to Washington Misick, TCI Premier and Finance Minister.

Misick tabled the fourth and final Supplementary Appropriations Bill in the House of Assembly on March 21 and the debate began on March 24. With that Bill the premier sought to reduce the budget from $442 million to $436.29 million.

The budget had increased rapidly in the earlier quarters of the fiscal period, then it sunk.

The initial budget earmarked $424.3 million for the year with the expectation that the year would end in a deficit. But during the first supplementary appropriations bill in September 2023 that was raised by $13.4 million bringing it to a grand total of $437.6 million.

That extra money was to be used for the following:

$4.2 million for community development, including road improvement and more.
$1.4 million for a Community Centre in Bottle Creek
$450,000 on the long-awaited refurbishment of the sports field in South Caicos.
$1.4million for consultancies
$1 million on repatriation
$1 million to Social Programs
$1.8 million to InterHealth Canada
A $500,000 injection to the country’s Climate Resilience Coastal Protection Study
$851,000 for software and consultancy to get the Turks and Caicos off the EU blacklist
$2 million for the cleaning of government agencies

Then during the second appropriations bill total expenditure was pushed further to $443.4 million increasing the planned deficit to $25.6 million, which would have been funded from cash reserves. That money was to be used for:

An $800,000 investment in a reverse osmosis plant in Grand Turk;
An $800,000 allocation for the renovation of the Bambarra Beach Vendors Market;
A $600,000 check for the Boundary Commission and claims against the government;
An allocation of $800,000 for community enhancement and environmental sustainability;
$410,000 for Educational investment (furniture and equipment for schools);
$276,000 for Law enforcement resources (additional police vehicles);
$250,000 for National Security improvements (the hiring of a strategic lead) and;
$180,000 for Maritime security enhancement (the purchase of a 3rd sea patrol vessel

By the third supplementary in February, $1.07 million was shaved off the budget and money reallocated from some projects to fund others. Here’s what those reallocations should have looked like:

$9.5 million to acquire land and settle an ongoing claim against the government.
$7 million as seed funding for a Mortgage Corporation.
$300,000 to rollout e-Government projects for the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
$800,000 for Miscellaneous adjustments for other Supplies, Materials and Equipment – Governor’s Office, Civil Servant Week and allocation to support the ongoing pay and regrading exercise and productivity audit.

That brought the country to its final and most recent (4th) supplementary tabled by Misick on the 21st of March. Despite an expected deficit of about $18.4 million from projected income of $417.8 million, the country could end the year in a surplus as the economy has outperformed income estimates and the government continues to underspend.

Crime

Avoid Credit Card Fraud, CIBC makes security changes

Published

3 weeks ago

April 8, 2024

Shanieka

Rashsed Esson

Staff Writer

To foster greater security, CIBC First Caribbean is making changes to credit and debit card Point of Sale terminal transactions to reduce the risk of fraud associated with “key-entered” transactions.

In a statement issued on March 19, the organization informs that after April 30th, 2024, vendors will no longer be able accept payments by manually entering card numbers. If they attempt to do so the transaction will be declined.

After March 30th, only Chip and Pin or contactless are approved.

The bank expressed that this is being done as it is their priority given the ongoing issue of fraud.

The BAI Mission, a financial services entity, reports that in 2023, fraud trends increase compared to previous years, as technologies evolve, as pointed out by a financial services leader.

It reports that according to recent NICE Actimize Fraud Insights, the first half of 2023 saw a 22 percent increase in fraud globally, as the move to cashless payments increase.