Category: CANA News

The Trinidad and Tobago government says it has closed out a US$800 million sovereign bond sale on the United States market, drawing demand that oversubscribed the offering by roughly 400 per cent.

The Ministry of Finance said that this is the strongest reception the oil rich twin island republic has had for a bond issue since it first went to the benchmark market in 2013. The ministry said that the Notes, issued on July 9, priced with a coupon of 6.20 per cent and came in with a negative new issue concession, meaning investors did not need any extra pricing sweetener to buy in. It said the result reflects the depth of investor appetite and confidence in the country’s credit standing, and has effectively repriced Trinidad and Tobago’s yield curve.

The ministry said that the deal followed a two-day roadshow led by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs Dr Roodal Moonilal, and Central Bank Governor Larry Howai, who presented the country’s credit story to prospective buyers.

It said more than 150 investors from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and the Caribbean took part, with strong participation from local institutional investors as well, a turnout the Ministry says broadens the country’s international investor base and supports market liquidity going forward.

In January Tancoo led an international deal roadshow in New York covering the country’s macroeconomic outlook, fiscal consolidation strategy and debt management plans, and in April the ministry held its first-ever non-deal roadshow, in Washington, ‘to keep investors updated on fiscal performance and energy and non-energy sector developments outside the context of an active bond sale.

‘Notably, the new bond carries a 12-year tenor, longer than the 10-year structure most sovereigns typically use, and the first time Trinidad and Tobago has issued on that timeline internationally. Officials describe the longer maturity as a deliberate move to better match the country’s debt profile as part of a longer-term financing strategy, one that still came with pricing better than bonds issued over the past decade. ‘

Tancoo said the outcome shows renewed international confidence in the country, tying it to the government’s push to grow the non-energy economy alongside a renewed energy sector.

Key terms of the transaction: the Rule 144A/Reg S notes are rated BBB- by S and P and Ba2 by Moody’s, mature on July 16, 2038, and will settle July 16, 2026.

Proceeds are earmarked to repay the country’s 4.50 per cent notes due in August 2026, with the remainder going toward general budgetary purposes.

The bond is listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and was jointly led by Citigroup Global Markets and J.P. Morgan Securities as bookrunners, with ACERO Capital serving as the government’s financial advisor.

Among the deal’s other highlights cited by the ministry incudes it ‘achieving the lowest spread over U.S. Treasuries for a 10-year-equivalent issuance in the country’s history, priced a new 12-year benchmark below larger Latin American peers, compressed pricing by 32.5 basis points from initial price talk to launch, and extended the average life of the government’s external debt maturity profile’.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) says two former prime ministers, a Nobel Laureate, a former ECCB governor as well as an Olympic gold medalist are among persons selected to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on the Eastern Caribbean (EC) banknotes.

ECCB Governor, Timothy N.J. Antoine, unveiled the new designs, marking a historic milestone in the evolution of EC currency.

The ECCB said that circulation of the redesigned notes is expected to begin in late 2027 when, for the first time, the banknotes will no longer feature the likeness of the Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96.

The ECCB said that the new designs showcase distinguished national heroes and prominent figures from across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) reflecting the region’s shared identity, history and achievements.

The ECCU member states are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The EC$100 banknote features Nobel laureate in economic sciences, Sir William Arthur Lewis, and former St. Lucia prime Minister Sir John Compton, while the EC$50 banknote features former ECCB governor, Sir K. Dwight Venner

The EC$20 banknote features the late Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Sr, the first prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and the late Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, the first woman prime minister of Dominica and the only female to feature on the new notes.

The EC$10 banknote features the late William Henry Bramble, a union leader and a political party leader from Montserrat, and James Ronald Webster, a politician from Anguilla, while the five dollar banknote features St. Vincent and the Grenadines first prime minister, Milton Cato and Sir Kirani James, Grenada’s first-ever Olympic medalist, and the only living person to feature on the notes.

The ECCB’s Monetary Council, had at its meeting on July 21, 2023, approved replacing the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the EC currency and directed the ECCB to conduct public consultations.

‘Those consultations, conducted between July and December 2023, confirmed strong public support for featuring national heroes and nation builders on the redesigned currency,’ the ECCB said in a statement.

‘The new series represents a significant step in the evolution of the EC currency. It honours the cultural diversity and enduring legacy of the people who have shaped the Eastern Caribbean. It also preserves the security, integrity and trust that have long defined the EC dollar,’ the release added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC) says it is closely monitoring the situation where several Haitian nationals have been detained since October 2025 at the Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens in Moscow.

The ministry said among those being held is the student, Slanda François, who like the others are to deportation orders or administrative detention.

Foreign Affairs Minister Raina Forbin, the relevant Russian authorities are currently taking the necessary administrative steps regarding the release of François.

Forbin said that as part of these repatriations, transit visas have already been obtained for the Haitian students concerned, allowing them to travel back to Haiti for their return.

The ministry said that as soon as it had been notified of the case in December 2025, diplomatic exchanges were initiated with the relevant authorities. It said during these exchanges, the Haitian government requested the release of the detained Haitians, confirmed its willingness to cover the costs of their repatriation, and proposed various travel routes to facilitate their return, as well as the issuance of the necessary transit visas.

The Ministry said it remains ‘fully engaged’ and will continue its discussions with the relevant authorities until this process is completed, reaffirming that all appropriate diplomatic means to protect and assist Haitian nationals abroad are being undertaken.

The Jamaican-born British actor, Micheal Ward, Friday has been found not guilty of raping a woman who claimed he had attacked her in the back of a car in January 2023.

The 28-year-old actor and model, who was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on November 18, 1997, is best known for starring as gang leader Jamie in the hit Netflix crime drama, Top Boy. He won the prestigious BAFTA Rising Star award in 2020. Ward had denied two charges of rape and three of sexual assault, and a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court acquitted him on all counts.

The court heard he had met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at an east London nightclub on 2 January 2023 and that ‘everything we did was wholly consensual’.

He told the jury that he thought they were ‘having a great time’ during the encounter and that when he met the ‘very cute’ woman, he had sensed ‘there was interest there’ and that he had asked her to join him in a car, where there was a ‘continuation of the flirting.

‘She was reciprocating the energy. She was pulling me close. For me, that was an inviting act and we were both enjoying that moment,’ Ward said, adding that she ‘never mentioned anything about wanting to leave’.

He told the jury she had seemed ‘absolutely fine’ and had a ‘nice and engaging general conversation’ and that they later exchanged messages.

But in the court the woman, in tears, gave a different story, saying that she would have ‘never would have got in that car with him’ if she had known what would happen.

She denied the encounter was consensual, insisting that ‘Micheal raped me’ and that she had repeatedly told Ward she needed to leave ‘on multiple occasions’.

Ward was arrested on 18 January that year and in a statement then told police ”I deny the allegation of rape.

‘I want to put on record that we had consensual foreplay and consensual sex.’

The following is the CANANews and SPORTS Schedule for Friday, July 10, 2026.

ROSEAU – Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Timothy Antoine, says the financial institution must move from safeguarding monetary and financial stability to building macro-financial resilience.

QUITO – The Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLACDE) says the period of inflationary relief experienced by the energy sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has come to an end and that as of June thi year, gasoline and diesel prices remained above the levels recorded before the Middle East conflict.

UNITED NATIONS- United Nations humanitarian groups in Haiti say they are ‘alarmed’ by the impact of armed clashes on people in the West Department, with more than 3,000 people newly displaced in the communes of Ganthier and Kenscoff.

BASSETERRE -The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) says two former prime ministers, a Nobel Laureate, a former ECCB governor as well as an Olympic gold medalist are among persons selected to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on the Eastern Caribbean (EC) banknotes.

PORT OF SPAIN – The Court of Appeal will on Tuesday next week hear an an urgent procedural appeal as businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve, seek to overturn a decision by a High Court judge refusing a challenge to their detention under the existing state of emergency (SoE) regulations.

SPORTS:

BREADY – Ireland Women posted 269 all out in 49 overs after being asked to bat against the West Indies Women in the first One Day International here on Friday.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has reiterated a call for the establishment of an Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) airline, as he expressed his fraustration of having to wait hours in order to arrive here to attend a meeting.

‘The need for OECS airline is even more apropos today, recognising the frustrations of perpetual flight delays and cancellations among existing carriers,’ Browne told a ceremony to mark the change in chairmanship of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council here on Thursday night. The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.

Browne said that the existing airlines operating in the region leave ‘regional travellers stranded on a daily basis,’ recounting the problems he faced when travelling to St. Lucia t attend the just concluded 51st meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit.

‘You know, on my way to the CARICOM meeting in St. Lucia, I missed the opening ceremony because I had to spend six hours on the Barbados airport because Inter-Caribbean Airline could not make a plane available to take us to St. Lucia.

‘In fact, the wait time should have been one hour, turned out to be six hours. Even coming here to Dominica, even though we had a private charter, there were also delays. So we clearly have a problem when it comes to connecting OECS people.

‘But we also need to understand that is a greater threat. The curtailing of international flights to the OECS countries by carriers such as British Airways will make the need for OECS airline even more urgent.’

Browne told the audience that he has been informed that already British Airways has indicated that it will discontinue service to a particular OECS country to facilitate hopping in Barbados.

‘So with these threats, we need now to provide proactive leadership and literally to put our money where our mouth is and to make sure that we develop mitigating strategies so that we do not get left behind.’

Browne said that the proposed OECS airline will be owned by the governments collectively, operated and managed privately along commercial lines to generate profits to ensure sustainability.

‘So no head will have the right to utilise this new airline as his or her private jet,’ Brwne said, noting that the ECCB Monetary Council also approved the prudent use of a portion of dormant account balances held at a central bank to support regional development initiatives while fully safeguarding depositor rights.

‘And let me be abundantly clear, we’re not trying to steal your money. In fact, lawful owners and beneficiaries will retain the right to reclaim their funds into perpetuity. And this replaces the previous 30-year limitation in which the funds would have been forfeited after 30 years.

‘So it’s a better dispensation for depositors or the beneficiaries of these deposits while at the same time ensuring that we can utilise these idle funds for the development of the subregion,’ said Browne, the outgoing chairman of the Monetary Council.

In his address, Prime Minister praised the Governor of the ECCB Timothy Antoine ‘and the dedicated team …for your outstanding stewardship in the past year’.

He said the bank delivered a profit of EC$121.6 million (Onne EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) for the 2025-26 financial year.

‘A strong testament to prudent management and institutional excellence and one which will enable a greater distribution of earnings to our member governments. So keep the profits coming’.

Browne said that over the past year, the OECS region has navigated an increasingly uncertain global environment marked by geopolitical tensions, shifting trade dynamics, inflationary pressures and energy market volatility.

‘For small island developing states, these challenges are certainly familiar. Yet through prudent leadership, sound policy and regional cooperation, the people of the Eastern Caribbean have once again demonstrated remarkable resilience.

‘I believe that it is certainly in our DNA to be resilient. In fact, our forebears have been extremely resilient, and that is why we are here today. That is why they survived the atrocities of slavery and colonisation.

‘Our challenge now is to transform that resilience into greater prosperity,’ Prime Minister Browne said, adding ‘our people must be positioned to control the commanding heights of the economies of our respective countries.

‘Failing will be nothing more than extractive economies for foreign capitalists,’ Browne said, encouraging entrepreneurs and financial institutions alike to make greater use of this facility to expand investment, create jobs, and certainly to stimulate private sector growth.

‘I especially encourage our banks to provide more favourable terms to small businesses, given the significant reduction in risk provided by the guarantee. So there’s no reason for these banks to be charging double digits.’

Prime Minister Browne said the fact that the risk is about 80 per cent guaranteed means that they should reduce the interest rate, interest costs to borrowers.

‘Now, this is critical to expanding regional output and certainly to promote job creation and supporting private sector growth and development,’ he added.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Friday warned that the average price of oil this year will be higher than in 2025, which means that six channels of impact on the region remain in effect.

In a special report released here, ECLAC examines the channels through which the global economy – and Latin America and the Caribbean in particular – have been affected by the hostilities initiated on February 28, 2026 in and around the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. ‘The hostilities between the United States and Israel, on the one hand, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other, reveal once again the magnitude of the global economy’s interdependence and the swiftness with which disruptions and shocks are transmitted across countries and regions. There are multiple transmission channels.

‘However, these channels do not operate uniformly; their impact depends on each economy’s form of international integration, its production structure, and its trade and financial ties with the rest of the world,’ said ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

ECLAC said that the study is being published in a context of uncertainty regarding diplomatic advances.

Last month, the presidents of the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at putting an end to the military attacks, lifting the naval blockade of Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, in addition to establishing a 60-day window for negotiating a definitive accord.

However, on July 6, there were renewed hostilities, and two days later at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Trkiye, President Donald Trump expressed doubts about whether the ceasefire agreement had ended.

ECLAC warns that even if recent diplomatic advances hold, that does not mean there will be an immediate normalization of markets, nor does it invalidate the direction and types of impacts identified in the report.

It said that the normalisation of production activity in Persian Gulf countries and of trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz will take time and that as of late June, traffic through the strait remained below its usual levels, in a context in which security risks persist along with logistical disruptions and high maritime insurance premiums for the ships that are moving through the area.

The report adds that regardless of how prices for energy goods evolve in the coming months, the average for 2026 will be higher than in 2025: taking the prices effectively observed through June and assuming a Brent benchmark price of US$75-80 per barrel for the rest of the year, the annual average in 2026 is forecast to be 20 to 25 per cent higher than the US$69 per barrel registered in 2025.

In addition, while some of the effects of higher energy prices already set in between March and June, others – which tend to lag – will continue to unfold throughout 2026.

In its report, ECLAC identifies six channels for the transmission of impacts to Latin America and the Caribbean: two that could be positive – although not necessarily – for net exporters of energy but that are adverse for countries that are not net energy exporters (the trade and fiscal channels), and four that are adverse for all of the region’s countries.

The first transmission channel is the trade channel. In addition to the indirect effects stemming from disruptions in supply chains and the increased logistical costs of international trade, the conflict has a direct impact on Latin America and the Caribbean’s trade balance through the variation in the prices of energy and other exported or imported goods.

The increase in energy prices improves the trade balance of net exporters of energy and deteriorates that of net importers, which accounts for the vast majority of the region’s countries in numerical terms.

In a scenario of oil prices that are 25 per cent higher than in 2025 – which is the report’s base scenario – the trade balance impact is slightly positive for Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole (+0.05 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026) and for South America (+0.13 percentage points).

But it is negative for non-hydrocarbons-exporting Caribbean countries and for the group made up of Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic -0.5 and -0.9 percentage points, respectively.

ECLAC said the second transmission channel is the fiscal one. Some governments have opted to absorb part of the shock of energy prices by reducing fuel taxes or using other mechanisms to protect the purchasing power of households.

In the countries that are net energy exporters, the increased fiscal revenue resulting from these goods’ higher prices serves to partially cushion that fiscal cost, but for net importers, that increased expenditure is not offset by higher revenue and leads to further deterioration of fiscal accounts.

There are four more channels, however, that have negative impacts for net energy exporters and net energy importers alike: the price channel (inflation), the cooling of global economic activity, the financial channel and that of monetary policy.

According to ECLAC, the rise in the price of fuel erodes household purchasing power throughout the region, both directly – due to its weight in the consumption basket – and indirectly, by making the transportation and distribution of other goods more costly.

It said this is compounded by the direct increase in fertilizer prices; the supply of fertilizers – like that of oil and gas – is largely concentrated in the Persian Gulf, which puts upward pressure, with a certain time lag, on food prices and increases the risk of greater food insecurity in the region.

In addition to this pressure on domestic prices, there is a channel linked to cooling global economic activity: the conflict has affected global growth prospects, and the more they deteriorate, the lower the region’s external demand will be.

A fifth channel is the financial one. Inflationary pressures in advanced economies lead their central banks to keep interest rates high for longer than expected, making external financing more expensive for the region.

At the same time, the increase in geopolitical uncertainty is associated with greater demand for assets that are considered to be safer, which strengthens the dollar and pressures the currencies of the region’s countries.

Finally, the sixth transmission channel is that of monetary policy. As a result of inflationary pressures, in several countries of the region that were reducing their policy interest rates, it is expected that those cuts will continue but at a more gradual pace, which could have an impact on economic activity.

The ECLAC’s special report indicates that while Latin America and the Caribbean appears to be in a more favourable relative position than other regions vis-à-vis this external shock – due to its relatively low direct trade exposure to Persian Gulf countries and because some of its major economies are net exporters of hydrocarbons – that aggregate position obscures significant heterogeneity.

‘The majority of the region’s countries, which are net importers of hydrocarbons, receive negative impacts from this shock through all the transmission channels,’ ECLAC added.

Former finance minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira remains in hospital on Friday after she experienced what has been described as a ‘medical emergency’ during a live television programme on Thursday.

The incident occurred about 14 minutes into an interview when Zelisa Boodoosingh Rupani, the host of Real TV’s Conversations with Zelisa, asked Nunez-Tesheira a question and as she started to answer, became quiet and slumped in her chair. In a statement, ZM Network Ltd said Nunez-Tesheira experienced a ‘medical emergency’ during the recording of the programme and was taken to hospital by members of the production team.

The company said she was resting and recovering with her family by her side.

‘Mrs Nunez-Tesheira is a national icon whose service to Trinidad and Tobago spans decades, as an attorney, law lecturer, parliamentarian, and as our country’s (former) minister of finance. Our team’s first priority was her health and safety. We remain in prayer for her full and speedy recovery, and we ask the public to join us in respecting the privacy of Mrs Nunez-Tesheira and her family at this time.’

Nunez-Teshiera, an attorney, was first elected to Parliament on November 5, 2007, and was also appointed minister of finance in November of 2007.

The Court of Appeal will on Tuesday next week hear an an urgent procedural appeal as businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve, seek to overturn a decision by a High Court judge refusing a challenge to their detention under the existing state of emergency (SoE) regulations.

Justice of Appeal Peter Rajkumar in setting the date for the matter has also directed the parties to file their respective submissions by midnight on Saturday, paving the way for the hearing of the appeal by a full panel of three Justices of Appeal. The appeal date was set after High Court Judge Vigel Paul rejected an application to expedite the couple’s substantive constitutional claim, in which they allege they are being targeted by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government because of their ethnicity and an ongoing dispute over the termination of leases for state land.

The application before Justice Paul was based on claims that Hadeed’s health has deteriorated significantly while he and his wife remain detained under Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs). Justice Paul has fixed July 17 for case management of the claim

The Hadeeds and relative Star Sabga, 69, were detained more than two weeks ago after police executed search warrants at their home and business.

According to the warrants, they were detained for allegedly conspiring to assassinate Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General John Jeremie and other members of the government, as well as alleged offences under the Emergency Powers Regulations

On June 30, High Court judge, Justice Frank Seepersad refused to order the release of the Hadeeds pending the hearing of their judicial review claim challenging the legality of their arrest and detention.

In the appeal, filed on Tuesday, the Hadeeds are asking the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision, reconsider their application for interim relief and order their immediate release.

Alternatively, they are seeking to be detained under police supervision at their Westmoorings home, west of here, until their substantive legal challenge is determined.

‘The learned judge erred in law, in his provisional assessment of the merits, by unduly deferring to the Minister, in circumstances where the appellants had adduced credible and largely unchallenged evidence that demonstrated that, prima facie, the arrests, detentions, and PDOs were procured for an improper purpose and in bad faith,’ they stated.

They were initially detained under Regulation 13 before Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander signed preventive detention orders against them on June 27 under Regulation 14.

They were subsequently transferred to the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre (ECRC) and the Maximum Security Women’s Prison, respectively, where they remain detained without criminal charges being laid.

The lawyers for the Hadeeds, led by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, SC and including former attorney general, Faris Al-Rawi, SC, have argued that the health of Dominic Hadeed, the owner and founder of the company, Blue Waters Products Ltd, was deteriorating in prison because he was unable to access the medical treatment he requires, and urged the court to treat the matter as one of urgency.

The Attorney General’s Office has retained British KCs Sir James Eadie and Robert Strang to represent the State alongside attorney Gerald Ramdeen.

The Bermuda government says no one udner the age of 18 can legally consent to getting a tattoo amidst concerns that minors were being tattooed without their parents’ knowledge or permission.

The Department of Health said that Environmental Health Officers had investigated a local studio and as a result of the investigation, the studio’s operating licence has been suspended. The Department said that ‘under the Public Health (Body Piercing, Electrolysis and Tattooing) Regulations 2001, individuals under the age of 18 are legally prohibited from getting a tattoo unless they meet two strict criteria’.

It said that the young individuals ‘ must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian for the duration of the procedure and that the parent or legal guardian must provide formal, written consent before the tattooing begins.

‘These laws are important safeguards that help protect our young people,’ said Health Minister Kim Wilson.

‘We know from research and from real world experience that many individuals who get tattooed before the age of 18 later regret that decision. These requirements are not simply administrative steps; they ensure informed choices, reduce the risk of infections and allergic reactions, and help prevent the exploitation of minors,’ she added.

The government said that certified tattooists are legally required to verify their clients’ identities and keep rigorous records.

‘For every single procedure, a tattooist must obtain and securely store the client’s name, address, phone number, age, a copy of their photographic ID, and the signed consent form. These records must be retained for a minimum of two years.’

The Department of Health said that it is reminding all operators and certified practitioners that non-compliance will be met with strict enforcement action.

‘Violations of the regulations can result in heavy fines, imprisonment, and the immediate suspension or permanent revocation of both personal certificates and establishment operating licences.’