The CARICOM Common External Tariff charges 20 per cent on sanitary towels and tampons, the band reserved for goods the region produces. In 2023 eight member states imported US$84.7 million and exported US$1.06 million. Guyana exported US$67. No removal instrument has been gazetted.
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Guyana budgeted G$6 billion for GuySuCo in 2024 and spent G$15.5 billion. Spending has risen from G$7.2 billion in 2021 to a revised G$16.4 billion in 2026, while its share of national expenditure fell from 1.85 per cent to 1.04 per cent. Output remains below 2020.
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Bolivia imports 60 per cent of the petrol and 95 per cent of the diesel it consumes, and placed state oil company YPFB under intervention on 3 September 2026 for up to 180 days. Fuel queues persisted in Tarija, Santa Cruz, La Paz and Beni on 5 October.
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The FAO and the Inter-American Development Bank convened a three-day exchange in Panama City from 6 to 8 October 2026 to draft a roadmap decoupling agriculture from deforestation. The EU deforestation regulation applies to large and medium operators from 30 December 2026, twelve weeks away.
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Brazil's state of Piaui harvested a record 6.82 million tonnes of grain in 2026, up 20 per cent on IBGE figures, and Brazil is projected to export 114.4 million tonnes of soya. Both come from the crop sown before the El Nino now consolidating in the Pacific.
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The Dominican Republic received 9,241,246 visitors between January and September 2026, up 7.5 per cent, Tourism Minister David Collado said on 6 October. September alone brought 684,831, more than Cuba's 419,863 for January to July. Cruise arrivals grew 54.7 per cent.
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Jamaica's Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett proposed a Caribbean Tourism Resilience Fund financed by visitor fees at the CTO Ministerial Council in Georgetown on 6 October 2026. He named Jamaica's Tourism Enhancement Fund as the model. That fee has gone to the Consolidated Fund since 2017.
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Guyana's revised 2026 cost for the Guyana Sugar Corporation is G$16.4 billion, 1.04 per cent of total national expenditure. Sugar exports earned US$18.1 million in 2025, about G$3.8 billion. Production rose 26.5 per cent and earnings still fell.
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On 30 September 2026 Guyana halted banana imports from Suriname to protect its own growers. On 5 October Suriname's Customs seized 282 big bags of Guyanese parboiled rice, the State saying import approvals were missing. CARICOM's ministers had asked the region to buy Caribbean that week.
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Bahamian motorists were warned on 5 October 2026 to brace for petrol at US$7.50 a gallon, up from US$7.06. The same day in the British Virgin Islands, where regular petrol sells at US$5.15, a commentator demanded price controls. Guatemala already intervened, at US$762 million.
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LUMA Energy told the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico on 5 October 2026 that voiding its contract extension would impose about US$1.3 billion, of which at least US$726 million is unavoidable. Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon called the figure completely false the next day.
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Caribbean Airlines will fly Tobago to Toronto weekly from 25 October 2026, resume Trinidad to Caracas on 31 October 2026 and run Trinidad to Panama charters from 1 December 2026 to 9 February 2027. The release names no executive. Six audited years remain outstanding.
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