Archive for April 3rd, 2009
Relief over Blues protection
(CNS): The International Reptile Conservation Foundation (IRCF) has said that letters of congratulations and expressions of relief that Cayman’s endemic Blue Iguanas can be saved for the long term are pouring into their office in California as the news spreads of a new protected area in the east interior of Grand Cayman. The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) announced this week that the government had formally committed to protecting almost 200 acres of Crown land through a 99-year peppercorn lease to the National Trust.
In addition, the Trust is receiving a European Union grant for managing this area to conserve the Blues in the wild, along with their unique shrubland habitat.
John Binns, the CEO of IRCF, said, “The Cayman Islands Government is to be commended for its decisive action in providing prime habitat to help save the world’s most endangered iguana. Considering that Grand Cayman covers only about 76 square miles, the government’s landmark decision to preserve some of the island’s last remaining prime real estate for its flora and fauna is a benchmark for island conservation.”
The grant also focuses on developing sustainable, low-impact nature tourism, education and recreation with a visitor centre and trail system. (See CNS: New home for the Blues)
“For those of us who have personally struggled and sacrificed, as well as the countless local and international folks who have contributed to changing the course of a species headed on a fast track to extinction, this news is simply overwhelming,” said Binns. “It brings the Caymanian people one step closer to ensuring that the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana will be around for their children’s children to admire, and raises hope around the world that species can be saved. Despite the loss of some very special Blues along the way, the Blue Iguana Recovery Program has been blessed with success unmatched by any other reptile conservation program of which I am aware. It is by all rights a model conservation program.”
Thanking those who have supported BIRP over the years, he said, “Although much work remains to be done and many challenges have yet to be faced before we can relax our vigilance, a summit has truly been reached.”
Nevertheless, BIRP director Fred Burton says they will still have to raise much more money to complete the programme, including funds for access to the area.
Obama hails the new world order
(The Independent): Gordon Brown declared that a $1 trillion package to stimulate economic growth agreed at yesterday’s G20 summit in London will ensure that the world pulls out of recession more quickly. Speaking after the one-day summit of the world’s richest nations in the Docklands, the Prime Minister said there were "no quick fixes", adding: "Today’s decisions will not immediately solve the crisis. But we have begun the process by which it will be solved." He said: "This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery."
Country not broke says LoGB
(CNS): Even though the government is operating with abudget deficit, Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said today (Thursday) that the country is not broke and that the government is forecast to have a cash balance of $126.01 million at 30 June 2009, despite the predicted operating deficit for this financial year. “This is some $7.47 million more than anticipated in the original 2008/9 Budget,” he said. He explained that the revised 2008/9 forecast indicates that the government will be in compliance with all but one of the principles of financial management specified in the Public Management and Finance Law.
“The one area of non-compliance is the principle which requires the government to have an operating surplus,” he said.
Tibbetts noted that the operating deficit was caused by the global economic crisis, which he said would require continued close monitoring and careful policy decisions to minimize the negative impact in the Cayman Islands. And because of that, to be compliant with the operating surplus principle would mean cutting public spending at a time when this would cause the people real hardship. “Thegovernment did not want to do that when people are hurting, so we will have to operate with the deficit,” he said.
He explained that when the 2008/9 Budget was presented to the Legislative Assembly in April last year it was projected that in the 2008/9 fiscal year the government’s operating revenues would be $528.21 million, its operating expenses $500.91 million and Financing Expenses of $13.44 million, resulting in a net operating surplus of $13.86 million.
He said the supplementary budget presented in the Legislative Assembly last month, however, contained the updated financial forecast. “This captured the known and likely variances to the original budget based on actual circumstances from July 2008 to February 2009 plus projections through to 30 June 2009,” Tibbetts added.
He said the $21.16 million reduction in operating revenues, the $15.19 million in Extraordinary Expenses and the $4 million increase in the cost of tertiary care at various overseas institutions as well as the $2.1 million increase in financing expenses have all contributed to the predicted deficit.
“The United States of America is the major source of business for this country and as a result any downturn in that economy will have a negative impact on the Cayman Islands. No one knows with any certainty what the magnitude or severity of those negative impacts will be on the Cayman Islands. The budget was prepared on the best available information at that time,” Tibbetts explained.
Some of the revenue classifications that he said were forecasted to decline included Other Company Fees–Exempt Companies ($11.04 million); Motor Vehicle Import Duties ($5.48 million); Cruise Ship Departure Taxes ($2.45 million); Environmental Protection Fund Fees ($1.48 million); and Tax and Trust Undertakings ($1.29 million).
The LoGB also noted that the extraordinary expenses incurred by the government in the 2008/9 financial year forecast to be $15.19 million included the government’s response to Hurricane Paloma, the Special Police Investigations and the Judicial Tribunal. “These items are beyond the normal scope of the government’s normal recurring activities and could not have been reasonably forecasted at the time the budget was prepared in April 2008. Therefore, they have been classified as Extraordinary Expenditure. The Portfolio of Finance and Economics has advised that this is the correct treatment for expenditure of this nature,” he added.
UK tax havens: sinking assets
(The Economist): In benign times Britain could smile remotely on its far-flung territories, sending the odd royal to fly the Union Flag. But corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which might soon require direct rule again from London, are a harbinger of what may happen closer to home as the crackdown on offshore tax havens gets tougher, gaining momentum from the G20 summit this week. Jersey and Guernsey, two islands less than 100 miles from Britain, owe 50% and 40% respectively of their income to financial services.