1st National Bank St Lucia Ltd is a St Lucian bank formed in 2005. It was originally established as the St Lucia Cooperative Bank in 1938, making it the oldest indigenous St Lucian bank. In June 2017, it launched a project to strengthen the small and medium-sized business sectors. [1] The next month, it introduced two scholarship programmes, the Ferrel Victor Charles Secondary School Scholarship and the Francis J. Carasco Scholarship. [2]
Saint Lucia is an island country in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. The island was previously called Iyonola, the name given to the island by the native Arawaks, and later Hewanorra, the name given by the native Caribs, two separate Amerindian peoples. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 and reported a population of 165,595 in the 2010 census. Its capital is Castries. Soufrière was colonized by the French and was the original capital of the island.
Once a single-crop agricultural economy, Saint Lucia has shifted to a tourism and banking serviced-based economy. Tourism, the island's biggest industry and main source of jobs, income and foreign exchange, accounts for 65% of its GDP. Agriculture, which was once the biggest industry, now contributes to less than 3% of GDP, but still accounts for 20% of jobs. The banana industry is now on a decline due to strong competition from low-cost Latin American producers and reduced European trade preferences, but the government has helped revitalize the industry, with 13,734 tonnes exported in 2018. Agricultural crops grown for export are bananas, mangoes, and avocados. The island is considered to have the most diverse and well-developed manufacturing industry in the eastern Caribbean.
Sir William Arthur Lewis was a Saint Lucian economist and the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton University. Lewis was known for his contributions in the field of economic development. In 1979, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The music of Saint Lucia is home to many vibrant oral and folk traditions and is based on elements derived from the music of Africa, especially rhythmically, and Western Europe, dances like the quadrille, polka and waltz. The banjo and cuatro are iconic Lucian folk instruments, especially a four-stringed banjo called the bwa poye. Celebratory songs called jwé show lyricism, and rhythmic complexity. The most important of the Afro-Lucian Creole folk dances is the kwadril. Music is an integral part of Lucian folk holidays and celebrations, as well as the good-natured rivalry between the La Rose and La Marguerite societies. There is little Western classical music on Saint Lucia, and the country's popular music industry is only nascent. There are few recording opportunities, though live music and radio remain a vital part of Lucian culture. Popular music from abroad, especially Trinidadian styles like calypso and soca, is widespread.
Dominic Laurence Johnson is a St Lucian retired athlete competing in the pole vault. Early in his career he competed in the decathlon.
Cricket and football are the most popular sports in Saint Lucia.
Levern Donaline Spencer is a Saint Lucian high jumper. Spencer was born in Cacao Babonneau, Castries.
Saint Lucia – United States relations are bilateral relations between Saint Lucia and the United States. Linda Swartz Taglialatela is the U.S. Ambassador to St. Lucia.
Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac, GCSL, GCMG is the former governor-general of Saint Lucia. He was appointed to that post in January 2018. On 28 July 2021 His Excellency is reported to have signaled his intention to resign, however there has been no official announcement of his resignation or the date it will take effect. He was previously best known as a Saint Lucian politician, serving as the country's foreign minister from 1987 to 1992.
Emma Hippolyte, OBE is a Saint Lucian politician and Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs. Hippolyte serves as the representative for Soufriere-Fond St. Jacques as a Member of Parliament. Hippolyte was a member of the Saint Lucian Senate from 2007 to 2011. She won the Soufriere-Fond St. Jacques seat in the 2021 general election. She lost the Gros Islet seat in the 2016 general election.
Total expenditure on health in Saint Lucia was 6.72% of the GDP in 2014. Health expenditure was at US$302 per capita in 2004. Infant mortality was at 12 per 100,000 births in 2005.
Stephen Alexander Dantes is a Saint Lucian author and Spoken Word artiste who has been performing at different venues in USA, Canada and Saint Lucia. He is a youth activists and is best known for his poems, 'Fair Helen', 'Rude Boy Reality', 'The Land the People and the Bottle', 'Recreating History', 'Country Boys of Darban', 'Where I'm from there is No Freedom', 'What if Juliet Never Found Romeo' and 'Ode to Love'. Members of the Caribbean Sports fraternity also know Dantes as the creator of the first Caribbean Sports website, SportCaraibe.net.
Indo–Saint Lucians or Indian–Saint Lucians, are Saint Lucians whose ancestry lies within the country of India, primarily the modern-day Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. In 1859, the British began transporting indentured workers from British India to work on plantation estates in Saint Lucia, which had become a British colony in 1814. The first ship carrying 318 indentured workers from India, the Palmyra, arrived in Saint Lucia on 6 May 1859, and the last ship carrying Indian indentured workers, the Volga, arrived on 10 December 1893.
Allen Michael Chastanet is a Saint Lucian businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Saint Lucia from 2016 to 2021. He is currently the Opposition Leader of Saint Lucia and the political leader of the United Workers Party as well as the parliamentary representative for Micoud South constituency.
Atlantic University School of Medicine (AUSOM) was an offshore private medical school, located in St. Lucia from its foundation in 2010 until August 2017 and then for 5 months in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda until December 2017, when it fully closed.
Equitas Small Finance Bank is a small finance bank founded in 2016 as a microfinance lender. The bank has its headquarters in Chennai, and is a subsidiary of holding company Equitas Holdings Ltd.
India–Saint Lucia relations refers to the international relations that exist between India and Saint Lucia. The Embassy of India in Paramaribo, Suriname is concurrently accredited to Saint Lucia.
Joshua Solomon-Davies is a Saint Lucian semi-professional footballer who plays as a right back for the Saint Lucia national football team. He currently plays for Marine in the Northern Premier League - North West Division.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Saint Lucia is part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was confirmed to have reached Saint Lucia on 13 March 2020. As of 28 August 2021, there are a total of 8,050 confirmed cases, of which 6,000 have recovered and 103 deaths have occurred.
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