By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A prominent businessman is urging Bahamian investors and those with overseas capital holdings to “bring some of that back and help rebuild the local economy” in COVID-19’s wake.
Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Holdings chairman, told Tribune Business in a recent interview it was his “hope and prayer” that the recent international thrust encouraged by the Central Bank’s gradual exchange control loosening will be reversed to help rescue both Bahamian businesses and the wider economy in the pandemic’s aftermath.
Arguing that many companies may need new equity investment, in the shape of fresh owners and partners, to revive as opposed to borrowing, Sir Franklyn said The Bahamas needed to go beyond “just talk and really rebuild together” to ensure its economy can rebound from the steepest contraction in living memory.
“My view is that the country is going to be so challenged to restart after COVID-19 that I believe there are going to be significant companies in The Bahamas where, to get them restarted, it’s not going to be a question of them borrowing more money,” Sir Franklyn said.
“It makes more sense for them to think of stronger partnerships. To that extent, my hope and prayer is that investors that do have some capacity locally will use that capacity to help rebuild the country and rebuild companies. When I talk about building capacity this may be having the capacity to help rebuild local businesses.”
Sir Franklyn, whose RoyalStar Assurance acquired nearly one-third of a Cayman-based insurance broker last October before the COVID-19 threat ever emerged, also called on Bahamians with capital and assets overseas - such as monies invested via the Central Bank’s exchange control liberalisation initiative - to repatriate them and invest in this nation’s economic recovery.
“Before there was a lot of thrust about doing business internationally, but right now we owe it to the country to do all we can to rebuild the economy,” he told Tribune Business. “As a matter of fact, with people who have taken significant capital out of the country, I think it would be an expression of confidence to reinvest that money locally.
“The Central Bank went on that thing to allow Bahamians to invest more and more overseas. Now might be the time to bring some of it back and help rebuild the local economy. This cannot just be talk. This has to be more than just talk. We have really got to rebuild together. It’s got to go past talk.”
Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Moody’s have projected that the Bahamian economy will shrink by more than 8 percent this year, estimating that it will contract by around $1bn in current prices and almost $900m in real terms. Those forecasts are in line with the Government’s, which estimated that the economy could lose $1bn in the four months to end-June 2020 before the full scale of the COVID-19 pandemic was exposed.
Comments
TalRussell 4 years ago
Goodness gracious Comrade Sir Frankie's idea of we Colony of 700 Out Islands and Cays does much needs your money's urging local investors and those with overseas capital holdings to brung some of that money back and help rebuild we own local economy in coronoavirus wake.... was to announce but 10 coronoavirus days ago his positioning to become a crème de la crème operator after teaming with a Caribbean partner to pull-off a Cayman Islands acquisition for cool $5 million representing 32.26 percent stake in Fidelity Insurance (Cayman). Couldn't make this up, just, couldn't. Nod once for yeah, twice for no?
Clamshell 4 years ago
It must be Thursday ... Neil Hartnell gets another free lunch by writing down whatever Franklyn Wilson tells him, then regurgitating it here in The Tribune.
Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years ago
Hartnell's great love of the likes of Snake and Slimey Smith is absolutely sickening.
Porcupine 4 years ago
Mr. Wilson is correct. We must rebuild. But, more importantly is that we must redesign our economy. That is the only REAL opportunity for The Bahamas. The Bahamian economy must be redesigned so that many more Bahamians share in the wealth. Every credible scholarly report on the health and welfare of the world's people identifies wealth inequality as a major factor in outcomes. This should surprise nobody. So long as capital is allowed to concentrate into fewer and fewer hands, the world will become a more unfair, unhealthy and unChristian place. It is no surprise that those who are the most outspoken against measures to level the playing field in this manner are those who have managed to game the present system we have in place. There is nothing natural about the present state of affairs. We do not have a system that rewards innovation, hard work and honesty. We have in place globally, a system that rewards short-term selfish thinking, and a competitive, rather than a cooperative way of doing business. The whole system sucks. But, listening to the likes of Mr. Wilson, one would think that those in positions of power, those with the money, have gotten there due to their esteemed business acumen, extra hard work, higher intelligence, and of course, the good grace of God, which they of course earned. So long as we continue to support a system whereby our lives are dictated to by a group of people whose only qualifications are that they amassed a whole bunch of money, be it in real estate, the numbers houses, graft and corruption, or outright theft, the results are the same. There is a reason education sucks. It is by design. If people were educated, they would see through the bullshit that is fed us by the rich and the politicians and media they have bought. We would have a Christian revolution by the next week. Yes, there is a reason education sucks. Mr. Wilson and many others, while speaking one way, actually believe the opposite. If they truly believed in education and fairness, they would not occupy the elevated social positions they now hold. The emperors would be seen as the poor naked empty vessels they really are. Yes, we need a change. Unfortunately, Mr. Wilson's limited imagination leads him to a place where he will remain on top. Pity Bahamian society and our future. And, of course, this is the best newspapers have to offer.
sweptaway 4 years ago
Sarkis Ismirillian got screwed and now you beg for more?
Porcupine 4 years ago
The list is longer than any of us would care to admit.
Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years ago
Gas prices at the pumps in Florida and the other states change every other day, in line with movements in the price per barrel of oil. But admittedly they do tend to rise slightly faster when the price of oil increases and fall a little more slowly when the price of oil falls. The cost of gasoline in the US therefore seems to be somehow contractually locked-in more to the daily spot prices of oil on the international market as opposed to longer term futures contract prices.
This naturally begs the question as to why should it be any different for us? With the current oil price per barrel down around $20 for several weeks now, and gas at the pumps in Florida down around $1.55 per gallon for quite sometime now, we should be paying here on New Providence no more than about $3 per gallon at most right now. There's some serious price gouging going on in our gasoline supply chain and it doesn't take too much to figure out which greedy Snake is likely behind it laughing all the way to the bank.
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