Leonce Taylor is a fighter. Already, she’s proven that; and although her name may still be unfamiliar to most in the soca music landscape, 2017 may be a turning point for the US-based frontline sweetheart of New York’s Request Band.

Settling in at home in Trinidad these days, Leonce, whose single, Addicted, has been receiving nods of approval wherever she goes, plans on enjoying her place of birth for Carnival. Outside of touring throughout the US with the Request Band, she focuses on bettering her craft.

Having looked up to artistes of the golden days such as Ella Andall, Singing Sandra, Denyse Plummer and others, Leonce’s style of delivery when she touches the microphone is powerful and resoundingly clear. She speaks the language of music even in conversation, and although she’s lived in New York for the better part of her adult life, her Trini roots are distinguishably clear.

With that natural inclination to represent home, an innate part of her existence, Leonce admits to being overwhelmed by the spike in criminal activity in T&T. “It’s really sad what’s happening in Trinidad. The thing is, we still say ‘sweet T&T’—all of us, who are out there, in the States,” she admitted. She’s a part of a unique soca fraternity in the US, standing firmly alongside artistes like Lyrikal, Patch, Yankey Boy and GBM Nutron, who’ve remained connected despite being thousands of miles away

“It’s been a pleasure, an honour for me,” said Leonce, “to stand up on stages around the world and represent soca music. People at home in T&T need to understand what we have here. There’s no place in the world that’s like T&T.

wThe atmosphere, the vibe of our people, the music, the culture—we are special and while I know there are many factors that can lead a person to commit crime, I also believe that if we hold on to what’s good about us, we can change things and we’ll fix this,” she said optimistically.

In recent days, there’s been a public outcry in T&T—this as a 31-year-old woman was killed in what appeared to be a domestic situation. The incident took place near the woman’s workplace at MovieTowne, Invader’s Bay. Taylor said about it: “As a woman, it hurts. This woman will never see the beauty of life again. She will never smile again and her friends and family will never feel her strength again.

I am pleading with all men, to please, stop hurting our women. Women are beautiful. We bear your children. We nurture your families and take care of your homes. Please walk away. Just walk away from situations that incite anger in you. That could never be asking too much.”

The entertainer says she has seen and heard of numerous incidents of abuse meted out to females, both in the US and here. “Anger is something that some people simply cannot control, but we’ve got to put systems in place to help people manage their frustrations.

The thing is, people deal with things differently and as citizens in any society, we all have a part to play in helping those around us cope,” she said.

Leonce will be making the rounds at events and throughout Carnival. “Just as I pray for my safety and that of my family members, I pray for the safety of all women who’ll be out there this Carnival season, having fun and expressing their right to liberty. Nobody deserves to be murdered; nobody deserves to be hurt, whether physically, verbally or otherwise. It’s time to stop this,” she said.

•MORE INFO: Follow her via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @leoncerqb

The apparent attempt by the Barbadian Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler to remove the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados (CBB), Dr Delisle Worrell, has caught many people in T&T and throughout the region by surprise.

That’s because anyone who has seen the two men interact at the several investor forums that Barbados has held in Port-of-Spain, and elsewhere, over the past few years would have come away with the impression they had a close working relationship based on mutual respect, complete policy alignment and the need for them to work together to further their country’s national interest.

So why would Minister Sinckler, according to reports in the Barbados media, have given Governor Worrell an ultimatum to either resign or be fired, after the members of the board of the CBB complained to the minister about him?

What can be deduced is that the CBB directors may have felt that Governor Worrell was making statements about the Barbados economy that did not reflect the sentiments of the entire board.

The Barbados media has latched on to comments that the governor made during a live television discussion on state-run CBC at the start of the month, in which Dr Worrell publicly warned the Government that its practice of financing the Barbadian fiscal deficit by borrowing money from the central bank (printing money) was not sustainable.

“We cannot continue to have a deficit and we cannot continue to have a wage bill as high as we are, simply because the only way we are able to do that is by the Central Bank providing financing,” he said, according to a Barbados Today story on Monday.

What that report indicates is that the governor believes the only way that the Barbados government is able to pay the monthly salaries of the country’s public servants is by borrowing money from the country’s central bank, which it gets from commercial banks’ reserves.

What a thing?

If the Barbados government is only able to pay the salaries of public servants by borrowing from the central bank, does that mean there is no bank in Barbados—including the two T&T-owned banks that are located in the country, FCB and Republic—that is willing to lend the country money in order for it to finance its fiscal deficit?

If the Barbados government issued an eight-year, fixed rate bond through its Central Bank—as the T&T government did this week—would the institutional investors such as the pension plans, insurance companies and the commercial banks in Barbados not take up the bond, as T&T institutional investors did?

Banks unwilling

If the government in Barbados is unable or unwilling—because of the high interest rates it would be required to pay—to borrow money from the banks in Barbados, does that mean there are no banks outside of Barbados that are willing to underwrite or arrange a government bond issued by the island?

When a country reaches the stage where no commercial bank, either local or foreign, will lend it money—and where the main source of deficit financing, the central bank, is warning about the dangers of it continuing to provide financing—then that country’s back is against a wall and the only ladder, shovel or door is the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In its 2016 Article IV report on Barbados, published on August 26, 2016, the IMF said: At end of March 2016, “central government debt including securities held by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) reached the equivalent of 141.6 per cent of GDP, from 132.3 per cent in FY2014/15.

“The large funding requirements, totaling about 45 percent of GDP, have been mostly met by the Central Bank of Barbados (CBB), the NIS, and growing arrears.”

The IMF described the arrears as large and growing, estimating that “central government arrears rose from 4.3 per cent of GDP at end March 2015 to 5.9 per cent at end of March 2016, including arrears to the NIS.

“State-owned enterprise arrears are estimated to have risen to 5.5 per cent of GDP, of which the largest share is to the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) and NIS. Arrears are impeding private sector transactions, inhibiting investment, and may be contributing to erosion of tax compliance.”

RBC Caribbean economist, Marla Dukharan, writing in her bank’s economic report for December, stated: “CBB holdings of Government debt expanded 55.5 per cent y/y to BBD1.877 billion or 65 per cent of CBB’s total assets in October 2016.

The IMF estimates that Government debt accounts for 74 per cent of NIS assets, and that NIS expenditure began to exceed contributions in 2013, rather than in 2024 as estimated in the 14th Actuarial Review.”

The fact that the Barbados government and its state-owned enterprises are building up arrears, totaling 11.4 per cent last year, means the country is unable to pay off its debts, in particular the interest on its debt, on time—which is the definition of a state of insolvency.

We here in T&T have some experience of this as the country was forced into the arms of the IMF in 1987-88 after the administration led by ANR Robinson (as he was then known) realised that the imposition of the 10 per cent salary cut for public servants, along with the elimination of cost of living allowances (COLA) would not have been enough to balance the fiscal books.

Will Barbados seek an IMF stand-by arrangement?

Up to Monday, I would have said the country would not have gone the IMF route because one of the first conditionalities the fund would demand of the island is that it introduce a floating exchange rate regime. That would remove the long-held fixed exchange rate the governor and the minister have claimed is the way to preserve the population’s accrued savings.

But, it seems to me, that salaried middle-income households in Barbados (teachers and public servants) have not had a salary increase in eight years and, during that period, have faced a number of new taxes and the elimination of tax credits that have reduced their standard of living.

How is that reduction in their standard of living different to the immediate adjustment for the entire country that a devaluation would cause?

If a country is consistently earning less revenue, including revenue from foreign exchange, over a number of years, how do the people in that country not experience a decline in their standard of living?

People poorer

The issue is this: do you adopt a measure that forces an immediate adjustment on the entire country OR do you continue to pick the pockets of salaried middle-income households by freezing their wages and imposing new taxes on them every budget?

The point being, of course, that if a government is earning less revenue over a number of year, it needs to embark on fiscal adjustment by spending less or earning more...or both.

Some countries in the Caribbean have adjusted their fiscal accounts by selling citizenship (St Kitts).

In T&T, the government here has been able to cushion the impact of reduced revenue because we have the ability to borrow, foreign exchange savings, a state enterprise that was generating cash (NGC) and TT-dollar assets, which can be sold quickly (FCB, Phoenix Park etc).

Barbados may not be as fortunate.

The irony of the Barbados situation is that it had a reasonable 2016 tourism season, in terms of visitor arrivals. Clearly, that money is not being reflected in government revenue there.

Why?

Because the Barbados government reduced VAT on the tourism sector, lowered property tax on the tourism sector and provided that sector with a number of other tax breaks as a means of incentivising the sector.

Could it be that the real breach between Dr Worrell and Mr Sinckler is over the issue of devaluation?

Oil prices declined on Monday by about two per cent, the most since mid-January, pressured by a stronger dollar and signs of rising US crude output.

Investors were meanwhile underwhelmed by an OPEC report showing high compliance with last year’s production-cut deal.

“Crude fell due to the stronger dollar earlier in the session, an increase in the US rig count and an increase in US productivity in the shale basins,” said James Williams, president of energy consultant WTRG Economics in Arkansas.

Hopes of US tax cuts to stoke corporate profits and investments lifted the dollar to a near three-week high against a basket of currencies earlier Monday, pressuring greenback-denominated oil.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, agreed late last year to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of 2017 in a deal aimed at supporting prices and lessening a glut.

The group’s first monthly data since the deal showed that top producer Saudi Arabia made a large cut in its crude output in January, helping boost compliance with the group’s supply-reduction deal to a record high of 93 per cent.

Saudi Arabia told OPEC that it made an even bigger cut than estimated by the secondary sources, reducing January output by more than 700,000 bpd to 9.748 million bpd; lower than called for under the OPEC deal.

But high compliance had been expected and the report failed to push oil prices into positive territory.

“The good compliance rate of OPEC seems to be priced in. The US rig count from Friday is weighing, the numbers support the shale comeback story,” said Frank Klumpp, oil analyst at Stuttgart-based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.

US shale oil production for March is expected to rise by the most in five months, government data showed on Monday, as energy companies boost drilling on the back of oil prices that are hovering over $50 a barrel.

Over the past month, US oil drillers have added the most drilling rigs since 2012, bringing the total to 591 rigs, the highest since October 2015, oil services company Baker Hughes said in a weekly report.

Speculators cut net long positions on Brent last week by 10,000 contracts, weekly ICE data showed, highlighting investor concerns about rising US production.

Analysts at ABN Amro are sceptical about OPEC production cuts delivering higher oil prices, and reduced Brent forecasts for the first half of this year to US$50 from US$55 a barrel. Reuters

Crude oil stockpiles are expected to empty significantly during the third quarter as continued production restraint from OPEC interacts with the seasonal increase in consumption.

OPEC and non-OPEC countries are committed to reducing production by an average of nearly 1.8 million barrels per day in the first six months of 2017, with an option to extend cuts for a further six months.

Production assessments by independent agencies suggest compliance with the agreement has so far been high from OPEC especially from Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Further reductions from non-OPEC could be phased in over the next few months, with Russia in particular committed to increase its production cuts progressively during the compliance period.

Set against this is the risk of “compliance fatigue” if OPEC and non-OPEC countries become complacent and allow production to rise towards the end of the period.

Past experience suggests compliance tends to weaken over time as prices rise and the panic which made an agreement possible in the first place fades.

To preserve their flexibility, OPEC and non-OPEC countries have declined to commit themselves on whether the agreements will be extended.

But the consensus within the crude market seems to be that the cuts will be continued for a further six months, at least in modified form.

The alternative would be to flood the market with more 1 million barrels of extra crude from the start of July which would likely increase stockpiles again.

Assuming production cuts are extended in some form, the biggest impact is likely to come during the three months from July to September.

Over the last decade, net crude inputs into US refineries have risen by an average of 840,000 barrels per day in the third quarter compared with the first.

The third quarter is also when Saudi Arabia and Iraq increase their own internal consumption of crude to meet air-conditioning demand. Direct crude combustion in power plants will cut the amount of crude available for export by several hundred thousand barrels per day from both countries.

Finally, the third quarter is when most North Sea producers undertake maintenance, which cuts output of Brent and other grades during the summer.

In sum, the seasonal increase in consumption and reduction in output could combine to produce a particularly sharp draw down in crude stocks over the three months from July to September.

Physical traders will gradually lift their inventory hedges and sell stocks to refiners to help meet the shortfall in supplies from producing nations.

Stocks could draw down faster than currently expected, in which case the supply-demand situation would become very tight in the third quarter. OPEC might respond by allowing production to rise.

On the other hand, growing US shale output, weakening compliance from OPEC and non-OPEC, and any slowdown in consumption growth could all push back the draw down in stocks and cause spreads to weaken.

Reuters

A major contributor to improved results at RBC Financial (Caribbean) Ltd was the huge reduction in impairment losses.

Let us now review RBC Financial (RBCFCL) results for the year ended October 2016.

Changes in financial position

Total assets rose by 3.20 per cent to $85.3 billion from $82.6 billion.

Most of this increase was concentrated under balances with central banks, which climbed to $12.3 billion from $9.3 billion. The sale on its Suriname operations in July 2015 impacted the comparatives of several items on both the assets and liability side.

Investment securities advanced to $13.96 billion from $13.45 billion. The largest component, available-for-sale securities at fair value, rose to $13.82 billion from $13.00 billion. Here, treasury securities rose to $6.84 billion from $5.13 billion and government and state-owned debt moved to $5.2 billion from $4.95 billion. The major decline was shown under corporate debt securities, which fell to $1.69 billion from $2.34 billion.

Loans and advances to customers declined to $36.7 billion from $36.9 billion. Notably, gross mortgages fell to $15.9 billion from $16.4 billion.

Advances to commercial and corporate customers edged up to $15.95 billion from $15.86 billion. Loans to retail customers fell to $6.07 billion from $6.39 billion.

Premises and equipment declined to $1.05 billion from $1.2 billion. Although additions registered at $85.5 million, depreciation charges consumed $159.3 million while disposals reflected $100.2 million. Included in the latter was $69.4 million related to its Suriname operations, which were sold to RFHL.

Cash and equivalents closed at $10.03 billion from $10.58 billion. Treasury bills climbed to $5.0 billion from $3.88 billion while amounts due from other banks fell to $3.99 billion from $5.63 billion.

Total liabilities increased by 2.6 per cent to $67.1 billion from $65.4 billion.

Customers’ deposits closed at $62.65 billion from $60.85 billion, reflecting an improvement of 2.97 per cent.

Deposits from both the state sector and consumers declined; the former closed at $3.56 billion from $4.24 billion while the latter ended at $26.4 billion from $31.9 billion. In contrast, private sector deposits climbed by 36.6 per cent to $30.4 billion from $22.3 billion.

Sums due to associates and affiliated companies fell to $1.43 billion from $1.67 billion.

Other liabilities rose to $1.22 billion from $1.10 billion. Here, the two largest increases were noted under interest payable and “other”; the former rose to $118.9 million from $79 million while the latter jumped to $231 million from $121.3 million.

Equity movements

Total equity improved from $17.21 billion to $18.14 billion. After excluding non-controlling interests of $796 million, shareholders’ equity closed at $17.35 billion (2015: $16.44 billion).

The two largest components of non-controlling interests reflect accumulated retained earnings from RBC Royal Bank Holding (Bahamas) Ltd ($426.7 million) and Finance Corporation of Bahamas Ltd, which accounted for $323.8 million.

The accumulated deficit improved to $956.9 million from $1.52 billion. The brought forward deficit was lowered by current year’s profit of $863 million and then increased by a transfer to the statutory reserve of $106.2 million and a comprehensive loss of $192.6 million. The comprehensive loss reflected the re-measurement of post-retirement benefit obligations.

Other components of equity improved from a negative $205.1 million to a positive $34.3 million. Most of this reflected the benefits of exchange differences on translating foreign operations.

Each of its 12,946,494 shares outstanding had a book value of $1,340.03 (2015: $1,279.74.)

Revenues and profit

Interest income grew marginally to $2.98 billion from $2.93 billion. The interest on loans and advances to customers fell to $2.62 billion from $2.63 billion.

However, interest on investment securities improved to $350.9 million from $283.9 million or by almost 24 per cent.

In contrast, interest expenses contracted to $259 million from $352.5 million. The two most prominent declines were shown under interest on customers’ deposits and other interest bearing liabilities; the former fell to $232.6 million from $290.1 million while the latter shrank to $19.1 million from $50.4 million.

These changes saw net interest income improve by 5.6 per cent to $2.72 billion from $2.58 billion.

Non-interest income expanded by 20.9 per cent to $1.68 billion from $1.39 billion. This improvement was driven by a 21 per cent increase in fees and commissions to $1.15 billion from $953 million.

Within this category, trust and investment management fees declined to $224 million from $243 million.

Both transaction service fees and credit related fees advanced; the former closed at $375.5 million from $321 million while the latter climbed to $551 million from $388 million. Also, foreign exchange earnings rose by 30 per cent to $439 million from $338.5 million.

Non-interest expenses rose by 7 per cent to $3.06 billion from $2.86 billion. Staff costs declined to $1.32 billion from $1.33 billion. In contrast, other operating expenses rose by 32 per cent to $942.7 million from $713.6 million.

Impairment losses on loans and advances contracted to $224.3 million from $356.1 million.

Sixty-three per cent of that impairment figure ($141.6 million) was attributed to mortgages. Although the sums not previously charged and that are now being written off increased to $402.4 million (2015: $324.3 million), the recoveries also improved robustly to $185 million from $34.6 million.

RBCFCL’s share of both associated companies and joint ventures declined. In the case of its associated companies, this contribution fell to $3.1 million from $6.3 million.

This was impacted by the lower profitability of its 31 per cent stake in DFL Caribbean Holdings Ltd. With respect to its 33.3 per cent stake in its joint venture real estate company, RGM Ltd, its share of profits contracted to $1.3 million from $23.5 million.

These movements saw pre-tax profit from continuing operations register at $1.12 billion from $781 million, reflecting a 43 per cent improvement.

In 2015, taxes of $13 million combined with the net loss from its Surinamese operations of $122.3 million pulled down the net profit to $645.5 million. In 2016, taxes of $164.4 million resulted in an after-tax profit of $956.6 million.

These results translate to EPS of $73.89 (2015: $49.86.) However, the group still has some way to go to completely erase its remaining deficit of $956.9 million.

Divisional performance

RBC Royal Bank (T&T) Ltd experienced 5 per cent growth in net interest income and 12.5 per cent improvement in non-interest income. These factors, along with the loans impairment moving from a negative $52 million to a positive $72 million, helped this subsidiary record a robust gain in its pre-tax profit picture.

At RBC Merchant Bank, net interest income improved by almost 22 per cent. In addition, non-interest income expanded by a factor of almost 288 per cent. This subsidiary also experienced positive loan recoveries, which helped its pre-tax income to explode by 1,100 per cent, albeit from a small base.

Both the investment management and trust company experienced profit declines.

The largest profit centres are located outside of Trinidad. They include the very profitable Bahamian operations, to which we alluded earlier.

This grouping also includes subsidiaries in the Eastern Caribbean (Barbados, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines). Operations in the Caymans, Dutch Caribbean and British Virgin Islands also made useful contributions.

Share price of parent company

Royal Bank of Canada is the parent company, which share price, on the Toronto Stock Exchange, rose from C$71.27 on February 1, 2016 to C$95.42 on February 8, 2017; this reflected an appreciation of 33.9 per cent.

During calendar 2016, investors were paid quarterly dividends totalling C$3.24 (calendar 2015: C$3.08).

At the recent price, this reflects a yield of 3.40 per cent.

On February 24, 2017, shareholders will receive their first quarterly dividend of C$0.83. On that same date, the bank will release its results for Q1 2017 (period ended January 31, 2017).

Subsequent events

On January 12, 2017, RBC Royal Bank (T&T) Ltd initiated a voluntary separation and early retirement offer to its permanent, full-time employees.

At about the same time, and after many years of bank resistance, trade union recognition for its staff was obtained.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that relationships between foreign owned companies and local trade unions tend to be progressive and relatively harmonious, when compared with locally owned companies; let us see if that tradition holds true in this case.

In the next article, we will turn the spotlight on Massy Holdings Ltd 2016 results.

Q: Startups face endless issues and founders often forget that their employees are their most valuable asset. I’m a 17-year-old entrepreneur, and I know that my staff’s motivation is critical to a company’s success.

But during tough times, how do you embrace failure while helping your team stay motivated?

— Elviss Straupenieks, Latvia

Failure is an inevitable part of running a business. That fact doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, but it is important to remember; especially when things aren’t going well with your company.

One key thing to keep in mind: When times are bad, it’s important not to place the blame on your team. They will be dealing with the same feelings of deflation, and will look to you for guidance on how to respond.

Years ago, before my first full-time business, Student magazine, was up and running, I’d already failed at a few businesses; namely selling Christmas trees and breeding budgerigars. Student was a critical success, but it struggled to make money. However, rather than focus on the negatives, I remained upbeat, and my team followed suit.

With a positive mindset, we were able to focus on a part of the business that was working well for the magazine: selling mail-order records. Eventually, we transformed from a magazine business into a music company. You could either see this as a failed commercial magazine; or a great steppingstone to the whole world of Virgin!

As I said, bad times are inevitable for entrepreneurs. Here are my four steps for helping to motivate a team during these times:

1. START TALKING:

As soon as possible, begin discussions with your team about what’s going wrong with the business. Have an honest and open dialogue in which everyone can offer their ideas and opinions. Discourage them from blaming others, but own your personal mistakes and allow other team members to do the same. Encourage your people to bring their expertise into these conversations. Nobody else knows their area of the business better than they do, so let them share their views on what’s happening.

2. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE:

It’s important to dissect what has happened and perform a post-mortem on your business to make sure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. But it’s equally important to be focused on what happens next. When things go wrong in business, consider it an opportunity to take stock and determine whether you’re heading in the right direction. Decide whether your business could benefit from pivoting its focus to something else maybe one part of your product or service is proving popular even if the business as a whole isn’t working out. If that’s the case, re-focus your efforts on this aspect.

3. REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED:

When everything goes wrong, it’s easy to forget why you got into business in the first place. But remind yourself why you were passionate about this project. As I’ve written before, no business will succeed if the only goal is to make money. Whenever we launch a new Virgin business, we look at how we can offer a product or service that’s truly different from what everyone else in the industry is offering. So during tough times, stop and think back to when you launched your startup. What was it that you wanted to achieve? Spend time with your team, discuss your goals, and revise them if necessary.

4. PRIORITISE YOUR STAFF:

Remember that above everything else in your business, your staff should be No. 1. If your people are happy and engaged, customers will follow. I’ve spent much of my time during the past 40 years working out how we take care of our staff at Virgin. We have now set up many different initiatives to help our people enjoy a healthy work-life balance. At Virgin Management, for instance, this includes flexible working schedules, unlimited leave and shared parental leave. These programs have been successful, and they’re a great reminder that if you look after your people, they will look after your business.

As you mentioned, Elviss, your staff is your most important asset. Entrepreneurs are only as strong as the teams that surround them. But you need to make sure that you include them in conversations when times are tough. The people on the front lines of your business will often have the best ideas on how to improve things for customers.

Keep your staff focused on the future, rather than getting bogged down in what’s happening at the moment and remember, above all else, that a happy staff will lead to a successful business.

(Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group and companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active. He maintains a blog at www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/richardbranson. To learn more about the Virgin Group: www.virgin.com.) (Questions from readers will be answered in future columns. Please send them to Richard.Branson@nytimes.com. Please include your name, country, email address and the name of the website or publication where you read the column.)

 Hotels in Trinidad will see full occupancy for the Carnival period but more needs to be done to ensure there is full occupancy rates in hotels for the rest of the year, says Brian Frontin, CEO, Trinidad Hotels, Restau­rants & Tourism Association (THRTA).

“We tend to analyse Port-of-Spain and en­virons separate from those in the rest of the country. Outside of Port-of-Spain, generally, it trends around 50 to 55 per cent occupancy during Carnival.

“The Port-of-Spain properties are trend­ing to 100 per cent. We are seeing lengths of stay—which is how many nights people are booking for—and it seems to be five to seven days. This is also a good sign because there is a longer stay period. People will be checking in on Wednesdays or Thursdays, throughout the weekend until the next week,” he told the Business Guardian in an interview on Monday.

Frontin said those checking in are generally foreigners with 80 to 90 per cent of the guests originating out of Trinidad.

He added there have not been any major cancellations due to the recent US travel re­strictions in which US President Trump signed an executive order to ban immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries entering the United States.

The American court system eventually agreed to an injunction that stayed the ap­plication of the decree.

“This has not featured on the arrival trends for Carnival. Trinidadians from overseas re­turning for Carnival seem not to be impacted by this US travel ban even though there were advisories by certain US attorneys that person with green cards should refrain from travel back to their countries of origin,” he said.

In January, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minis­ter of Community Development, Culture and Arts, spoke about stagnant tourist arrivals and dwindling audiences at Carnival events.

The minister was responding to an urgent question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark shortly before the adjournment of the Upper House last month on the issue of the confu­sion surrounding the roles of Pan Trinbago, Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco), the National Carnival Bandleaders As­sociation (NCBA) and the National Carnival Commission (NCC) in the staging of Carnival.

Hotel occupancy figures

According to the THRTA, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) statistics show that for the year 2016 tourist arrivals in T&T totalled 408,782. This was a seven per cent decline from 2015 as the total tourist arrivals in the country for that year was 439, 749.

Frontin also spoke about a decline in hotel room occupancy, comparing December 2016 to December 2015.

He said this data is based on 60 per cent of the room stock availability in Trinidad.

“Occupancy in those hotels fell by eight per cent and this trend resulted in a loss of earnings. The hotels reported a nine per cent reduction in earnings as well moving from US $96 million in 2015 to US $87.8 million at the end of 2016. So there was material drop both in terms of occupancy and revenue.

“The knock-on impact to that is less Gov­ernment tax. The ten per cent room tax that the Government earns would have fallen as well,” he said.

Frontin attributes this fall to deficiencies in T&T’s destination marketing. He explained that this term means an awareness of where T&T is.

“When people know where the destination is then they can start exploring the opportu­nities like hotels, restaurants, tours and other attractions. The drop is in T&T’s major source markets which are the USA, Canada and the Caribbean.”

Frontin said he does not want to blame any single individual or organisation but, at the same time, he believes the Government has the key responsibility, through the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Development Company (TDC), in the marketing of T&T as a destination.

“The private sector through the THRTA and other associations has a role to influence where this marketing should take place because ob­viously our properties are familiar with the trends in terms of traveling, guests and others.”

Frontin said the country cannot have a sit­uation with these types of declines because while Carnival is trending this influx is only for five to seven days.

“If the country is talking about economic diversification, the trends are not indicat­ing that the arrivals are there to support the earnings for the hotels that produce the tax dollar and the jobs. Carnival, by itself, cannot be the bumper part of the year. After all there are 365 days.”

He gave tourist arrivals statistics for the Carnival period in February, for the last three years for T&T combined.

In 2014, it was 44,029; in 2015, 48, 000 and in 2016, the figure was 42,000.

“The reason for the increase from 2014 to 2015—which was a very good year for hotels and arrivals—had a lot to do with the intro­duction of the Jet Blue flight in 2014. There would have been more air lift coming out of North America, between New York and Flor­ida. There was definitely more connectivity,” he said.

Frontin said only at the end of the month of February would the association have an idea of what the tourist arrivals are for this Carnival season.

“While the hotel occupancy rate for the Carnival period is 100 per cent, for the rest of the year it is only over 60 per cent,” he said.

Joint marketing

Frontin said countries like Barbados and Jamaica are putting their brands onto the international market and so must Trinidad.

“Their hotels would be able to engage with the interested travelers. This is why destina­tion promotion is so important.”

To remedy this, Frontin said his association has made a series of recommendations to the Government through the Ministry of Tourism. They have also called for a joint marketing committee between the private sector and the Government, where they help guide where the marketing should be focused.

“We believe our tax dollars—through the room tax—is significant enough for us to have a voice and a seat at the table in discussing where our hotels need the marketing to be. We are awaiting feedback from the Government on those proposals.”

Given the country’s economic slump, he said it now more urgent than ever to use tourism as one of the drivers of economic diversification.

“In a crisis, you have to make bold and delib­erate decisions very quickly because markets and tourists do not wait on you to get yourself together. They will go to what is being pro­moted and what is being advertised.”

Frontin also spoke about the benefits of promoting the two islands of Trinidad and Tobago as separate brands.

“Going forward, we need to be focused on how we market Trinidad and Tobago. If you listen to the newly appointed Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), he would like the THA to focus on marketing Tobago as a brand and the establishment of a tourism authority to promote and market Tobago as a brand.

“I think this is a very positive direction for the THA. What we need, in turn, is very focused activity for Trinidad. This can only come from the Ministry of Tourism and the TDC,” he said.

In the midst of the Trinidad Carnival season, the sound of steelpan isn't rare to hear.

However, hearing the sound of steelpan on a popular radio station morning show in Dubai may not be as common.

Yesterday, Trinidad and Tobago national Justin Homer, wearing the national colours of red, white and black, played the notes of popular, pop song Cheap Thrills by Sia and Sean Paul, while at the Virgin Radio morning show in Dubai.

Homer, who is a professional pannist described the process of making the steelpan and thanked his mother for introducing him to steelpan.

See video below:

The 38-year-old St Augustine woman who was reported as missing by her common-law husband has returned home, telling police she was never missing.

In a release yesterday, the T&T Police Service  said Hema Kissoon of Agostini Street had been found.

It said the woman returned home on Wednesday and had indicated to police that she was "never missing."

Kissoon was reported as missing by her common-law husband Ian Murray on Monday.

Chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB), Dr Terrence Farrell, yesterday lamented the inadequacy of incentives and other kinds of support for investment in export-generating activities.

Speaking at a news conference to launch the EDAB new website at its Nicholas Tower, Port-of-Spain offices, Farrell said: “Government’s economic policies are not conducive to the local private sector investing in T&T’s non-energy, export sector.

“We have in place a structure to facilitate incentives for the energy sector, but we have not crafted an incentive structure to encourage the local private sector to invest in export- generating activities.”

Farrell said government support, in the form of commercial diplomacy, would be necessary for the local private sector to penetrate new markets such as Cuba.

Farrell, an economist and former central banker, said the EDAB had completed seven advisory notes to the government since its appointment in November 2015. The advisory notes include recommendations on the deepening of relations between T&T and Cuba, the establishment of a heritage fund and current macro-economic policy management.

He said the board is working on a diversification roadmap, which it hopes to deliver in the next few weeks.

The roadmap will set a goal for T&T to increase the foreign exchange earnings from the non-energy sector to 40 per cent by 2030 from 15 per cent now.

Farrell said T&T is not going to diversify by focusing on one large industry or project as he believes that the process of developing export-generating industries would involve “a large number of small things, rather than just one thing.” He said: “There is not going to be the non-energy equivalent of a Point Lisas in the country’s future.”

Asked whether T&T’s exchange rate was appropriate for the diversification thrust, Farrell said one of the elements of diversification is export competitiveness and a factor in export competitiveness is the exchange rate.

The economist said an exchange rate can be a tool of development but it can also be used for macro-economic adjustment.

“One price does different things. As a tool of macro-economic adjustment, I have articulated on a number of occasions over the last few years that the exchange rate needs to be adjusted,” the EDAB chairman said.

On the issue of the legal battle by the Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Delisle Worrell, to keep his job, Farrell described the situation as “unfortunate,” but he added that for central banks printing money—financing a government’s fiscal deficit by loans from the central bank—is equivalent to a “mortal sin.”

The Ministry of Works and Transport is advising that due to a depression in the middle lane before the lighthouse, westbound into Port of Spain, there is a backup of traffic in this area.

Motorists are being advised to use alternative routes into Port of Spain.

The Ministry says it has contacted the relevant authorities to assist in returning the lane to its normal operation in the shortest amount of time.

The depression has occurred in the same area where a sinkhole occurred in 2012.

As of noon, slow-moving traffic stretched from the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, winding its way on to the Solomon Hochoy highway as far South as the Caroni Flyover.

News reports in the United Kingdom are reporting that T&T native  and former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke was denied transit access to Miami because of an Iranian stamp in his passport.

According to the Mirror UK, Yorke had previously played in a charity match in Iran in August 2015 and was prevented from passing through customs and immigration in Miami.

The news agency reported that money raised from the charity game was donated to people suffering from multiple sclerosis.

US President Donald Trump, early this year announced a 90 day ban on nationals of seven muslim countries and people who had visited those countries.

Those countries were Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The ban was overturned by US courts.

The Priority Bus Route (PBR) has been opened to the public up to midnight today in order to alleviate traffic congestion currently plaguing hundreds of motorists.

The Ministry of Works and Transport in a press release said the opening of the PBR was expected to alleviate the traffic congestion caused by the depression near the Port-of-Spain light house.

Reports are that the depression was caused by a burst water main.

Repair work on the ruptured Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) line along the west-bound lane of the Beetham Highway, near Sea Lots will be conducted overnight.

The ruptured line cause a miles-long line of standstill traffic since early this morning and continued after midday.

In a release WASA, attributed the cause to a broken millimeter diameter pipeline.

The authority said temporary road restoration works were being carried out to facilitate free flow of vehicular traffic.

Repairs of the ruptured pipeline will be undertaken from 9 pm to 5 am on Saturday. 

WASA said during the period of repair, motorists are advised to proceed with caution on the vicinity of the work site and obey the instructions of the police officers on duty.

Three schools in the county of Victoria remained closed indefinitely yesterday, leaving hundreds of pupils in limbo.

Among the schools closed were San Fernando Seventh Day Adventist primary school at Pouchet Street, San Fernando Girls Government Primary on Rushworth Street, and Vistabella Presbyterian school at Circular Road, San Fernando.

Since January 16, the San Fernando Seventh Day Adventist was closed after a sexual pervert broke into the girls' washroom and prepositioned a child. The predator entered the school compound via a broken fence and after making sexual advances at the child, he scaled the rear wall of the school and escaped.

However, although the fence has been repaired more than a week ago, the school is still closed after officials of the Ministry of Health deemed the building unsafe. A school source said a team from the Health ministry visited the school yesterday and found evidence of mould. 

"They indicated that the school building is unsafe and the entire structure has to be broken down but we are worried about where the children will be placed," a parent said. The school officials said arrangements are being made to accomodate the pupils at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Cocoyea or at the Ste Madeleine Community Complex. An emergency meeting is expected to be held with the parents on Monday at 1 pm, at the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Poucet Street.

Meanwhile, the San Fernando Girls Government Primary school also remained closed yesterday. A few parents were seen entering the school gates and collecting letters from the principal. A grandfather who requested anonymity said the closure occurred because of a faulty sewer system which caused the principal to dismiss classes early last week.

"This week they said that the school will be closed for two weeks until the Ministry of Education repairs the sewer," the grandfather said. Saying he had no complaints, the grandfather said he hoped that the matter will be rectified soon so that there could be normalcy at the school.

At the Vistabella Presbyterian School, classes also remained suspended as the Ministry of Education made arrangements to fix a leaking sewer. Chairman of the Presbyterian Primary School Board Calyle Mulchan said a contract has already been awarded and the scope of works has been completed.

"The contractors will begin work this weekend and it may take five to six days to get the job completed," Mulchan said. He added that Standard Five pupils were transferred to the Sushamachar Presbyterian Church where classes resumed yesterday. Pupils from Infants and Standards One to Four will remain at home until the sewer system is fixed.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia could not be contacted on his cellular phone but in an earlier interview said the repars at Vistbella will be completed soon. Contacted yesterday, Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan said he could not give an update on the schools as officials were engaged in a meeting.

Mutilating and defacing of the national emblems is strictly prohibited.

This is the warning coming from the Ministry of National Security today, days after members of the public started sharing a version of this country's Coat of Arms, featuring alcohol brands, maxi taxis and caricatures of women gyrating on the shield.

The ministry said it was generally observed that during the Carnival season, revellers engaged in displaying these emblems in a manner that "is not usually in keeping with the highest regard associated with their use."

The ministry encouraged citizens to cherish and respect the symbols of nationhood within T&T's communities and in Cyberspace.

"The Ministry of National Security wishes to remind the general public that the national emblems of Trinidad and Tobago are the Coat of Arms, the National Flag and the National Flower (Chaconia).

"The Ministry of National Security also takes the opportunity to invite to the attention of the citizenry that the national emblems are regarded as sacrosanct and must be treated accordingly."

The Camejo brothers stole both titles – the Junior and Secondary Category titles of the National School’s Soca Monarch Finals.

Stefan Camejo, 12, of Sacred Heart Boys’, copped this year’s title for the fourth consecutive time with his song “Back on de Road.” His older brother, Sergio, 17, placed first in the Senior category with his hit “Daz yuh Business.”

When the announcement was made of his second win in four years, the entire Grand Stand area of the Queens Park Savannah erupted with screams and shouts of joy.

Sergio, a student of Our Lady of Fatima College, immediately grabbed his brother and lifted him onto his shoulder where he did his victory jig in front of scores of school children from various schools throughout T&T.

Both brothers expressed joy and said they were “so shocked” they could just “run up and down.”

Second place in the Junior category went to N’Janela Duncan-Regis of Eshe’s Learning Centre, Third place winner was Terry Perez of Arima Boys’ Government and Fourth place went to Sharla Grant of Lower Cumuto Government.

In the senior category: second place went to Osei David of St George’s College, placing third was Denisia Martimbor of St Anthony’s College and coming in fourth was Desle Julien of St Mary’s College.

Tobago hoteliers are struggling to keep their heads above water. The Tobago Chamber of Commerce says arrivals have fallen from a high of 80 thousand to a paltry 19 thousand last year. The Tobago Chamber points out that from an estimated 30 million visitors to the region in 2016, Tobago only claimed two per cent of those visitors. By the way, 80 thousand isn’t all that impressive either. Last year’s abysmal figure though, suggests Tobago’s tourism industry is in suspended animation.

Accounts of closures of small guest houses and restaurants on the sister isle echo the desperation recently vented by their Trini counterparts also afflicted with anaemic international arrivals.

It has been suggested by some industry players that the state’s marketing of T&T is poorly funded. To quote a Soundgarden lyric, “money can’t give what the truth takes away.” The TDC must face one glaring truth. Whatever we’ve been doing to market our islands isn’t working. A marketing software update is long overdue.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the sector can see the marketing of our country as a destination is laughably outdated. If that hasn’t quite sunk in, take a look the TDC’s YouTube page, which houses countless promotional videos. Examine the view counts on the videos; that’s the number of people actually watching them. Those figures are embarrassingly low.

Here’s one big problem, most of those videos are advertisements. Now nothing is wrong with conventional advertising if it’s part of a marketing strategy that recognises a changed global tourism market. Even with the most striking footage edited to mellifluous music, old-school advertising is a bit player in today’s global industry. The contemporary traveller generally pushes away from anything that has the look and feel of a sales pitch. Instead they go online and read blogs and frank reviews about destinations. They tend to favour videos with an organic feel. People gravitate towards stories told, either by residents in destinations that arouse their curiosity, or by fellow travellers who record and share their experiences.

For a prospective traveller viewing videos on the TDC’s YouTube page with the volume turned down, the aesthetics could be applied to any tropical destination. Kite surfing, cocktails with beautiful people at sundown; all this can be had in any number tropical tourist traps around the world. Additionally, sticking in footage of the scarlet ibis or hiking trails in the rainforest isn’t enough to sell us as a destination with a difference. Costa Rica and Dominica are just two of our many rivals offering the same ecotourism product to an intensely competitive market. Merely ramping up our online presence without a considered emphasis on the type of content that’s published is just a waste of limited resources.

The TDC recently launched an app meant to boost our visibility in the online community. While it’s harmless enough, there is one hitch. The app appears to cater primarily to people who already have T&T on their radar. It’s only useful to locals or someone thinking about travelling to this destination. The question is, what are we doing to help us get found as a destination online?

As suckers for superlatives, we’ve convinced ourselves that we have the best food, the best carnival, the best limes and so on. While there is considerable debate on the credibility of those claims, it doesn’t really matter because it amounts to little more than chatter amongst ourselves.

The hint of what lay ahead in Monday’s Fatca legislation debate came the minute Opposition MP, Roodal Moonilal spoke.

“This is the moment when we stand here possibly, without favour, but also without fear,” Moonilal stated as he began the Opposition’s replies on the issues that day.

His words, as it turned out, was Opposition speak for “Not-So-Fast-To-The-Vote.”

And translated, almost eight hours later, into action with Government bowing to the Opposition’s demand for more time (again) to examine further aspects of the Fatca matter and reconvene (again) next Thursday on it.

Game, set and match to the Opposition. Upset naturally, evident by Government MPs via a variety of reactions.

OPM Minister, MP Stuart Young trading his normally affable demeanour for non-veiled anger at the Opposition’s perceived filibustering.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert, vexed to the point of shedding his usual acerbic cool in favour of sputtering and succumbing to the distraction of Opposition barbs pelted throughout his delivery. Imbert repeatedly pleaded with the House Speaker for protection while colleagues Camille Robinson-Regis and Prime Minister Keith Rowley advised, “Don’t take them on...”

Rowley’s team having represented the full gamut of adverse reaction to the Opposition’s move, PM then shared his own dim view of proceedings with ominously icy calm as he acknowledged what had occurred.

He however warned, “We started this last September and it is going to end next week Thursday... for the second time we would go back to the JSC. And it will be the last time.”

Government had come to Parliament in relatively genial mood for what the administration obviously thought would have been the Fatca Finale.

A more humble approach was evident in Imbert’s tone when he piloted the Joint Select Committee report which had examined the bill (as the Opposition requested). He dispensed with his usual chastisement and accusations about Opposition delay concerning the bill which he’d liberally used in previous Fatca sessions.

Recounting the history of the legislation since September, Imbert diplomatically avoided articulating—as he once did—that the Opposition had walked out (twice) on days the bill was to be debated.

Anticipation of successful passage may have prompted him to re-term those occasions as sessions when the Opposition “didn’t participate.”

But the Opposition wasn’t moved.

Moonilal from the start of his contribution employed all the directness which Imbert appeared to have ditched.

“It’s public knowledge the Government went kicking and screaming to the JSC,” Moonilal noted. Nor did Moonilal’s colleagues sugar-coat their own subsequent concerns: about the JSC report, the chairman’s behaviour, the Bankers’ Association, the former US Ambassador etc, et al.

“In a sense, we’ve caught the Government, you might say, with their pants down on this one,” declared UNC’s Dr Bhoe Tewarie.

Possibly one perspective on the Opposition’s power in the matter via its votes which Government needs to pass the bill. Despite Carnival in the air, nobody was (openly) saying the Opposition had held Government in that grip and was “working” them politically. Payback? Since Tewarie noted, “The Government has been on this Fatca issue in a political way rather than a governmental way.”

UNC’s Ganga Singh summarised the challenge. “Government is of the view if they continue the JSC process, we’ll shift the goal post... we’re of the view, they want to push this down our throat and bully their way... so we must find common ground.”

Following Government’s disappointed replies—and the Parliament Chamber devoid of love on Monday’s Valentine Eve—agreement for resumption next Thursday was sealed. Glumness on one side. Glee, the other.

Timing of the situation—arising ahead of Caricom’s Intersessional meeting over Thursday and yesterday—was enough to remind PM of the last Caricom Intersessional in Belize which was also grappling with Fatca, damaging its economy.

This week’s Caricom Intersessional in Guyana also featured the compliance issue and threat posed to the banking system by Fatca derisking and de-banking. Rowley said it was so serious Caricom heads have obtained the support of the Chilean President to lead a team to Washington to “ensure we’re not penalised accidentally.”

Whether that—and leaders’ discussions—offers an “out” for T&T, remains to unfold when Rowley reports on returning home today.

Caricom Communications director Leonard Robertson says, the matter was likely discussed—among the US situation—at leaders’ caucus on Thursday.

Intersessional focus was on economic growth, crime and security (where Rowley is spokesman) and international relations—the latter particularly important, considering recent US administration changes, and Brexit ahead. Robertson said Caricom ambassadors in the US met last month to discuss the regional effects of the situation.

Between what Rowley brings back from Caricom and next Thursday’s debate, the next Fatca chapter is yet to take shape.