15 June 2021
News from the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange
On 28 June 2021, the Government of St. Lucia will auction a 180-day Treasury bill estimated to raise ECS$10 million. The Bank of St. Lucia and First Citizens Investment Services are the broker firms.
Food for Thought: On China and the Caribbean
The NATO and G7 meetings held one thing in common other than the membership of a number of rich industrialized countries: China. While the NATO meeting fell short of calling China an “adversary”, the consensus, especially among the leading industrialized nations, is that China, at a minimum, is a competitive economic threat.
One example of its economic threat is Huawei, a Chinese telecom equipment provider accused of ties to the Chinese military. Huawei provided less expensive telecom equipment to Europe in direct competition with American telecom equipment providers. The United States, which banned use of Huawei equipment from its telecom networks, chided its European allies for allowing a threat to privacy via Huawei equipment. Turning a back on Huawei expectedly gives US companies a wider door to enter through into European markets.
It may be too early to determine the impact on the Caribbean a widening rift between China and the US may present. By our estimate, using CIA data, at least 12 Caribbean countries have a trading relationship (import only, export only, or both) with China. Whether the Caribbean will tack away from a relationship with China as a result of moves made by the G7 or NATO remains to be seen.
Import-Export relationship between CARICOM nations and China
Source: CIA World Factbook
| Country | Import from China | Export to China |
| St. Lucia | No | No |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Yes (USD366 million) | Yes (USD595 million) |
| Suriname | Yes (USD168 million) | No |
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines | Yes (USD23.7 million) | No |
| Montserrat | No | No |
| Guyana | Yes (USD8 million) | No |
| Grenada | Yes (USD16 million) | No |
| Dominica | Yes (USD12 million) | No |
| Belize | Yes (USD11 million) | No |
| Barbados | Yes (USD136 million) | No |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Yes (USD39 million) | No |
| The Bahamas | No | Yes (USD33 million) |
| Cayman Islands | No | No |
| Haiti | Yes (USD795 million) | No |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | No | No |
| Jamaica | Yes (USD804 million) | No |
| British Virgin Islands | No | No |
| Turks and Caicos | No | No |
| Bermuda | No | No |
| Anguilla | No | No |
Foreign exchange rates of interest
Source: OANDA
| Currency Pairs | Rates as of 11:15 am AST 15 June 2021 |
| XCD/EUR | 0.3057 |
| XCD/GBP | 0.2625 |
| XCD/USD | 0.3704 |
| XCD/CAD | 0.4500 |
| XCD/NGN | 152.3900 |
| XCD/CNY | 2.3692 |
| XCD/PLN | 1.3776 |
| XCD/PEN | 1.43619 |
Links to follow ….
Caribbean Development. A high-level panel of government and business leaders will explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Caribbean in the opening seminar of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) 51st Annual Meeting. https://www.caribank.org/newsroom/news-and-events/cdb-annual-meeting-seminar-discuss-policies-economic-recovery-covid-19-and-more-resilient-caribbean
Interbank. China’s interbank treasury bond index in net price opened at 982.99 points Tuesday, lower than the previous close of 983.65 points, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. http://www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_Wire/2021-06/15/content_77568539.htm
Interbank. The Korea Interbank Offered Rates (KORIBOR) as posted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news and information arm of Yonhap News Agency, at 11:00 a.m. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210615004100320
Banks. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is very bullish on the future of DeFi, or decentralized finance, and DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/14/mark-cuban-banks-should-be-scared-of-defi.html
Alton Drew 