By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
TOURISM and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar yesterday speculated over the possibility of systematically reducing Bahamasair’s domestic presence year to year, with an ultimate view of withdrawing domestic services completely in the coming years.
The Free Town MP, speaking to The Tribune outside of the House of Assembly after the Minnis administration’s first budget communication, proposed plans to have other domestic carriers fill local routes, with Bahamasair shifting its focus to exclusively servicing “international non-stop direct” routes.
He said the “nature of the industry” has long hampered successive governments in their attempts to cut the subvention supplied to the cash-strapped airline.
Mr D’Aguilar, a respected businessman, said the government must find a way to “encourage and develop” the domestic aviation industry all while it works to end its presence in it.
“We have used Bahamasair, at least internationally, as a way to carry Bahamians to and from Florida and not as a tourism tool to bring people to this country,” he told The Tribune.
“There is more than Nassau to Miami, Nassau to Orlando and Nassau to Fort Lauderdale. We have been beating ourselves up with the Nassau to Florida route for so long, when there are so many other carriers that run that route.
“There are other routes that we can take, other routes that we can make where we can earn something. We want to explore international routes which we can offer as non-stop direct because those are routes that are less competitive.”
Later admitting that the task could be easier in theory, Mr D’Aguilar argued that the national flag carrier must move away from the idea of competing with domestic services, which he highlighted as the “prime vessel” by which the government could meet its task.
“You’ve got lots of private companies who want to do that and who have done that perfectly well, so why do we as the government want to compete with these companies in this market?
“So, as capacity increases, I think we will slowly exit and use our aircraft and resources to try and establish more international routes to bring people here on more non-stop direct flights.
“We want those domestic carriers to begin to, as their capacity grows, fill those routes.”
Review
Speaking about the country’s finances, Mr D’Aguilar suggested that the country is in a financial crisis.
Mr D’Aguilar went on to indicate that he had already implemented several of the fiscal strategies to be used by the government on a national level throughout his ministry.
With respect to sports tourism, Mr D’Aguilar said his ministry was already looking to determine if the country was getting “sufficient” economic value for its investment.
He explained that the government had, over the existence of this particular sub-office, invested a lot of resources in bringing international events to The Bahamas.
However, Mr D’Aguilar revealed that many of these events have not yielded an adequate “economic spend” to justify its investment.
According to Mr D’Aguilar, this is more often the case with what his ministry considers the “high-profile” events.
He told The Tribune: “We are approached often by event organisers wanting to come here. I know there have been several proposals that have come across my desk, but my problem with these sporting events is that they all required some level of local investment and commitment. That is the way the world works now.”
He continued: “But before I spend the people’s money, I have to make sure that number (organisers) say will be here, will be here. Also, those that come with the event have to leave something here while they are here. It has to be profitable for us.
“So, when you come to me with a sports deal or when a person approaches me with a sports deal; I need to know exactly how many people are coming; how much are they going to spend and what is the GDP affect on the Bahamas and what we have found is that it is not generally the high-profile sporting events that yield the greatest amount of money.
“If you have an NBA team come here, not many people are going to come here to watch (that team) because they can watch (that team) on their televisions or in their cities. Persons will not travel to the Bahamas specifically to watch that event. But, if you have a baseball event that involves kids, then their families come, their grandparents come and they bring with them an entire entourage of people and those people end up spending money.
“So, it’s not the high-profile sporting events that we are necessarily interested in, it is those events that bring us the most bodies, the most tourists. We want to attract groups of people who spend money and what we have found is families tend to do that.”
The country hosted many international sporting events over the course of the Christie administration’s time in office.
Many of those events are hosted annually, with the government providing some level of funding or exemption to host any one particular event.
While not naming any of these events specifically, Mr D’Aguilar yesterday said his office would have to review each event on an individual basis before renewing any host agreement.
The Bahamas will host the Commonwealth Youth Games in July.
Comments
Socrates 6 years, 10 months ago
need to be careful with this Bahamasair plan.. people dont know Bahamasair outside the country.. Bahamasair is a lower than 'low cost' operator from a customer service perspective, and from what we have heard over the years, its a high cost airline, so a lot to think about... i imagine the cost to operate to Atlanta is a lot more than Freeport so if you fly empty the losses will skyrocket...
Clamshell 6 years, 10 months ago
They have this exactly backwards, as usual. Trying to compete against JetBlue, American, Delta, etc., for international service is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Domestic routes could be more profitable -- SouthernAir, Pineapple, etc., are fairly dependable, but their small, ragged, beat-up old aircraft are frightening. A good business plan begins and ends with: Stick to what you know best!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
Bahamasair is the national flag carrier ............ It is not an essential service or a social service ........ The mail boat model can be used to service Family Island aviation needs ....... What is the all of the hullabaloo about???????
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! Likes 'Wash em, Dry em, Press em" Dionisio, knows anything much outside the business of Big Boy Washers & Dryers?
Economist 6 years, 10 months ago
Tal, do remember the Dolphin Hotel? Do you remember who owned it?
D'Aguilar grew up in the Tourist Industry. The reason his family sold out was created by the then government allowing Crystal Palace to under sell all the small hotels during "spring break". The Europa, the Olympic, the Dolphin and the Atlantique hotels (all locally owned were put out of business).
It suited the then government who did not want to have to deal with a group of Bahamians who could be difficult when they could have foreigners owning the hotel industry who were far more compliant.
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrade Economist, what's your point - considering today's current minister tourism was about 4-years old during the time period you referenced?
But yes, I do fondly remember the half-a-dozen hotels along the Western strip - including the Ocean Spray.......and the many years a team of a construction crew of "one man" the property owner, spent crafting out and building his hotel at corner Nassau Street - talk about a long-term commitment to a project!
shonkai 6 years, 10 months ago
Domestic pavement, road, air and sea services should all be treated the same, they are essential infrastructure for a (island) nation. And like the Americans charge you for toll-roads, the Swiss charge you for tunnels, the Dutrch charge you for bridges, the Greek charge you for ferries, etc etc, there should be a part the government pays and a part that the user pays. It is ridiculous to think the user can pay for it all, government should subsidize but be under very strict control (which I guess is the biggest problem here). If some company wants to compete with Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and the likes, so be it, best of luck to them. How many tourists actually come on Bahamasair, real actual tourists, not Bahamians who live abroad and come to stay with relatives and say they are tourists just to skip the customs inspection ?????
alfalfa 6 years, 10 months ago
From a strict business standpoint, Bahamasair is a losing venture, kept open only by government subsidy. It is one of the drains on our revenue, and for all intents and purposes, is bankrupt. If this was a private business it would have been shut down long ago. I would offer the entire air service in the Bahamas to established airlines. They know what they are doing.
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrade Alfalfa, If the cabinet within the next 72-Hours were to order the total shutdown BahamaAir - park all planes, selloff everything to the highest bidder(s), that would be a sign of the kinds real things tangible revolutionary changes - It's the People's Time' - are looking for in their government.....but the minister in-charge BahamaAir, is a just a Wash Houses mans's.
DDK 6 years, 10 months ago
If Bahamasair was a private business it could have been a profitable one!
MassExodus 6 years, 10 months ago
Agreed.
observer2 6 years, 10 months ago
D’Aguilar making the same mistakes as the PLP and the FNM's previous administrations. In no developed country (US, Canada, Europe, Japan etc) does the government run an airline. Why? Because it is not the function of government to run businesses. And if the government runs a business it can't be profitable. Why? Because there are no shareholders to be accountable to on a quarterly basis and via an Annual General Meeting where they can be tossed out for incompetence. Well, perhaps some accounting every 5 years via an election but that doesn't stop them from losing money for 5 years!
Pulling out of domestic routes is an excellent idea. I go to Long Island regularly and Bahamasair is late a lot. Most times Southern Air leaves early. The new planes that the government just bought for $250 million are constantly breaking down and one puff of wind completely destroyed one beyond repair. How is that possible?
So I say, get out of local routes, subsidize local airlines to fly to far away islands that are not profitable and subsidize international airlines to provide airlift from non profitable destinations to assist tourism.
Shut Bahamasair down!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
To shut Bahamasair down is not necessary .......... to make it profitable as a PPP on international routes to bring more airlift is sensible
DonAnthony 6 years, 10 months ago
Of course bahamasair should be shut down. There is no need for such a loss making entity when the private sector is fully capable of doing the job so much better, without political interference. We need government to privatize as many subsidized public corps as possible and only be involved in those that provide essential services. Otherwise we will never balance our budget and begin the long road out of never ending fiscal deficits.
observer2 6 years, 10 months ago
DonAnthony, you are absolutely correct. Currently the government is borrowing $722 million, which is 10% of the entire debt of the entire Country. I find it hard to believe that there are so many old invoices that have "suddenly" come due. Dey (we) gettin swing again.
A lot of this debt has been accumulated by the government "for profit businesses" which have never been accountable to the people and will not be accountable by this FNM either.
The only way to stop the bleeding before we go bankrupt is to sell Bahamasair, Sell the 51% of BTC owned by the government, sell water and sewerage, sell BEC or whatever they call it now (BPL), sell Bamsi, sell Bank of the Bahamas, Sell the mortgage corporation, sell ZNS, sell the Port , sell the airport, make these damn foreigners (hotels especially) pay some taxes etc. etc.
If we don't sell these business the debt will be well over $10 billion by the time the FNM is completed and we will need to devalue the dollar...which is already almost worthless.
Borrowing $722 million is not credible...but there is an insatiable demand for government debt both within the country and internationally.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
Co-sign. BahamasAir should be shut down.
Greentea 6 years, 10 months ago
ZNS needs to go too.
shonkai 6 years, 10 months ago
Let the hotels worry about the airlift. They stand to gain the most. Be honest, if you were to go on vacation to Tonga, who would you prefer to fly with, Delta or Okidoki Airways.
observer2 6 years, 10 months ago
Delta.
MassExodus 6 years, 10 months ago
Okidoki...
Economist 6 years, 10 months ago
Shut Bahamasair down. Sell the planes and take a onetime big loss. Save the Country 150 Million between now and the next election.
Western, SkyBahamas, Pineapple Air and the others can benefit so as to be able to purchase better equipment.
How can they compete against an airline (Bahamasair) who can always get more money?
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
Well, if Britain still has British Airways after all of these years and Canada still has Air Canada after all of these years ........ there is nothing wrong with the concept of a Bahamasair ........... It is the PPP, destinations and marketing we need to solve ............ Tourism can benefit from Bahamasair international airlift
Dawes 6 years, 10 months ago
Britain sold British Airways way back in the 80's when Thatcher privatised a lot of things, since then they have gone on to privatise the Electricity, water, Trains, mail and many other ones.
DDK 6 years, 10 months ago
True dat!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
Your point is accepted ....... but the airline is still operational and historically and culturally linked to the country's aviation legacy ....... That was my point
Economist 6 years, 10 months ago
The British nor the Canadian Governments own those airlines. British Airways was privatized around 1985.
The Dutch sold KLM, Belgium let Sabina collapse and the Canadian government sold off most of Air Canada. The Swiss let Swissair go into bankruptcy and shut down.
The Bahamas doesn't need a so called National Airline that loses $30 million a year.
Bahamasair is under capitalized, over staffed and was never set up to stand on its own.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
Air Canada is a publicly traded company. The majority shareholder is a proxy called LBA or Letko Brosseau Associates who are a capital management fund. As the largest shareholder, they nominatively own 17.2% of the company or 47 million of the 270 million shares out there. The next largest shareholder group consists of Fidelity and Tetrem - more capital partners groups who both own less than 4% each. Then the major banks have shareholders amounting to less than 1% of the shares. That is the entire list of major shareholders. The rest of the shares are owned by investors with not any single investor owning more than half a percent of the total equity. So the shares are distributed widely. The Canadian government privatised Air Canada in 1988 and currently does not hold any shares.
The capital management partners of LBA who own most of Air Canada in proxy, are thought to have invested money in Air Canada through LBA on behalf of wealthy Hong Kong clients.
baldbeardedbahamian 6 years, 10 months ago
no it does not. you post idiotic things sheeprunner12, you must be a plp voter, unemployed or a civil service parasite. perhaps all three.
DillyTree 6 years, 10 months ago
Get rid of Bahamas Air. Either shut it down or sell it to Caribbean Airways. As it stands now, it's a money pit and social services agency to keep people employed while draining the public purse. It's time for it to go.
If the government is adamant about using it for international routes, then it must change the name. Bahamas Air currently enjoys the dubious distinction of being among the 25 WORST airlines in the world. Definitely going to need some serious rebranding and marketing, to say nothing of finances.
I totally agree with a previous post that asked if the average US or Canadian traveller is going to fly Delta or Okidoki Airways. Even as a Bahamian, I'd choose Delta every time!
DEDDIE 6 years, 10 months ago
The government should get out of the business of running businesses. Everything the Government touches sooner or later becomes a basket case. Bahamasair, BEC, BOB and numerous hotels. The only reason BTC was profitable was because it was allowed to rape the Bahamian people.The Government should sell these assets and use the money to pay down the national debt.Even if they sold BOB for a dollar, it would probably save the government 100's of millions of dollars over the next decade.
OldFort2012 6 years, 10 months ago
BOB has a negative net worth, so does Bahamasair. So you can't sell them for free. If you did, they would just be shut down, there would be thousands of more unemployed and the depositors would lose 100% of their assets. All in all, a disaster.
Economist 6 years, 10 months ago
Of course you can shut down Bahamasair. You ave to write off the $550 or $650 million and save $30 million a year.
By keeping Bahamasair we just go deeper into the National Debt.
DDK 6 years, 10 months ago
Amen!
Alex_Charles 6 years, 10 months ago
BOB is a bloody disaster
DEDDIE 6 years, 10 months ago
Maybe you have not notice Oldfort2012 ,they are already a disaster and dragging the country with it. These entities are responsible for a large percentage of our national debt and thus our junk rating. You don't embrace cancer you cut it out.
OMG 6 years, 10 months ago
Unfortunately if this country is to ever get out of debt the government and the population are going to have to make some drastic changes. Funny how the Bahamasair staff in Central Eleuthera are on limited time due to lack of flights but the old airport manager not only retires but gets another job with Bahamasair in Nassau. This seems to be a created position for a party loyalist and not necessary. How many times is this repeated over the entire Bahamas.
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! Bahamasair was compared with 21 other airlines and they rated just one notch above North Korean airline, Air Koryo, which still uses Soviet-era planes. It's most senior employees if fired would have difficulty convincing a fast-food joint to hire them on to work the fry-line.. In fact, the majority employees that have come into contact with frustrated passengers - shouldn't be allowed drive a Jitney bus.
I would send them home with a note......Sorry no Severance Pay....you've done been overpaid for years and should have been fired long time before today. In fact, you owe taxpayers - lots monies!
But you know what they say: If it too damn broke and broken.... don't try fixing it!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
OUCH!!!!!!!!!
SP 6 years, 10 months ago
Rt. Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis,
As a 20 year+, veteran airline, hotel and senior resort destination representative for Thompson Vacations Inc, I totally agree with tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar recent announcement to withdraw Bahamasair from family Island routes and focus on additional international direct routes.
This is indeed a step in the right direction, however, the plan must be fined tuned for maximum national benefit.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar may well remember Thompson Vacations from his involvement with the Dolphin hotel in the early 80's.
Thompson Vacations Inc. was a subsiderey of Thompson Holidays U.K. created for the U.S. wholesale travel market in the early 80's. They succeeded in dominating the U.S. wholesale travel market in a 3 year period by firstly exposing and educating potential Midwest travelers to the Caribbean as a sun, fun vacation destination, and focusing on the Midwest States instead of joining the competition for our main supplier of tourist from North-East coast corridor markets.
My experience suggest The Bahamas would benefit best with Bahamasair by utilizing and copying Thompson Vacations strategies of targeting the previously exposed and educated vacationers from Midwest markets with "package deals" inclusive of air, ground and hotels and targeting a net profit of $5.00 per passenger.
Thompson's idea was to sell all inclusive vacation packages (less meals) at $5.00 above total cost, move high volumes, and make additional revenue at the resort level by focusing on making commissions from in-resort excursion sales.
The Bahamas can easily duplicate this strategy by using Bahamasair for air, contracting ground transportation and hotels at favorable rates with the ultimate goal of high volume "heads in beds" who then "spend" in-resort.
However, note, I am painfully aware, The Bahamas continue missing the boat from tourism overall, due to a lack of new, innovative in-resort excursion activities which would allow a maximum "in resort spend". We should be targeting $500.00 per head in-resort excursion sales.
To date, visitors arriving with a pre-decided allocated amount of in-resort spend are returning home with unspent funds. This must be seriously and expeditiously addressed as revenue the country should benefit from is not being realized due to non existent/inadequate opportunities for excursion sales to "spend" in-resort.
Congratulations on your election victory. We the people are 110% behind you, and look forward to doing whatever we can to help you right the many wrongs in our country.
Bonefishpete 6 years, 10 months ago
What if Bahamasair or some private airline used solely Cessna turbine Caravans for inter Island routes. Something along the lines that Watermakers or Cherokee Air does? Cost per mile or per seat would be far less than operating ATR twin turboprops.
SP 6 years, 10 months ago
FYI - Your contact form at http://ourfnm.org/contact/">http://ourfnm.org/contact/ for suggestions, comments etc' does not work.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
I sent you a private message to your profile on Dr. Minnis' personal email account.
SP 6 years, 10 months ago
Banker, I responded through Tribune msg system. Your stated message was not received. Please resend.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
SP, I sent you a message on your profile as to how to reach Dr. Minnis on his private email account. I immediately regretted sending it to you without asking him, but I thought that your heartfelt suggestions were DAMN good. If that message did not make it through with his email address, then I would check your profile page. If it is still not there, it would make me feel better. Anyway, I will cut and paste your post and send it on, for what its worth. The FNM crew is incredibly busy now and has limited bandwidth.
My impressions thus far is that the PLP left a real shitcake of mismanagement, pilfering and criminality and we are in a very very deep hole. The PLP partisans and rectums posting here, haven't a clue as to how bad the situation really is, and to what extent the PLP are complete treasonous slimebuckets, and fixing this will be like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. I still believe in humanity in spite of the pieces of work like Tal and Birdie, so there is still hope. But with entropy being the way it is, the picture is very grim.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
I got your message SP. You are a prince of man. Respect!
Jetflt 6 years, 10 months ago
TalRussell.......the more you talk the stupider you sound! You are clueless!
Jetflt 6 years, 10 months ago
How would you propose to achieve what you just described without privatizing Bahamasair and running it like a businesss?? Running gov't organizations like businesses, which includes objectives that require being efficient, productive, customer focused (novel concept in the Bahamas) and accountable for results has historically been totally foreign to we Bahamians.
PRIVATIZE BAHAMASAIR and run it the way an airline should be run, like a private enterprise, not a repository for votes!
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
Don't forget BahamasAir was the one available in emergency to get students from Jamaica and the only flights to FL out of Freeport after Matthew. If enough airlines are connecting the islands the cut direct competition, however don't forget those local airlines each had safety issues.
The Bahamasair to Baltimore didn't work. Will have to factor seasonal routes only. This could be better managed by knowing when other flights here from those places are booked up. Consider the Caribbean.
If worse comes to worse, lease two to a neighbor whilst they're new , but always have at least two publicly owned planes.
Cuba hasn't peaked yet, never know who all will pull out. They may not have adjusted to the airspace fees yet either.
Can use two like private charters to here or lease them to a US charter company for college sports teams where there's not enough for demand.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
There's also that silly laptop screening which may take affect and some may not risk locations which aren't up to par.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
As for sports, festivals, and other new tourism industries. You didn't get a stadium for nothing. Expect that the first events wil need infrastructure investment , that then allows future prospects, unless you want the firstcomer risk takers to have financial stake in furture events for their own investing, like FYRE getting a cut of any festival held where they set up water supply in Exuma..
Shouldn't have to use tax dollars like Brazil on the World Cup and Olympics if you introduce those proposals to some Sporting event giant brand investor. Who did the golf courses? Not us, Tiger Woods or PGA did.
Popeyes bowl was entirely empty because the ticket to travel is expensive and it wasn't promoted locally. That's where local marketing comes in. Always fill last minute extra seats free. Have hotel, car rental , tailgating parties, and excursions packaged for those game day visitors. Have to tailor and customize in such marketing, not expect the organizers to just say hey we're going to the Bahamas and have people look things up. I'm sure there's local marketing firms better at this. Although Sports events are usually empty.
And can we not call guests "bodies"? Thanks. Don't forget there has to be something worth spending on.
Oh yeh, DON'T FORGET AND SCREW UP THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES!!!!!!! I'M HEARING NOTHING ON IT. We all know FNM don't know how to put on a show. This will be the largest thing we've had yet. Must come back from Fyre.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
Let the cruiseliners simply add the sporting events which they have time for to their sites as excursions weeks in advance. That ought to get more venturers off the boats.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
Breeze has been a factor during both football and golf before so us not being the pros shouldn't be the ones doing too much investing.
You don't want to just say only events with the most people. Analyze how die hard their fanbase is, purchase trend, use sports cluster analytics and market research to judge fan equity. https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/f...">https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/f...
These trips are also promos to build fan base for the teams. They expect the locale to make them popular. So look into offering such brand activation service for building loyalty. Take a look at Victoria Secret's pool parties, exclusive custom to the trip items.
And sometimes brand new sporting event tournaments have something special. Get your heart in the game.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
Aigh, are we going to leave the growing popularity connecting out island flights to ..Pinapple Air?
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
If you remove duty on business stock, you'd have the whole Caribbean coming on Bahamasair to shop like we do Miami.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
If Bahamasair was private , it would be shut down with any drag.
WTO doesn't allow susidized airlines which is why there's this rhetoric, unfortunately matched by bad management in the past.
United Emirates has state owned airlines. Guess we're paired rebels again.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
If one puff of wind sent a new plane flying whilst in the ground, they might be risky for far international travel.
If it's feasible to fly to other states, might as well fly between countries in the region who are dying for connection and not worry about passengers to here at all.
Are the alternatives ready to take over the market share or will this move allow the sharks to move in? Soft exit if any.
Just know what you going to do when JetBlue and the rest start making demands which undercut Flamingo and Junkanoo since the gov't is out.
Are people expecting that they'll still be able to invest on BSIX if it's private?
Btw, Maybe BOB should think out Island. (Bimini and Scotia is a good example of private leaving ya stranded)
Replica monuments if BA is shut down.
killemwitdakno 6 years, 10 months ago
If BA is 5 or 6 something in the hole, saving 150M in 5 yrs is writing off more than you're losing annually and you just borrowed a whopping $722 for just the year so no savings there. That's 15 yrs before "saving" on BA's debt. Things should correct much before 15 yrs.
Be sure the people still have an investment opportunity.
I go through this every month with my hosting bill for a site not started. Problem is it costs just the same short term to migrate it to a lower plan than the annual cost now. To make up the previous loss , it can wait to sell when it's high, no one's going to lend for you to buy if it's turns out we can't fly. Try before you die.
Required 6 years, 10 months ago
The D'Aguilar Foundation needs Bahamasair to serve lots of new international routes to fly in all that original artwork duty free.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 10 months ago
The rate cuts seem very self serving. But then I don't know the criteria they use to determine what to cut. Perhaps the items selected contribute very little to overall revenue that it won't make a difference if they're cut.
This administration is being judged more critically than the last and it's absolutely fair. They need to get ahead of the puzzled looks. And they better not expect to waste this 700 million and come back talking about critical borrowing that has to be done. They better sit down an examine their budgeting critically inclusive of probable unplanned events like hurricanes.
baldbeardedbahamian 6 years, 10 months ago
Vince Daigular bought local Bahamian art, his goal to collect and at the same time to support local autists.
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
Cosign. I know of a Bahamian artist, now famous who was going to quit and get a day job, and Vince bought out his entire inventory of art, and gave him a loan to keep going -- which he eventually forgave and told the artist to pass it forward. He was a prince of a man, and the remark is uncalled for.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 10 months ago
the spending on stadiums was always questionable. It didn't add up that we had no money but we could build three new stadiums at the same time. Not that they weren't good things, they were great things, the question is were they the best things and the wisest things to do at the time.
BahamaPundit 6 years, 10 months ago
I don't think Bahamians realize what a dire financial situation our country is in. A good 3/4 of Bahamians think the Bahamas can always print money, no big deal. This was a lie from the PLP. Unfortunately, money does not grow on trees. When you are bankrupt, you must close non profitable businesses down period.
gangof4 6 years, 10 months ago
The Zimbabwean method.............print more money!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-Bl...">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-Bl...
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
The Central Bank controls the printing of our currency (not politicians) ...... and the money is printed overseas in Britain ....... not Nassau ........ watsayu????????
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! The government should simply get out the currency business and adopt the United States Currency as the nation's currency - other countries have done so successfully. The Central Bank should lower interest rates to power-up the economy. Such a move would not only reduce the amount interest the government pays on its loans but would also put more money into the pockets of business owners for reinvestment in their enterprises - it would leave more money in pockets consumers.
Switching over the the US Currency would remove the government out the Exchange Control business and that would be a good thing.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 10 months ago
I don't understand the intricacies of dollarization but I just had a conversation today with someone who does. From what I grasped, it's not "simple", we'd have to first build up our reserves significantly, we'd lose control of our monetary policy and the central bank would lose a source of revenue. To say "switch to US dollar" sounds nice and neat but I'm hoping if it is on the list, the government has thought through all of the implications and have mitigation plans for worst case scenarios.
Right now I don't get the impression that they've thought through anything deeply, I get the impression they're running a marketing campaign, running it poorly, but that's the impression I get. I don't see evidence of a coordinated strategy or that anyone was ready to govern on day 1.
When I start a job, solely with the knowledge of the type of job I'm going into, and with zero knowledge of the actual facts on the ground, I have a mental structure that I know comes with every job of that type and I have a plan laid out for how I will approach the "fleshing out" of that structure into a full fledged plan of action.
I'm still waiting for evidenced that the administration had any idea of the overall structure of the job they stepped into. Can someone please organize a comprehensive overview of government and the strategies to turn this thing around? Inclusive of codes of conduct WITH TEETH. what happened to the NIA btw? You don't have to do it in one sitting. Break it down. Someone who can speak to the common man please, not just someone with a nice voice for American movie classics.
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrade ThisIsOurs, the US dollar is the official currency of the Turks and Caicos and British Virgin Islands. A little know guarded fact is that Freeport's Hawksbill Creek Agreement was originally drafted to use the USD as Freeport's official currency.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 10 months ago
I'm not saying it shouldn't be done,I don't know enough about fiscal policy to make that statement. I'm saying from the conversation I had yesterday, if my understanding was correct it's not something to be entered into lightly. I'm almost 100% sure that we can't take the Turks or BVI model as-is and apply it to us because the facts on the ground are different.
My one point is the government has to be strategic in its thinking, that's what I want to see, they can't do it because "it sounds sexy", that was the PLP model with UR, mortgage relief, free electricity, regularized gaming to prevent VAT and on and on. I want to see them deliberating on how their decisions could change things for the better but also considering the risks. And making decisions with a WHOLISTIC approach
Economist 6 years, 10 months ago
It should and can be done. You don't need to build up reserves to do it. I have spoken to experts in the field and it can be done BUT you need the US to agree to provide certain things. Apparently, we have never asked.
gangof4 6 years, 10 months ago
Not sure if it really matters "where" the money is printed, once the printers get a directive from the government, then they just go ahead and print. Again, someone with more knowledge of our currency laws might better explain.
The Governor of the Central Bank is "appointed" by the government of the day.
That said, any government (PLP) that miscalculates our annual debt by a whopping 400% are either grossly incompetent or inherently corrupt or, in this case, both.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 10 months ago
I keep saying this but I expected "more". For example, they said they're going to spend some 2 million to put iPads in the hands of primary school students at two test schools and everybody cheered, ooh that's wonderful, computers for our kids. And it is wonderful.
But can you tell me about the plan for how those devices will be used to improve the education of the students? What's the policy to keep those devices secure, schools have recently become targets for thieves. What about insurance, maintenance, replacements etc etc? Whats the plan to ensure the devices are used as intended? Can you tell me how the program changes to adjust to the needs of the children as they move up through high school and how it will be rolled out to four more schools and on and on until the entire country is covered? How long do you anticipate it will take and how much will it cost? What's the plan to educate people to teach these new digitally savvy teenagers? What targets have you set, what indicators are you looking for to judge that it's working? That's the kind of thinking I want to see and I don't think they've thought any of it through. It's another BAMSI, this sounds wonderful lets go ahead with no long term plan plan. The full fledged plan for such a program could have been completed between 2012 and May 9 2017, this is what is starting to worry me. I see little evidence that they "planned" to be in charge of a country. But they're it, and they were the only choice so I hope they get it together
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! I'd be for the government doing a once-over only printing of $8 Billion in Bank Notes to wipe-out the National Debt's $7 Billion {and growing with interest and new borrowing beyond a little islands nation's redemption to keep on servicing the debt] and handle some smaller miscellaneous items....But could we trust them with such an important once-over responsibility?
That's the biggest risk in the printing of $8 Billion in Bank Notes, not the printing of the Notes themselves. We could print the Notes but I think we'd need to amend the Constitution to cement in stone the financial safeguards to make the risk of printing the Bank Notes - worth the gamble.
baldbeardedbahamian 6 years, 10 months ago
SPEECHLESS. WHAT LITTLE UNDERSTANDING YOU HAVE OF HOW ECONOMIES WORK. DID YOU HAPPEN TO WORK ADVISING THE PLP GOVERNMENT ON FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT BY ANY CHANCE?
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrade, you think KP's understanding economics is better than mine when he done borrowed $722 million within only his first 19 days getting down to work as minister of finance?
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
Yes, KP's understanding is much better than yours and on a much higher order.
What the PLP were doing, were borrowing by chunks without an overall picture. Why do you think that the BoB bond that was supposed to be taken up entire by the government only came in at 30%??? They hadn't a fooking clue as to how much money they had left, how much they could borrow.
PK looked at the whole picture to cleanup the mess and keep the government going for a year until they determine where to cut the fat.
baldbeardedbahamian 6 years, 10 months ago
WHY DID PAST DIRECTOR OF NIB ROWENA BETHEL WASTE $25 MILLIONS OF OUR NIB FUNDS BUYING BOB SHARES? WAS SHE TOLD TO DO IT BY SHAMELESS GIBBON OR CREDIBILITY GAP CHRISTIE? DID ANYONE GET A KICKBACK? WERE ANY LAWS BROKEN? WILL ANYONE BE PROSECUTED?
banker 6 years, 10 months ago
Rowena Bethel is a PLP lackey. She and her husband Stubbs have benefited greatly from the Crisco Butt overspending. For Chrissakes, I remember when she was in charge of eGovernment and made a botch job of that.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 10 months ago
Why are you going down this road again with Rowena Bethel????? ....... BOL
TalRussell 6 years, 10 months ago
Comrades! "KP's" first 19 Days on job as minister of finance and he's done borrowed $722 million - What The Red #uck - don't repeat same BS as the Republicans are doing with Trump....Both are grown man's - not children. let it sink in okay - $722 million borrowed in just "KP's" first 19 days at work (minis weekends and holidays) and he done almost put taxpayers in further hock for another BILLION Dollars.
SP 6 years, 10 months ago
Jamaica tourism hits historical record with 1 million stopovers by mid June!
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latest...">http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latest...
What % of this "historic" tourism increase can be attributed to the decriminalization of ganja and the global attention it attracted?
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/H...">http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/H...
The Canadain government records $100M profits from ganja vending machines and Jamaica has followed suit by installing ganga vending machines at airports!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-ne...">http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-ne...
Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, we through tourist in jail, drag him to court and deport him for possession of one joint??
Do we take the business of tourism seriously? Is this how we maintain a competitiveness?
Not too long ago all shops on Bay Street had to be closed on Sundays.
We are sticking to our guns, losing ground fast and wondering WHY?
The Bahamas needs to stop the miopic stupidity of fake moral high grounds, get with it, and take tourism seriously!
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