Caribbean round-up: Antigua raises fuel prices, Guyana debt eases, Haitian bishop appeals on TPS
Also: Trinidad and Tobago's envoy to Jamaica says trade tensions are in the past, and Ralph Gonsalves attacks the sale of land at Chatham Bay.
Antigua and Barbuda
Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the US-Iran war was pushing up global energy prices and that the government could no longer afford to subsidise fuel heavily. Instead of collecting EC$3 million to EC$4 million a month in tax from West Indies Oil Company, the government now owes the company EC$15 million, he said.
Officials expected a rise of about EC$3.50, but the government settled on EC$2 across the board. "That was too large an increase to be implemented in one fell swoop," Browne said. Gasoline will rise from EC$14.50 to EC$16.50 and diesel to EC$16.25. Browne said prices would remain lower than in other Caribbean countries.
Guyana
According to the IDB, a smaller share of government income is now used to repay debt, down from about 7 cents to 5 cents of every dollar collected, and the bank considers Guyana a low-debt country. Unemployment fell from 14.5% in 2021 to 6.8% in 2024. The economy grew 19.3% in 2025 after 43.8% in 2024, and the IMF expects growth of 16.2% in 2026, 19.7% in 2027 and 22.1% in 2028, slowing to 1.1% by 2031.
Haiti
Bishop Pierre-André Dumas has written to President Trump urging him to reconsider ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, which could affect more than 300,000 people. "Haiti is not a safe country," Dumas said. "We are asking the United States to apply its own laws humanely when human lives are at stake," he wrote. The US government says conditions have improved enough for Haitians to return.
Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to Jamaica, Deborah Thomas-Felix, said the two countries had moved past earlier trade tensions. Jamaica's access to the Trinidad and Tobago market rose by 170% between 2019 and 2025, though in 2024 Jamaica exported about US$36.6 million in goods to Trinidad and Tobago against about US$249.7 million flowing the other way. "So I would say that some of the issues before would not be issues now," she said.
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Opposition Leader Dr Ralph Gonsalves criticised the government's sale of about 100 acres at Chatham Bay, Union Island, for EC$54 million, saying the land was valued at about US$42 million 15 years ago. "It's our crown jewel," he said. The ruling NDP said the land would be held by a company for conservation purposes with binding covenants, and that the sale was part of efforts to reduce a national debt it blamed on the previous Gonsalves-led administration, saying it had reached about 113% of GDP.
