Local Business

Young accountants reception

YOUNG accountants who recently completed their degree programme were welcomed into the profession by the …

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Healthcare on ‘unsustainable track’ with $24m deficit forecast by 2026

Financing for Bahamian public healthcare is “on an unsustainable track” with a $24m annual deficit predicted by the upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal year, it has been revealed, with this shortfall set to worsen due to an increasingly elderly population.

Freeport lacking scale to ‘efficiently support’ Shipyard’s expansion

Freeport lacks the size and critical mass to “efficiently support” developments such as the $600m Grand Bahama Shipyard dry dock replacement, a prominent hotelier asserted yesterday, as he urged: “We need stopover tourists back.”

Road carnage: 40% of Nassau hit by accidents

Some 40 percent of New Providence residents have revealed they or a close family member have been involved in a traffic accident within the past five years, leading an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report to brand Bahamian road safety as “a significant public policy issue”.

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‘Nominal’ 50 cent sugary drinks tax can raise millions

Imposing just a “nominal” 50 cent tax on sugary drinks would raise “millions” towards closing The Bahamas’ public healthcare financing shortfall, a Cabinet minister disclosed yesterday, while asserting of the new National Health Strategy: “It’s not a pie in the sky wish list.”

Print shop owner loses$266k insurance battle

A print shop owner’s bid to obtain $266,000 in damages against a Bahamian insurer for failing to pay-out and cover losses associated with Hurricane Irma’s passage in September 2017 has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

‘Meaningful reductions’ in property coverage unlikely

Insurers are warning Bahamian businesses and homeowners that there are unlikely “to be meaningful reductions” in property coverage costs in 2026 after the multi-billion dollar damages inflicted on Jamaica by Hurricane Melissa gave their key partners pause for though.

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Gov’t boating fee review: ‘We start over yet again’

The Government yesterday pledged to “review” the “competitiveness” of the boating fee hikes and accompanying regulatory reforms following the Prime Minister’s intervention, with marina industry chiefs asserting the sector feels as if “every five years we start over again”.

Fiscal deficit cut 32% during first two months

The Government slashed its fiscal deficit by 32 percent, or almost one-third, for the first two months of the current 2025-2026 Budget year due to a more than $50m decline in the amount of ‘red ink’ incurred during August.

Doctors chief: Tax fast food eateries ‘to the hilt’

A doctor’s union president yesterday called for new taxation to be imposed on fast food restaurants to help cover the public healthcare system’s forecast $24m financing deficit while also slamming the fees being levied on National Health Insurance (NHI) providers.

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Marinas warn 1,500 jobs ‘at risk’ as boat traffic slows

Bahamian marinas have warned the Prime Minister that up to 1,500 Bahamian jobs are “at risk” from the 40 percent decline in boating traffic amid signs of progress towards an acceptable compromise for both the Government and private sector over the Budget fee hikes.