Barbados has suffered 17 previous downgrades – mostly by the international credit ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s. The latter downgraded Barbados ten times since 2009, moving the country’s credit rating form BBB+ to B-, which is in junk territory, while the former downgraded Barbados seven times since 2009, from B3 to Caa1.

The latest downgrade appears to reflect a lack of proactive decision-taking, a high level of central bank financing and policy inaction. In providing details of the rationale for their decision, S&P notes that, “The high level of central bank financing underscores the challenges associated with timely corrective fiscal policy actions. The government plans to present the 2017-2018 Budget in the coming month. While it seemingly aims to rely on increased recourse to asset sales to fund the deficit, in our view, the prospects for deeper expenditure or revenue adjustment are uncertain, underscored by the poor track record of execution. This comes as the country moves into an electoral cycle, with parliamentary elections due by February 2018. Furthermore, one-off revenues from the sale of the Barbados National Terminal Company are still pending after initially expected to materialise a year ago. This demonstrates policy inaction and prospects for slow progress on asset sales. The streamlining of state-owned enterprise finances is behind schedule, and their management continues to weigh on Barbados’ fiscal profile.”

It has to be noted that, “from April to December 2016 (the first nine months of fiscal 2016-2017) the Central Bank of Barbados, and, to a lesser degree, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) in effect wholly financed the government’s borrowing needs. Private domestic financial institutions reduced their exposure to government securities, and the government paid down external debt”.

It can be argued that the downgrade of Barbados’ ratings and the negative outlook assigned are driven by concerns over the continued high fiscal deficit and increasing debt burden, which is being financed by the printing of money, creating a challenge for maintaining the fixed exchange rate, and by the delay in several tourism-related foreign direct investments (FDI) projects. One wonders if the warning by the previous Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados was not what was needed. The decision to get rid of him raises real concerns about the motivation of the Government of Barbados. Was their action a reflection of an attempt to silence voices concerned with the decisions taken by the Government?

The Barbados Prime Minister has been dismissive of the views of the rating agency. Such an approach is very unwise. Even if there is no intention about going to international market to raise capital, there are loans taken out with regional institutions and bonds issued on the local market. Certainly, local investors and regional creditors would take notice and minimise their exposure to a country that has been downgraded 17 times.

We need to ask about our financial institutions’ exposure to Barbados. When was the last time stress tests were conducted to test the exposure to Barbados? Our Government needs to pay attention from several perspectives to what is happening to Barbados and not make similar mistakes, adopt unproductive attitudes, or fail to protect our financial system. We do not want another bailout as was the case with CL Financial and Hindu Credit Union.

Together they are seeking to engage parents in education transformation, providing the technological tools for their children’s educational success, empowering parents and motivating children to do better.

“Good Remedies A Parent Should Exercise Socially (GRAPES)” is a six-step programme created by Keron LesPierre, CEO of GRAPES For A Good Life Ltd, which launched the programme in mid- 2014. His goal is to reduce poverty and give children opportunities for a better life by ensuring their access to technology, a better education and a fulfilling career. “I want parents to know that their children can have a better quality education through affordable technology,” he stressed.

Praising the programme for its vision and ambition, TSTT’s Senior Manager Brand Public Relations and External Affairs Graeme Suite encouraged parents to take advantage of children’s seemingly natural interest in electronic devices and channel that into an engaging study programme.

“Having access to technology and being as comfortable with it as with a pencil, can help children improve academic and extracurricular performance and better prepare them for the 21st century workplace.”

The GRAPES six-steps programme brings together parents, teachers, educators, education consultants, psychologists, a savings institution and tertiary education counsellors. The programme provides guidance to parents and guardians on parental involvement at school and parenting best practices, whilst the technology provided can be used to facilitate online parent/teacher conferences for the busy parent, interactive chatrooms for parents to engage with each other and keep abreast of school activities, and networking fora where schools and teachers can form groups and build networks via online networking.

“GRAPES has seen success with individual parents signing up and witnessing their children’s academic performance improve by 60-70 per cent” said LesPierre. “The vision that GRAPES Ltd and sponsors like TSTT share is to see all primary school children benefit. The programme can make a radical difference in primary school education and we have been reaching out to school principals and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to introduce them to GRAPES.”

Recognising the financial constraints that many parents face, in November 2016, LesPierre began a new initiative aimed at middle to lower income parents in the primary school system engaging them in Education System Transformation.

Under this programme – for $1 down and $25 a week for 17 months – GRAPES will provide a new, two-in-one, laptop/tablet combo from Microsoft; one year unlimited online practice in Math, Language Arts and Creative Writing; and daily monitoring of the student’s work with monthly online reports. It will also provide one student learning style assessment and one personality/ career assessment by qualified consultants.

GRAPES will conduct training sessions with parents, teachers and students to teach them how to use the laptop and online learning resources, at home and in the classroom, to make learning more exciting and fulfilling. GRAPES has also committed to donating 10-30 desktop computers to upgrade the computer laboratory in any school that registers a minimum of 100 students in the programme.

Excited about the programme’s potential to revolutionise primary school education in Trinidad and Tobago, LesPierre noted that, “As of February 2017, just over 250 children were actively doing the GRAPES programme under the news schools initiative, while four schools have signed up and 168 laptops have been distributed.”

One Principal who has embraced the GRAPES initiative at her school is Meluna Grant, who runs the private school, Christian Primary Academy in Arima. While the programme is very new to her school, Grant said the laptops were good quality and very reasonably priced and would help her students develop into technology-ready, 21st century citizens. “It’s the technological age…our students need to be able to broaden their awareness of what is happening in the world around them.”

Noting that writing for many children was a challenge and that today’s students would usually opt for a device as opposed to a traditional toy, Ms Grant said, “I am 100 per cent sure they will get more done using a laptop and parents will have peace of mind that the children are learning in a safe environment since the child would be able to work from home. “The programme will enhance the quality of education for our children,” she said, noting that the programme made learning and owning a laptop easy and flexible.

One parent from her school fully agrees. Rhonda Lynch-Watts has signed up her nine-year-old and six-year-old sons and has already seen them motivated to do more work online; while the programme’s kindergarten level has attracted her three-year-old daughter and the laptop/tablet design “is an easy platform for them.”

Noting that her sons perform very well academically but need to be challenged and get bored easily, she said the GRAPES programme was filling that need. It also taps into their competitive nature, she added, noting that her older son liked the sticker rewards, the competitive aspects of the levels, and the personalised certificates received via e-mail when you complete a level.

Lynch-Watts said she also particularly liked the programme’s parent support platform where you could access information relating to child development and how to engage children in learning, as well as have access to a GRAPES teacher when you had any questions.

Against this backdrop, OPEC tried to engage shale producers in dialogue. During the CERAWeek Conference in Houston, despite openly trying to drive oil prices down and inflict mortal wounds on the shale producers, OPEC officials attempted to address their differences with Shale producers to cut down on market volatility. It is reported that OPEC’s Secretary- General had meetings with shale executives, and met with investment banks to better understand OPEC actions on the market. One can only wonder if any consensus was arrived at between these previously warring competitors.

In an obvious effort to exert some market discipline the Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih issued a warning to shale companies that they should think carefully and not move too quickly. Again, one has to wonder what the thinking is since shale producers could begin production from within nine days of a full shut down. What does “move too quickly” mean in this context? Of course, the argument presented is that OPEC would not bail out the shale industry if it makes unjustifiable investments. A shale executive told Reuters that Khalid al-Falih said “we and other shale producers should not automatically assume OPEC will extend the cuts”. The statement is so relevant given the fall in oil prices that are set against fears of oversupply.

Such developments have placed considerable weight as well as speculation on OPEC’s production cuts. There is the question whether the cartel will consider extending their deal through the end of 2017. To this, OPEC officials responded that they would delay any action until May when an examination of US inventory levels will be undertaken and then the appropriate response will be adopted.

However, oil prices are already falling; if there is no extension of the cuts this will imply losses soon. Analyst such as Tamas Varga at London-based PVM brokerage have argued that “If OPEC doesn’t extend the deal, that would be price suicide, plain and simple”.

We need to assess the ability of OPEC’s members to ensure compliance with the deal in which OPEC and 11 non-members in December 2016 decided to trim supply by as much as 1.8 million barrels a day. OPEC’s total output remains 550,000 barrels a day above the target set out in the November 30 deal. That means the group as a whole is only about 60 percent of the way toward the production level it deems necessary to eliminate a global oversupply and boost prices.

Certainly, our readers would have heard about the role of speculators and the effects of their actions on oil prices and the oil market. As returns on investment fell globally, commodities proved to be a great avenue to improve on the rate of return investors received, at least those who were willing to take the risks. One thing is certain – there are several speculators who have made large investments in crude oil. This includes both hedge funds and institutional investors. Such record positions are under review and it is expected that that the changes that have taken place in market sentiments would lead to these so called speculators looking to get out of the oil market.

There are those who think that the speed at which these speculators leave the oil market could determine the nature of the price changes that will take place. John Kilduff, founding partner at hedge fund Again Capital, suggested that a steep decline in the price of oil could see oil fall to $42 per barrel by the end of April. The liquidation of their positions ends a rally which began possibly in October and/ or November 2016 and ended on February 1, 2017.

Going forward we need to monitor the actions of speculators on the international price of crude oil as well as gas. The rapid unwinding of their positions could have a serious dampening effect on oil prices. This will effect government’s revenues, foreign exchange earnings, and business sentiment.

More importantly the anticipated recovery in the energy sector was predicated, not only on an increase in gas production from new fields, but also some firming up of prices tending toward US$60 a barrel. The end of the 100 percent write-off in capital investment in the first year, while welcomed, will be inadequate to counter a dramatic fall in oil and gas prices. Such a possibility we have to plan for.

The mountain immortelle (Erythrina poeppigiana) is native to inland Venezuela and was probably brought here in the 19th century to shade the cocoa plantations.

Between 1870 and 1920, a great boom in cocoa production resulted in vast areas of our forests being felled, to make way for cocoa trees. Cocoa is naturally an understorey tree and needs partial shade to flourish and bear well.

Furthermore, the plantations tended to deplete the soil of nitrogen.

Trees of the legume family, such as the immortelle, are able to use nitrogen from the atmosphere and “fix” it into a usable form as a natural fertiliser –thanks to special bacteria found in its roots.

The mountain immortelle liked it here.

It began to spread naturally and now grows widely on both islands.

Like a true native, it became an integral part of our islands’ ecology and culture. Epiphytes loved it and some trees became extensively covered with bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes that are productive and important components of our ecosystems.

As we enter the dry season, the brilliant orange of these trees in bloom can now be seen throughout the country, but what really makes the flowering of the immortelle a true national festival is the parade of life that accompanies the flowering season.

The flowers are prolific nectar factories. In fact the genus co-evolved with nectivorous birds, particularly hummingbirds in the New World.

It is not uncommon to see ten to 20 hummingbirds from six or seven species on a single flowering immortelle. The spectacularly coloured honeycreepers, tanagers and, of course, bananaquits, mix with them.

Bees use the nectar as an important source for their honey.

The flowers are actually edible and oropendolas and green amazon parrots are often there feeding as well.

Besides birds, monkeys are also known to eat them and both leaves and flowers are eaten by insects. This tree has become a key player in a large man-made ecosystem of cocoa estates, now largely abandoned, that cover our islands.

Thank goodness for them. The presence of the understorey cocoa and coffee, and the overhanging immortelles and other shade trees preserved a semblance of a forest structure and help to preserve our soils and hillsides. Our islands are still green, despite the extensive clearing of primary forests for agriculture and other forms of land use.

But, did you know there were other immortelles here before the mountain immortelle arrived? We have two native species of Erythrina.

The “swamp” or “water immortelle” (Erythrina fusca) grows naturally in our lowlands and also is used to shade cocoa.

Its lighter coloured flowers are less spectacular, but beautiful, nonetheless and like all of the 130 Erythrina species worldwide, their flowers are well suited for pollination by birds.

While the mountain immortelle’s seeds are apparently swallowed and regurgitated by birds, the seeds of the “water mortel” disperse in water by floating.

The “wild immortelle” or “jumbie bead” (Erythrina pallida) is a widely occurring smaller tree with a spectacular but small inflorescence that may be at eye level, suddenly coming into the view of a hiker or naturalist rambler.

The first time I saw this flower was on Paria Beach, being visited by a hummingbird with a really long bill. In retrospect, I now know that this bird was the longbilled starthroat. Only this species and two of our hermit hummingbirds seem to have long enough bills to reach the nectaries at the base of the tubular flowers.

The bright red “jumbie bead” seeds of this tree are perhaps better known than the flowers, being traditionally used ornamentally in art and craft products.

Shouldn’t we teach our children about these trees in our beautiful islands? Perhaps, they should know that there is another “Carnival” explosion of colour in our country! For more info on our natural environment contact the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club at admin@ ttfnc.org or www.ttfnc.

org and our Facebook or YouTube pages.

The project titled Youth Entrepreneurship in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) was launched recently with 20 participants in the first of three phases at the bpTT Mayaro Resource Centre (MRC).

The first training session centred on Techniques for making Signature Sauces into Successful Businesses.

The second and third phases which will be conducted later this month, will concentrate on Processing of Candied Fruits and Processing of Vegetable Pickles, respectively.

The agri-business initiative is the brainchild of Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries Clarence Rambharat, to develop avenues to foster entrepreneurship, new business creation and employment generation among the youths of the Mayaro/Rio Claro region.

Standing in for the minister at the official launch was parliamentary secretary Avinash Singh who underscored the commitment of the ministry in partnering with the corporate sector to develop sustainable employment opportunities in agriculture. “We are happy that bpTT has come on board to make this initiative a reality. Agriculture is a business and you have to be profitable to stay in it. These workshops are designed to develop entrepreneurs in specific agri-business enterprise. The opportunity is here, take it,” Singh told the participants.

He appealled to the budding entrepreneurs to look at the opportunity “not only in dollars and cents but to enjoy it if you want to stay in it.” Joel Primus, community sustainability and stakeholder relations advisor, bpTT , said the company was honoured to support the YEAP initiative because “we believe in fostering development through youth training in enterprise development and through education.

“The exciting part of this programme is that it aims to introduce young people to the business side of agriculture.

It has added significance because it focuses on the young people of the Mayaro/ Rio Claro region. As you may know, we call Mayaro our host community,” Primus noted.

Primus also pointed out that successful YEAP participants can access funding from bpTT ’s Mayaro Initiative for Private Enterprise Development (MIPED), which provides funding for medium and small businesses.

Cariri’s CEO, Liaquat Ali Shah, told the participants the initiative called for commitment and perseverance to find out if they possessed “the feel” for entrepreneurship.

He lauded bpTT for providing the opportunity to implement the Rambharat’s vision.

The workshop has come at the right time for Qeisha Casimir who is a caterer.

“I run a catering business and if I can make my own pepper sauce and seasonings, it would mean a significant saving for me.

I intend to take full advantage of this opportunity to enhance my business,” she said.

Implemented by Cariri’s Bio-technology Unit, the first phase of the YEAP initiative centred on the production of pepper sauce, barbecue sauce and green seasoning demonstration.

Hotel 21 opens at the Central Bank Auditorium tomorrow and continues until Sunday.

It is directed by multi Cacique Award winner, director and actress Debra Boucaud Mason who has directed such critically acclaimed plays as I Love You ‘Till Someone Better Comes Along, Love Thy Neighbour and Should I Really Get Married. Boucaud Mason started her acting career with Helen Camps at Trinidad Tent Theatre in 1984 and has worked with RS/RR Productions for many years. Her directing started for the first time with RS/RR in 2006 with Where Are You Madam Manning.

Hotel 21 is a hilarious comedy that features a cast that includes, Nikki Crosby, Richard Ragoobarsingh, Aaron Schneider, Leslie-Ann Lavine, Ria Ali, Zo-Mari Tanker, and the Bling (Sunny Bling) featured in his second major theatrical production. The action follows the investigation of a persistent inspector of police as he is hot on the trail of certain suspects in a $5-million robbery.

The trail leads him to a converted farmhouse in Erin that is now known as Hotel 21. The madam of the hotel played by Crosby attempts to convince the inspector that everything is normal at the hotel and nothing illegal takes place there. The workers who curiously are all attractive girls are merely “spreading happiness” and are farm girls. The comedy never stops as it is Labour Day and major union officials are “celebrating” at the hotel as the inspector chases after the money which leads to unexpected turns and twists towards a hilarious and riveting end. For more info: RS/RR productions on Facebook.

Tickets are also available at regular outlets.

This “rare and magical” novel, as Sam Selvon described Scott’s Witchbroom, is now re-published for a new generation of readers who might have otherwise been deprived of an extraordinary work of fiction that tackles subject matter in a tone and style unknown in Caribbean writing quarter of a century ago, and even today, a media release said.

Witchbroom is the saga of a French/Spanish Creole family’s life and demise, told by its last surviving member, the shape-shifting hermaphrodite, Lavren, whose memories evoke a multilayered Caribbean magical reality down the centuries that is lush, seductive, harsh, full of hysterical parrots, the noise of pan, mas, calypso and robbertalk, and of passions and nightmares.

It is a colonial society built on exploitation and in decay as witchbroom, the parasite that destroys cocoa plants, spreads and takes hold.

Since the novel first appeared in 1992 it has attracted international attention, and was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book. It has drawn plaudits from Salman Rushdie, Fay Weldon and from Kwame Dawes.

Academics praise the novel’s valuing of the relationship between Trinidad’s colonial past and today’s reality and that Scott revives the lives of those left out of the mainstream: Amerindians, black slaves, indentured servants as well as all women – the colonisers’ wives, mistresses and daughters.

Scott has authored three other novels. The new edition of Witchbroom, published by Papillote Press is available at Paperbased bookshop at The Normandie where it is to be launched as a 2017 NGC Bocas Lit Fest pre-festival event on Saturday. Reservations are necessary as space is limited.

Monica Ramirez came in from Costa Rica to see first-hand how the families transformed their own lives by building, renovating or repairing their own homes, with the help of Habitat volunteers and donors.

The president of the Cashew Gardens Village Council Roslyn George explained how the residents came together during the last seven years to help put in infrastructure, then construct the community activity centre, the homework centre and the children’s play park, and were now working one by one on each others’ houses in this Chaguanas community. Homeowners Ramrajie, Mark and Carrie expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the support, especially to the volunteers who came from around the world to help build, and the many corporate and individual donors who contributed their time, talent and treasure for construction and financial training.

Ramirez congratulated the homeowners and the local affiliate on their success –500 shelters in just 20 years __ and urged the national community to continue to support and work towards a world where everyone has a safe, decent place to live.

Maund advised employees to always stay true to themselves, accept responsibility and maintain a positive attitude throughout their careers. In turn, the members of the diverse group shared experiences navigating the traditionally male-dominated construction industry as women and provided anecdotes about how they dealt with challenging situations.

Janelle Pascall, marketing and communications manager said: “Nipdec continues to champion gender parity within the industry.

Currently a little more than half of our organisation’s employees are women and women outnumber men on the management team. In fact, several women have held the top position of general manager throughout our company’s 40-year history.” The 2017 theme for International Women’s day and the theme for the Nipdec internal event was #BeBOLDforCHANGE.

The project which is being undertaken to build community pride is being assisted by the Digicel Foundation project through its EPIC (Extraordinary Projects Impacting Communities) grant scheme. The Village Council believes that the monument will regenerate a sense of togetherness in the community, a media release stated Digicel Foundation senior project officer Cindyann Currency met with Cloyd Williams, president of the Bethel Village Council earlier this month and presented a cheque of $119,000 to begin the partnership. The funding will be used for the completion of the monument and to outfit the community centre’s administrative office.

Williams expressed his gratitude for the funding and stated: “We are happy to build private sector relationships and we’re looking forward to working with the Digicel Foundation in further developing Bethel.” The foundation’s EPIC programme in partnership with Strictly FX, Rene Sound & Vision and Vantage View was launched last year.

The programme encourages representatives of non–governmental, community and faith-based organisations to put forward proposals for the refurbishment of indoor and outdoor community spaces, with the aim of enriching the lives of those communities.