Black Immigrant Daily News

The Biden administration is moving one step closer to developing a central bank digital currency, known as the digital dollar, saying it would help reinforce the US role as a leader in the world financial system.

The White House said on Friday that after President Joe Biden issued an executive order in March calling on a variety of agencies to look at ways to regulate digital assets, the agencies came up with nine reports, covering cryptocurrency impacts on financial markets, the environment, innovation and other elements of the economic system.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said one Treasury recommendation is that the US “advance policy and technical work on a potential central bank digital currency, or CBDC, so that the United States is prepared if CBDC is determined to be in the national interest.”

“Right now, some aspects of our current payment system are too slow or too expensive,” Yellen said on a Thursday call with reporters laying out some of the findings of the reports.

Central bank digital currencies differ from existing digital money available to the general public, such as the balance in a bank account, because they would be a direct liability of the Federal Reserve, not a commercial bank.

According to the Atlantic Council nonpartisan think tank, 105 countries representing more than 95 per cent of global gross domestic product already are exploring or have created a central bank digital currency.

The council found that the US and the UK are far behind in creating a digital dollar or its equivalent.

Treasury, the Justice Department, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies were tasked with contributing to reports that would address various concerns about the risks, development and usage of digital assets. Several reports will come out in the next weeks and months.

Eswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell who studies the digitization of currencies, said Treasury’s report “takes a positive view about how a digital dollar might play a useful role in increasing payment options for individuals and businesses” while acknowledging the risks of its development.

He said the report sets the stage for the creation of agency regulations and legislation “that can improve the benefit-risk tradeoff associated with cryptocurrencies and related technologies.”

The Blockchain Association, which lobbies lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said in a statement that the White House reports are “a missed opportunity to cement U.S. crypto leadership.”

“These reports focus on risks — not opportunities,” the statement reads, “and omit substantive recommendations on how the United States can promote its burgeoning crypto industry, including job creation, improvements to the financial system, and expanded access for all Americans.”

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have submitted various pieces of legislation to regulate cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said in an emailed statement that the report “seem to kick the can down the road” she said, “we don’t see clear recommendations.”

The director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told reporters that “we’ve seen in recent months substantial turmoil in cryptocurrency markets and these events really highlight how, without proper oversight, cryptocurrencies risk harming everyday Americans’ financial stability and our national security.”

“It is why this administration believes that now more than ever,” he said, “prudent regulation of cryptocurrencies is needed.”

He said on Friday that the Administration plans to “execute a comprehensive action plan with priority steps to mitigate key risks of cryptocurrencies — among others, money laundering and financing for terrorism.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake is back in Jamaica’s national senior men’s football squad.

Blake was surprisingly left out of the Reggae Boyz’ squad announced last week to play an international friendly against Argentina on September 27 at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, USA.

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) came under pressure since the squad was announced, and many felt that the decision to leave out Blake, who is usually the Reggae Boyz’ captain and first-choice goalkeeper, wasn’t based on his form.

But less than a week after the squad was released, Iceland’s Heimir Hallgrimsson, who was unveiled as the new Reggae Boys’ head coach at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Friday, said that Blake is now a part of the squad.

There are three other goalkeepers in the squad including Riverhounds custodian Jahmali Waite.

This is the second call-up to the senior team for Waite, who was called into camp with the Reggae Boyz in June.

Currently, in his first season in the professional ranks with the Hounds, Waite has conceded 15 goals in 16 appearances so far this season.

His most recent appearance was another clean sheet, as the Hounds played front-running Louisville City FC to a scoreless draw at Highmark Stadium on Saturday.

Waite is currently sixth among Golden Glove-eligible goalkeepers with a 0.96 goals-against average this season. The 23-year-old has made 25 saves and seven shutouts while helping the Hounds reach the USL Championship Playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

Dillon Barnes of Queens Park Rangers and Kemar Foster of Waterhouse are the other goalkeepers in the squad.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Barbuda Affairs (MAFBA) in June, sent off six (6) students and two (2) teachers chosen to attend the IICA Youth Farm Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Program in Barbados.

Seven (7) of the candidates participated in the Crops CVQ Program while two (1) were enrolled in the Livestock Program. This is the third set of candidates from Antigua and Barbuda to participate in the Youth Farm program.

The Youth Farm Summer Program was an eight-week intensive training plan in crop and livestock farming and land-based fisheries. The focus was on diversified vegetables, meat, and fish for local markets. The program is collaboratively offered by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training in Barbados, and the Barbados Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council.

Wednesday morning, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Barbuda Affairs, Hon. Samantha Marshall and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) National Specialist, Craig Thomas officially welcomed back the students and teachers from their Summer in Barbados.

Each student had the opportunity to give their feedback on how they found their experience in Barbados. For all of them it was their first time without their parent’s guidance and had to learn to grow up quickly and be responsible for themselves. For Teledo Nelson in particular of the St. Mary’s Secondary School he expressed that prior to the trip he has always been an introvert and found it very hard to socialize with persons but the trip gave him an opportunity to open up and grow as individual and be more social with his colleagues and teachers. Mr. Nelson even expressed that he is interested in becoming a chef and will ensure that his establishment will be a farm to table experience so that he can incorporate his love for both farming and culinary arts into his business.

All of the students expressed that they learnt so much on the trip and they are looking forward to sharing that knowledge and implementing it in their school’s agriculture programs and even start their own farms.

Hon. Samantha Marshall commended the students for their good behavior on the trip and for their courage to go on such a journey. She also pledged that there is a youth farm in the works to be created with the assistance of the Agriculture Extension Division and she assured the young men that they will be fully welcomed to assist in the creation of the farm and even teach upcoming persons who are interested in Agriculture, some of what they would have learned.

“The Youth Farm will extend further as during PiAngo Fest we realized that there were a number of young people who are involved in agro-processing, and so what we want is an actual youth farm that extends to not just crop and livestock production but also showing them how to be business farmers and have any excess produce be put into the agro-processing component of it,” expressed Minister Marshall.

Minister Marshall encouraged the young men to keep pushing in the agriculture sector as they are the future of the country and the country needs its producers.

IICA Specialist, Craig Thomas expressed that the feedback that he received from Barbados was nothing but great news on not just the work ethic of the young men but also their level of interest and involvement throughout the entire program.

Mr. Thomas also explained that he hopes that it will be a continuous collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the IICA Youth Farm Program so that other students who are interested in the agriculture field can have the same opportunity and get hands on training and experience for themselves and also share the knowledge gained with others.

He also gave credit to the teachers, Ms. Denise Hodge of the Glanville Secondary School and Gale Emmanuel of the Princess Margaret Secondary School who dedicated their entire summer vacation to accompany the young men on the trip.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Fisherfolk in Region Six on Friday began receiving the government’s $150,000 one- off grant.

The exercise was led by Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo at the Port Mourant Community Centre Ground and the Skeldon Community Centre Ground respectively.

The distribution of the grant is the fulfilment of a commitment made by President, Dr Mohamed Ifraan Ali to fisherfolk back in May.

While fisherfolk were expecting to receive the grant sooner, Vice President Jagdeo explained that the government had to take every measure to verify the list of persons who registered for the grant.

This he said is based on past experience with persons being dishonest with the distribution of the flood relief grant. The actions of those persons, he said, reflected the government in a negative way.

“One thing we don’t want to do is to not help people who actually are fishermen. That is why we took some time on putting up the names, asking the same people from the community… So we say don’t blame us if you don’t come and object now. Don’t come and blame the PPP saying this man did not catch any fish,” the Vice President told the gathering.

He said the government has decided that the process cannot be delayed any longer because many of the persons on the list are in need of the assistance now.

However, he noted that while most people will be receiving their grants today, some will have to wait for further verification due to several issues. This includes some persons who do not have any form of identification.

“We look at the voters list and we look at the ID. So a lot of the people who are on both and that is majority of the people will get their grant today.

“Some people don’t have ID cards. We have the cheque but we are not going to give you. We are going to meet with you and you are going to verify who you said you are. And then there is another set who don’t have ID cards and are not on the voters list so we don’t know if they exist or if it’s the right person, ” the VP explained.

Those fisherfolk without identification were assured by the Vice President that they will not be excluded, but stressed that there is need for verification.

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