Barbados Stock Exchange

The proposed new treaty generally provides for exclusive residence-country taxation of gains with narrow exceptions, which is generally consistent with U.S. tax treaty preferences but is a departure from the source-country taxation of gains that is provided for in recent Japanese treaties. The new treaty provides for source-country taxation of share gains in two circumstances. First, the new treaty includes a rule similar to that in U.S. domestic law under which gains from the sale of shares or other interests in an entity investing in real estate may be taxed by the country in which the real estate is located. Second, it contains a narrow rule dealing with gains on stock in restructured financial institutions that was included at the request of Japan. Under this rule, the source country may tax gains on stock of a financial institution if the financial institution had received substantial financial assistance from the government under rules relating to distressed financial institu ... [Read More]

Country Reports: G-M

Gabon Gabon is not a regional financial center. The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) supervises Gabon’s banking system. BEAC is a regional Central Bank that serves six countries of Central Africa. According to a 2003 letter from the Government of Gabon (GOG) to the UN Counter Terrorism Committee, in matters concerning suspicious financial transactions, banks are bound by the instructions of the Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs. The actual monitoring of financial transactions is conducted by the Economic Intervention Service that harmonizes the regulation of currency exchanges in the member States of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). On November 20, 2002, the BEAC Board of Directors approved draft anti-money laundering a ... [Read More]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERINGMONEY LAUNDERINGOVERVIEWIn 1992, the major trends affecting money laundering policy were: (1) further sophistication of money laundering practices; (2) greater investment of drug and other illicit proceeds into established businesses, both to conceal money movements and to capitalize on illicit profits; (3) the internationalization of money laundering networks whose operations involve an ever larger number of countries and territories, regardless of their importance as financial centers or as drug producing or transit countries; and (4) the intensified involvement of the Sicilian Mafia and other criminal organizations in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere who comingle proceeds from many crimes to confound investigators, and are now acting as brokers for funds unrelated to their own trafficking activities. These trends have made it more difficult to differentiate between drug-related money laundering and other forms of illegal money m ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

The HU maintains a limited stock of emergency medicines and vaccines. Vaccines usually in stock are Hepatitis A&B; Tetanus & Diphtheria; Typhoid and PPD skin tests. The HU does not routinely administer Yellow Fever vaccine, but it is available locally at the Ministry of Health. Vaccines are usually ordered as required. Employees are therefore advised to have their immunizations updated before traveling to post. ...

Commercial banks provide limited banking services; some will sell and redeem dollar or sterling travelers checks and cash personal checks. The Embassy provides accommodation exchange facilities at the Embassy Cashier. ... [Read More]

"U.S. Policy in the Americas and the Role of Free Trade," by Otto J. Reich, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs -- "Free Trade Area of the Americas" -- U.S. Department of State, October 2002

Trade is much more than the mere exchange of goods and money; trade creates jobs, lowers prices, and improves the daily lives of people throughout the hemisphere. Everyone is better off when economies grow and prices are lower, but these benefits have a disproportional impact on the poor. About one-third of Latin Americans live on $2 a day. If a person can buy some clothes for just $2 less than he or she might now pay, that saves a day's wage, leaving more money to spend on food, shelter, and education. ... [Read More]

Money Laundering and Financial Crimes

(1) Patterns of Global Terrorism—1999, United States Department of State Publication 10687, April 2000.A wide-ranging joint FBI and Department of Treasury investigation into interstate cigarette smuggling, involving a suspected Hizballah terrorist cell operating in Charlotte, North Carolina, led to the July 21, 2000 arrest by U.S. authorities of 18 individuals. Ten days later a federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted these individuals, including seven suspected Hizballah supporters, for immigration fraud and related bribery and conspiracies; conspiring to smuggle contraband cigarettes; and conspiring to launder money. Many of the defendants continue to be detained prior to trial, while the investigation continues. At least seven of the defendants are suspected members of, or sympathetic to Hizballah, a foreign terrorist organization designated as such under U.S. law in 1997 and again in 1 ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: WORLD BANK REPORTS LDC DEBT LEVELS UP SLIGHTLY IN 1997

South Asia: Disbursements from official creditors -- which hold 75 percent of the region's debt -- boosted slightly the stock of debt to $139,000 million in 1997. More than half of the official debt is owed to multilateral financial institutions. The region's ability to service their debt improved slightly last year and is indicative of a regional trend during most of the decade. The ratio of debt-to-exports fell from 194 percent in 1996 to 180 percent in 1997 while the debt service ratio was roughly stable at 21 percent. In 1990, the debt-to-export ratio was 317 percent and the debt service ratio was 28 percent. The trend reflects a more than doubling of export receipts since 1990, avoidance of debt restructuring, and the high share of concessional debt (53 percent of total debt of the region in 1997, compared with the 20 percent average for developing countries). ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

Grenada’s medium of exchange is the East Caribbean dollar, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar and currently is exchanged at the rate of US$1=EC$2.6882. Transportation AutomobilesLast Updated:  5/13/2004 12:39 AM  ... [Read More]

M) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes

To facilitate the ongoing exchange of information to combat money laundering, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has fostered information exchange with other financial intelligence units (FIUs) around the globe, as well as, on a case by case basis, with law enforcement and regulatory agencies of foreign governments. In a few cases (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, France, Mexico, Panama, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom), information exchange arrangements involving FinCEN and other FIUs have been reduced to writing in the form of memoranda of understanding (MOUs) or an exchange of letters. The form of an information exchange arrangement depends on the needs of the FIUs. Prior to the establishment of these types of information exchange arrangements, the United States in limited circumstances entered into cooperation agreements referred to as Financial Information Exchange Agreements (FIEAs) for the exchange of "currency transaction in ... [Read More]

USIA, Economic Perspectives, March 1998 -- SubregionalTrading Groups

The OECS members also have a joint stock exchange. ... [Read More]