Spanish Wells hopes Commonwealth will fill the RBC vacuum
The Spanish Wells community would be “only too glad” to have a Bahamian-owned institution fill the void created by the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) imminent pull-out, with Commonwealth Bank sending a delegation to the island recently.
Bahamas in $40m foreign property buyer ‘outflows’
The Bahamas has suffered two consecutive years of $40 million-plus net real estate outflows due partly to the exit of foreign buyers, the Central Bank’s governor confirmed yesterday, with inward investment flows falling to $163.2 million in 2016.
Bahamas ‘nears a socialist state’
The Bahamas “is becoming a socialist state”, an outspoken FNM candidate said yesterday, blasting the Government’s decision to move ahead with controversial labour law reforms as “madness”.
Chamber: Labour law reforms may be ‘ultra vires’ Act
The Chamber of Commerce last night reiterated concerns that the National Tripartite Council (NTC) may have violated its own founding Act by failing to get “unanimous” agreement on the controversial labour law reforms before they were tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday.
Businesses ‘crippled’ by 2/3 redundancy pay rise
Outraged Bahamian employers yesterday slammed the Government’s decision to press forward with union-friendly labour law reforms, including a 67 per cent increase in redundancy pay, as “crippling” individual businesses and the wider economy.
Industrial Tribunal still lacking ‘teeth’
A trade union leader yesterday said that while the planned changes to the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts were “a step in the right direction”, the Industrial Tribunal still has not been given sufficient “teeth”.
78% debt ‘threatens to sink the Bahamas’
The Bahamas’ 78 per cent debt-to-GDP ratio “is a real concern” that threatens to sink this nation, the FNM’s deputy leader said yesterday.
Unions ‘ecstatic’ on ‘win for all Bahamian workers’
Elated union leaders said they were “ecstatic” over the reforms to the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts tabled in Parliament yesterday, hailing them as a “victory for Bahamian workers”.
FOCOL ‘couldn’t allow’ Rubis LPIA fuel control
FOCOL Holdings yesterday said it acted “in the national interest” by acquiring half of Sol Petroleum’s stake in Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) fuel farm operations, thereby preventing a foreign rival from taking “clear control”.
PLP chair branded ‘delusional’ as debt ratio soars to 78%
Bradley Roberts was yesterday branded “delusional” for asserting that the Christie administration had “rescued the Bahamas from the brink of the fiscal cliff”, after it emerged that this nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio ended 2016 at 78 per cent.
‘One of most reckless, dangerous pledges ever’
A prominent businessman yesterday described Dr Hubert Minnis’s pledge to reverse Baha Mar’s sale if elected as “one of the most reckless and dangerous statements I’ve ever heard from a political leader in Bahamian history”.
Eleuthera project out of the Woods
Sir Franklyn Wilson yesterday said “it’s been a long time since I smiled this broadly”, as his partnership with Tiger Woods golf course design firm to develop a private club at Jack’s Bay, Eleuthera, was unveiled.
Govt develops social benefits ‘we can’t afford’
The Government was yesterday urged to stop developing social programmes “we have no capacity to afford”, a prominent governance reform campaigner arguing against pushing forward with the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
Govt moving ‘full steam ahead’ with landfill outsource
A Cabinet Minister yesterday said the Government was preparing to move “full steam ahead” with both the privatisation of operations at the New Providence landfill and “fine tuning” its remediation plan.
Tourism feels US storm impacts
The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) yesterday said the sector was feeling the effects of the fast-moving snow storm impacting the northeastern US, as flights to this destination have already been among a vast number of cancellations.
