Suriname has received a $2.5 million grant from China during a ceremony attended by Chinese ambassador to Suriname Chen Jinghua and local Minister of Foreign Affairs Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk. The minister noted that no specific programs are designated yet where to use the funds. “The grant is for technical assistance and with the experts of the various ministries we will determine how to spend these funds,” she said.

The European Commission has given the green light on the proposed agreement on voting rights between Lufthansa and Eurowings. Lufthansa and Eurowings owners are to conclude a voting rights linkage agreement under which Lufthansa will acquire a majority of the voting rights in Eurowings.

Consumer prices in United States during November dropped 0.6 percent, the sharpest slide in 56 years according to the latest release from the US Labor Department. The European Union also reported a similar slide in November with a 0,3 percent inflation contraction. The fall was driven by a record 8 percent plunge in energy costs in the month, following a previous surge in oil prices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Analysts had been expecting a 0.4 percent slump in US consumer prices.

Latin America posted solid economic growth in 2005 for the third straight year, but its economies lagged behind other nations struggling with poverty, a UN agency reported yesterday. Regional economic growth was 4.3 percent in 2005 and is expected to be 4.1 percent next year, aided by favorable international conditions and strong internal demand, according to the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean, CEPAL.

Marlene J. Street-Forrest, General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), has encouraged American investors to consider Jamaica and the emerging Caribbean Single Market (CSM) as the next credible option in their expanding global investment portfolio. According to Mrs. Street-Forrest, improved efficiency and market confidence through electronic trading options, ongoing market surveillance, increased market capitalization and a foreign exchange rate regime determined by prevailing market conditions, were key policy indicators, which made Jamaica a credible investment option.

The Trinidad and Tobago government on Monday signed a multi-million dollar deal agreement with China which would see the setting up of three steel manufacturing plants in Trinidad. The deal was signed based on the product output of a newly-established company in Port of Spain, Alutrint Limited, which is an aluminum smelter plant, and the China-based National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CEMEC).