The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas should not “over-react” to assessments from the international credit ratings agencies regardless of whether they are negative or positive, the Chamber’s chairman saying: “We should have a plan.”

Gowon Bowe told Tribune Business: “We should not be over-reacting to anything they say because we should have a plan. In reality, what we should be saying is that as long as we are moving according to our plan, we can live with the outside observations because they will soon come to realise that we are achieving the plans we set out.”

He added: “If we fail to meet our goals, we have to revisit our plans and set up proven strategies that will allow us to align with those plans. We don’t need to fear saying we have not met certain targets, but we do need to have very clear analysis as to why not and what we are doing differently.

“We have to get to the point of demonstrating empirical evidence and documents we can supply. I think that’s the main part people are looking at. If they don’t, there is always that trepidation and scepticism.”

Moody’s last week forecast that the Bahamas’ fiscal deficit will remain above $300 million for the current Budget period, with Hurricane Matthew blowing it slightly higher than the prior year.

The international credit rating agency, in its latest quarterly assessment of the Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness, gave an insight into the extent of Matthew’s impact on the Government’s finances by projecting a deficit equivalent to 3.6 per cent of GDP for 2016-2017.

“We estimate that the fiscal balance in fiscal year 2017 will deteriorate to -3.6 per cent of GDP from -2.8 per cent the previous year, due to the negative impact from the damages caused by Hurricane Matthew last October,” Moody’s said.