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‘Unprecedented’: Hotel staff enjoyed slow season boost ‘unpred
Many hotel staff worked “unprecedented” five-day weeks during the tourism season’s slowest months, a union leader revealed yesterday, as he bids to complete multiple new industrial agreements in early 2023.
Realtor has ‘never seen such high rental rates’
A Bahamian realtor says he has “never seen such high rental rates” as now exist in some of western New Providence’s most upscale communities with demand in this segment now suppressing available-for-sale inventory.
Gas station warning of New Year lay-offs
A gas station operator yesterday warned the 24 percent minimum wage increase will “almost certainly” force the sector to cut staffing levels unless the Government grants a long-awaited margin increase.
‘I want Schooner Bay progress’, says ex-PM
An ex-prime minister yesterday asserted he wants to see “progress and development” at an Abaco community once held up as sustainable development model following its baffling break with a former management partner.
CCA: We’ll ‘be laughed at by world’ if Baha Mar not open
Top executives at Baha Mar’s main contractor voiced fears they would “be laughed at by the world” if the mega resort’s target 2015 opening was missed while admitting to multiple “shortcomings and deficiencies” in its construction.
Insurers: Don’t sleep on EU blacklisting ‘breathing room’
The Bahamas must not fall asleep after it gained “two years’ breathing room” to escape the European Union’s (EU) tax blacklist and preserve up to 40 percent of its hurricane reinsurance capacity, insurers are warning.
Sarkis loss ‘over $3bn’ if Baha Mar hit targets
Sarkis Izmirlian would so far have “lost more than $3bn” in potential profits alone if the Baha Mar resort from which he was ousted hit his financial projections, an analyst’s report has calculated.
CCA: Sarkis ‘inflaming anti-Chinese sentiment’
Baha Mar’s main contractor has accused Sarkis Izmirlian of “a nakedly xenophobic attempt to inflame anti-Chinese sentiment” while asserting there is “no evidence” it misused $54m to acquire the then-British Colonial Hilton.
Skills transfer woe still a ‘sad reality’
The Bahamas must change “the sad reality” that key skills and knowledge are not being passed on to local workers by expatriate work permit holders, a prominent contractor argued yesterday.
CCA: WE SHOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BAHAMAS – Contractor reached out for help to son of top govt advisor
Baha Mar's main contractor asked the son of Perry Christie's top policy adviser to intervene when his father proposed changing The Pointe's Heads of Agreement over how many Bahamian construction workers would be employed.
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.
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.
Kosoy, Sterling eye Hurricane Hole deal
David Kosoy’s Sterling Global Financial is in negotiations to acquire Paradise Island’s Hurricane Hole property from Atlantis’s owner, Tribune Business can reveal.
McCartney: ‘Look elsewhere’ for Baha Mar purchaser
The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday said Baha Mar’s potential purchaser would not be granted a casino licence if the Gaming Board “did proper due diligence”, as he accused the Government of “playing with fire”.
BIFF ‘taken for ride’ over Dingman deal
The Bahamas International Film Festival’s (BIFF) founder yesterday said she was left “embarrassed”, and felt “taken for a ride”, after Jamie Dingman failed to deliver on his promised acquisition of the organisation.
Drug wholesalers yet to feel PHA’s 20% spend rise
Major Bahamian pharmaceutical wholesalers last night said they were yet to feel the benefits of the Public Hospitals Authority’s (PHA) 20 per cent ‘local’ spending increase, with two reporting a decline in government sales this year.
PHA: 20% local spend rise rebuts ‘wipe out’ fears
The Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) yesterday said the 20 per cent increase in spending with Bahamian pharmaceutical wholesalers over a two-year period proves that fears it is intent on “wiping out” the industry are groundless.
‘Penny wise and pound foolish’
A well-known surgeon has branded the Public Hospitals Authority’s (PHA) move to exclude Bahamian wholesalers from the pharmaceutical drugs supply chain as “penny wise and pound foolish”.
