Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-US trade relations got a big boost last week as a result of a decision by the two sides to rekindle a long-dormant Trade and Investment Council (TIC). This decision was reached at a meeting last week of CARICOM Trade Ministers with United States Trade Representative Rob Portman in Washington, D.C.

The Cabinet of Dominica, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, has approved licenses granting concessions to a number of private sector entities under the country´s Fiscal Incentives Act. According to a recent press release, the government grants concessions in the form of tax holidays, exemptions and waivers to private sector entities in an effort to stimulate investment and boost productivity, income and employment in Dominica.

Bank of Nova Scotia has reportedly acquired Citibank´s retail banking business in the Dominican Republic, including three branches, for an undisclosed price. The deal, announced Tuesday, consolidates Scotia Bank´s position as the Dominican Republic´s fifth-largest private bank by assets, with 57 bank branches, 75 automated banking machines and more than 1,000 employees.

Goldman Sachs has downgraded its rating for Carnival Corp. in the wake of the cruise line´s decision not to embrace recommendations made by the Wall Street investment firm in a report last month. Among those recommendations, Goldman Sachs suggested that cruise lines reduce the commissions they pay travel agents for bookings from an average of 14 percent to 10 percent.

Debt, inflation and Asia´s strong economic growth forced Latin America´s share of the world´s GDP to drop 1.8 points in the last quarter of a century, according to international consultants based on IMF/World Bank reports. Latin America´s contribution which represented 7.2 percent of GDP in 1980 dropped to 5.4 percent equivalent to 2.5 trillion dollars.

Copa Holdings, S.A. and its Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica operating subsidiaries released this week preliminary passenger traffic statistics for March 2006. For the month of March 2006, Copa Holdings´ system-wide passenger traffic increased 23.6 percent, while capacity increased 22.8 percent. System load factor for March 2006 reached 71.1 percent, an increase of 0.5 percent when compared to March 2005.