Barbados
Barbados’ tourism sector has recorded a 5.43% increase in stay-over arrivals between January and August 2025, for a total of 503,000 visitors. And for the first time, the United States has exceeded the United Kingdom as the leading source market.
Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s (BTMI) Chief Executive Officer, Andrea Franklin, said the US led tourist arrivals, followed by the UK and the Caribbean.
Speaking on the final day of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference at the Hilton Barbados Resort, she said, “Arrivals from the United States of America stand at 179,753 visitors, making the USA now our number-one source market this year.”
Franklin credited the BTMI’s focus on airlift expansion with making the US the island’s leading source market.
“So what we did was a real double down on our airlift strategy. And we really went after building an airlift to the destination out of the US market. So, in winter 2025, we had an excess of 60,000 additional seats in the US market. So our airlift strategy was pivotal for us in building the capacity to the destination out of the market,” she explained.
From January to August this year, stay-over arrivals in Barbados increased by 5.43% compared to the same period in 2024. That’s an additional 25,000 visitors, from 477,891 in 2024 to 503,000 in 2025.
Cruise arrivals also increased, with an additional 117,776 cruise passengers visiting the island from January to July.
Franklin further revealed that the Barbados Port Inc. enhances its cruise infrastructure to improve the visitor experience.
CARICOM
The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) recently said it welcomes “with cautious optimism” the agreement on the initial phase of a peace plan for Gaza.
“We view this development as a critical step toward alleviating the immense suffering of the Palestinian people and the safe return of the Israeli hostages,” CARICOM said in a statement.
Israel declared a ceasefire and started pulling back troops in Gaza last Friday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians began to trek back to their wrecked homes.
The Israeli army said its troops had ceased fire at noon “in preparation for the ceasefire agreement and the return of hostages.”
The US Pentagon confirmed Israel had completed the first phase of a pullback laid out in US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas will hand over 47 hostages, living and dead.
In its statement, CARICOM considers “the stipulated terms, including a sustained pause in hostilities, the withdrawal of military forces, the reciprocal release of hostages and prisoners, and the guarantee of immediate and safe humanitarian access, to be constructive and fundamental.”
“CARICOM emphatically calls upon all signatories to honor these commitments in full and to ensure this first phase serves as a foundation for a permanent and unconditional ceasefire. We reiterate that a just and lasting peace, in accordance with international law, can only be achieved through a negotiated two-state solution, which upholds the legitimate aspirations for security and dignity of both nations,” the regional grouping said.
Guyana
The leader of the opposition and recently formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, Azruddin Mohamed, says he will not be silenced and accused the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) of delaying the opening of the new Parliament following the Sept. 1 general and regional elections.
“I have noted the allegations peddled against me and my family. While there are legal constraints on how much I can share at this juncture, I am permitted to say this much in the interim; the leadership of the PPP has been advancing a sustained narrative against the Mohameds aimed at discrediting us,” Mohamed said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
It was recently disclosed that US authorities had indicted the WIN leader and his father, Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, on charges related to wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering stemming from tax evasion on gold exports and the importation of a Lamborghini luxury car.
Denying the allegations, Mohamed said he and his father would fight any extradition request by the US.
“We are going to fight it here in the court. We are innocent,” he said, adding, “I’m going to defend myself vigorously because I’m innocent. I am innocent of all these charges. I know it’s heavily political with this administration”.
The indictment came just over a month after Mohamed led his newly formed political party to become the main opposition party in the National Assembly.
If found guilty on the charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, the Mohameds, who were sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in June last year, could separately face a maximum of 20 years on each count, as well as maximum supervised release of three years, a maximum fine of US$250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss.
On the charges of wire fraud, the politician-businessman could also be sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, maximum supervised release of three years, and a fine of US$250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss.
The Grand Jury also seeks a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, three years supervised release, and a fine of US$500,000 or the value of the property involved in the transaction for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The US also asks the court that “upon conviction…as alleged in this Indictment, the defendants “shall forfeit to the United States any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to such offence.”
The PPP/C and the Guyana government have denied any involvement in the US legal actions against the Mohameds.
Haiti
The UN Security Council voted recently to authorize a 5,550-member international force to help stop escalating gang violence in Haiti.
The resolution co-sponsored by the US and Panama will transform the current Kenya-led multinational force into a “Gang Suppression Force” with the power to detain suspected gang members, which the current force does not have.
The vote was 12-0 with Russia, China, and Pakistan abstaining.
The Kenya-led multinational force arrived in Haiti in June 2024 and was supposed to have 2,500 members, but due to a lack of funding, its current strength is below 1,000.
Gangs have grown in power and now control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have also moved into the countryside, looting, kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and raping citizens in these areas.
While the seven-page draft resolution expressed gratitude and appreciation to Kenya for leading the multinational force, it reaffirms Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s findings in February that it hasn’t been able to keep up with the gangs’ significant expansion and needs to be scaled up.
The resolution authorizes UN member nations to transition to a Gang Suppression Force in co-operation with Haiti’s government for 12 months.
It states that the force would consist of 5,500 uniformed personnel and 50 civilians paid from voluntary contributions.
Authorization is given to the new force to conduct independently or with the Haitian National Police “intelligence-led targeted, counter-gang operations to neutralise, isolate, and deter gangs that continue to threaten the civilian population, abuse human rights and undermine Haitian institutions.”
It would also provide security for critical infrastructure, including the airport and ports, schools and hospitals, and the Haitian police and armed forces. It would also support Haitian efforts “to combat illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related material.”
St. Vincent & the Grenadines
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines government says it has collected EC$70 million in tax revenue during the first eight months of the year, but acknowledged that spending exceeded receipts slightly, leaving a current account deficit of EC$718,000, down from EC$19.3 million last year.
Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves told Parliament that the current revenue of the government’s fiscal performance during the first eight months amounted to EC$583 million, compared to EC$517 million for the same period last year.
“So we’re almost EC$70 million up 60-odd million, and at 2023 at this period, we were at EC$481 million.
“So current revenue is up over EC$100 million over 2023,” he said, adding that total revenue and grants were EC$624 million compared to EC$559 million year to date in 2024, and EC$514 million in 2023.
The EC$70 million in taxes collected through August 31 is an 11% increase over the EC$62 million collected in the year-ago period. Corporate taxes stood at EC$40 million, a 22% increase over 2024, when they were EC$33 million.
“That always suggests that businesses are doing a little more business, making a little more money, and that’s good for everybody,” Gonsalves said, adding that taxes on goods and services generated EC$182 million as opposed to EC$175 million in 2024 and EC$167 million in 2023.
Taxes on international trade were EC$159 million in 2023, compared to EC$132 million in 2024 and EC$115 million in 2023.
The sale of goods and services generated EC$75.4 million, compared to EC$61 million last year and EC$51 million in 2023.
Capital revenue and grants were flat year-on-year at EC$41 million this year, compared to EC$32 million in 2023.
Gonsalves said total expenditures were EC$841 million on Aug. 31, compared to EC$728 million year-on-year and EC$601 million in 2023.
He added that current expenditure stood at EC$584 million at the end of August, compared to EC$536 million in 2024 and EC$484 million in 2023.
— Compiled by Devika Ragoonanan
