Monetary Council Suggests Ways To Combat High Fuel & Food Prices

Filling Up With Gas In St. Kitts - Nevis

Filling Up With Gas In St. Kitts – Nevis
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
July 22, 2008 (CUOPM)

The Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) is recommending member governments formulate and implement a more targeted social protection interventions which would shield the vulnerable groups from elevated food and energy prices but protect the recent fiscal gains.

This was one of the recommendations that came out of the just concluded 62nd Council Meeting that received and noted a report on the status of inflation across the ECCU member countries, discussed the current policy responses of the member governments and assessed their effectiveness in addressing the issue.

The Council said that the primary source of the recent surge in inflationary pressures was high oil and other commodity prices, and that these were expected to remain elevated over the medium term.

The Council supported the view that there was a need to fine-tune the short-term measures and to place more emphasis on policy responses which would address supply and structural factors, cognisant of the need for member governments to balance social and fiscal responsibilities.

It also recommended the urgent development and implementation of regional energy and agricultural policies with the objective of making the region more resilient to adverse international price shocks.

The Council was of the view that the strengthening of the tripartite arrangement in respect of wages, prices and productivity, the OECS Competition Authority and consumer groups could assist in addressing matters related to the inflation issue.

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Nevis Electricity Outages To End Shortly

NEVLEC General Manager - Mr. Cartwright Farrell

NEVLEC General Manager – Mr. Cartwright Farrell
Charlestown, Nevis
July 22, 2008

The power supply on Nevis was expected to return to normalcy shortly but General Manager of the Nevis Electricity Company Ltd. (Nevlec) Mr. Cartwright Farrell said the steady supply would come as early as Wednesday July 23, 2004.

During an interview with the Department of Information on July 22, 2008, Mr. Farrell apologised to the public for the recent spate of power outages experienced in various sections of the island and blamed them on electronic glitches at the Prospect Power Plant.

“Nevlec would like to apologise to the general public for the recent spate of outages we have experienced over the last recent weeks. We have been experiencing some electronic problems at the power station associated with the two largest sets. The problem has been that they have gone off every instance while they were carrying quite a significant portion of the island’s load and that has made it impossible for the smaller engines to carry the entire portions. So we have had to relieve some of the load, to avoid the whole island coming down in a cascade,” he said.

Mr. Farrell suggested that a recent lightning storm may have compromised the electronic systems on the Plant’s two main generators but a final report had not been submitted on the matter.

Meanwhile an expert on one of the engines under review had flown in from Florida.

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American Airlines To Start Daily Flights To St. Kitts – Nevis

American Airlines 737-800 To St. Kitts - Nevis

Airlines 737-800 To St. Kitts – Nevis From Miami

Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
July 22, 2008 (CUOPM)

The thrust of the governing St. Kitts – Nevis Labour Administration to transform the national economy of the twin-island federation, continues to bear positive fruits.

American Airlines has announced it will increase its service to daily flights into the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport from Miami International starting on November 3rd 2008.

American Airlines flight #2299 will depart MIA daily at 10:50 a.m. arriving into St. Kitts at 2:50 p.m.  The return flight #2280 will depart St. Kitts at 3:45 p.m. arriving into MIA at 6:05 p.m.  American Airlines will use a 148 seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 16 first class seats and 132 economy seats for these flights.

American Airlines first started a Miami service to St. Kitts in December 2004 with three flights weekly, which grew to five flights in 2006.  American Airlines also commenced a twice weekly service from New York’s JFK Airport to St. Kitts in November 2007.

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