All results / Stories / Neil Hartnell
Water Corp: $1.2m claim was resort financing ploy
The Water & Sewerage Corporation has defeated a $1.227m damages claim for trespass that it alleges was merely a ploy attempting to force it to finance a planned Andros eco-resort.
‘Lots of muscle’ required for $142m toxic BOB pile
The Bank of The Bahamas bail-out vehicle must now employ “lots of muscle” to recover its remaining “toxic” loan collateral valued at $142m, its chairman revealed yesterday.
Bank payment charges need ‘legitimate redress’
THE Central Bank yesterday appeared to concede that fees for payment services were too high and “require legitimate redress”, a view shared by 78 per cent of Bahamians.
Pensioners left with 30% in City Markets HQ sale
* Claim trustees ‘not acting in our best interest’ * Trustees retain 27% of $3m sale to AML Foods * And lawyer paid almost one-third of proceeds
City Markets pensioners have been “kept in the dark” over the $3 million sale of the plan’s main asset, with just 30 per cent of the proceeds seemingly left for their benefit.
Title questions raised over $3m AML deal
CITY Markets pension fund trustees have no legal standing to sell the defunct supermarket chain’s former head office to AML Foods for $3 million, it was alleged yesterday.
DPM: Bahamas must ‘prove’ itself to S&P
* ‘Not at all’ upset nation still ‘junk’ * Blames former Govt’s failure to deliver * Nation has 12-24 months to execute
The Government must “prove” it can deliver on its fiscal and economic turnaround strategy, the Deputy Prime Minister admitted yesterday, after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) kept the Bahamas at ‘junk’ status. K P Turnquest told Tribune Business he was “not at all” disappointed at the outcome of S&P’s annual review of the Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness, despite having previously expressed optimism that the Government could make the case to be upgraded to ‘investment grade’ status.
‘No cause for celebration’ over S&P breathing room
* Bahamas ‘still has to climb out of hole’ * But Chamber chief ‘fully expects’ 2018 upgrade * Many Bahamians don’t realise reform ‘gravity’
PRIVATE sector executives yesterday said the Bahamas has “no cause for celebration yet” after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) elected not to further downgrade its sovereign creditworthiness.
S&P: Gov’ts fiscal, economic reforms ‘will take time’ to work
* 1.5% average growth forecast lower than IMF’s * Grand Lucayan closure takes out 7% of rooms * Debt to rise through 2020 to 52% of GDP
THE Government’s fiscal and economic reforms will take time to “pay dividends”, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) warned yesterday, as it took a more ‘bearish’ view of the Bahamas’ growth prospects. The rating agency, in its latest Bahamas country assessment, expressed confidence that the Minnis administration’s fiscal reforms will “arrest the deterioration” in the Government’s deficit and the national debt.
Gaming Board lacks ‘oversight structure’ for numbers houses
* Minister: Changes to make regulator ‘more relevant’ * Gaming Board will ‘look very different’ in five years * ‘92,000 didn’t vote for us to maintain status quo’
RECENT downsizings are intended to make the Gaming Board “more relevant” and help it cope with the “seismic changes” created by web shops, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. Dionisio D’Aguilar, who has ministerial responsibility for gaming, told Tribune Business that the industry regulator will “look extremely different from the Gaming Board of today within five years”.
Bahamas ‘must reengineer economy faster than ever’
* QC: 2018 will ‘set economy for 20 years’ * Warns reform pace may be bewildering * Warns of tax, exchange control ‘recalibrating’
THE Bahamas faces having to “substantially reengineer its economy at a much faster pace than ever before” to escape global ‘blacklists’, a prominent QC warned yesterday. Brian Moree QC, senior partner at McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, told Tribune Business that this nation’s response to the European Union/OECD initiatives in 2018 “will determine the future of the economy” for possibly the next 20 years.
Bahamas faces major tax, exchange control shake-up
The Bahamas may have to completely overhaul its corporate and taxation structure to escape European Union/OECD ‘blacklisting’ threats, the Attorney General revealed yesterday.
Income-type tax ‘likely inevitable’, warns ex-minister
A FORMER financial services minister believes it is “probably inevitable” that the Bahamas will have to introduce some form of low-rate income tax, warning: “We’re not in the clear yet.”
‘Absolutely imperative’ Baha Mar doesn’t fail
BAHA Mar’s transformation into a sustainable mega-resort is an “absolute imperative” for the Bahamas and its economy, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive says.
Property Fund ‘gap’ as PwC to vacate Providence House
THE BISX-listed Bahamas Property Fund is preparing for temporary vacancy at its last fully-occupied property, following a $2.206 million third quarter hit caused by a timing adjustment.
Gov’t narrows inner city taxation breaks
The Government yesterday appeared to narrow its planned VAT and inner-city ‘tax breaks’, while seeking to deliver on campaign promises of accountability, transparency and good governance.
Bahamas can’t afford ‘another five years’ of secretive governance
The Bahamas cannot afford “another five-year cycle” of unaccountable government spending, a governance reformer warned yesterday, arguing that a Fiscal Responsibility Act should have “preceded” Value-Added Tax (VAT).
OECD attacks like ‘unofficial blacklisting’ of the Bahamas
A former finance minister says the recent OECD-inspired media onslaught against the Bahamas is akin to an “unofficial blacklisting” of its financial services industry, describing the situation as “a new form of international colonialism”.
Governor: ‘Credible’ growth plan key to satisfying Moody’s
The Central Bank’s governor yesterday said it was “within the Government’s reach” to lay out an economic growth strategy that convinces Moody’s not to further slash the Bahamas’ credit rating.
Ex-Chamber chief ‘100% certain’ of credit downgrade
A former Chamber of Commerce president yesterday said he was “100 per cent certain” the Bahamas’ sovereign credit rating will be downgraded by Moody’s, due to its failure to enact fundamental reforms.
‘Deceptive indicators’ hurt Budget estimates
The Chamber of Commerce’s chairman believes the use of “misnomers and deceptive indicators” are causing the Government to consistently miss unrealistic Budget and fiscal targets.
