Business

Like many young farmers in his position, Ricardo Hyman is grateful to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries' Young Farmers' Entrepreneurship Programme (YFEP) for providing him with the opportunity to start and sustain his own business.

First Global Bank (FGB), Jamaica's smallest domestically controlled commercial bank, has joined its larger peers in slicing lending rates.The two percentage-point cut drops the bank's base rate to 18.75 per cent, effective September 1.First Global is...

An undisclosed party connected to First Jamaica Investment Limited has acquired 6.86 million of the company's shares, amounting to 2.26 per cent of the equity.

Guardian Holdings Limited has wrapped up negotiations and signed off on the sale of 12.8 per cent of the company to International Finance Corporation (IFC), but needs shareholder ratification to close the deal.The vote is set for September 1 in Trinidad...

The Treasury Depart-ment said Wednesday that it has scaled back its annual borrowing capacity by US$232 billion since April and plans further gradual cuts in coming months.

CVM Communications Group is losing its top man, but the company seems far from perturbed and is leaving the post vacant for now.Consequently, Wayne Chen, chairman of the media company whose...

A resident magistrate has sent a strong message that praedial larceny will not be tolerated by sentencing a man to 18 months' imprisonment for reaping almost the entire yam crop of a Trelawny farmer. Radcliffe Plummer...

BP Plc says it has agreed to sell its oil and gas exploration business in Colombia for US$1.9 billion to a consortium of Ecopetrol, Colombia's national oil company, and Talisman of Canada.The deal announced Tuesday is the latest in BP's plans to sell up...

The Mercosur trade bloc has reached a deal on a common customs code that should speed up and reduce the cost of commerce across South America. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez says she and six other presidents approved the regulations....

Effective August 4, the interest rate payable on Bank of Jamaica 30-day Certificates of Deposit will be reduced by 50 basis points to 8.5 per cent, the central bank announced Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Bruce Golding said more rate cuts would...

Cuba says its budget deficit came in far below forecasts in the first half of 2010, evidence that tax increases and deep-spending cuts on food imports may be helping the communist government weather a severe economic crunch....