Senate’s vice-president attends trade conference
THE Senate’s vice- president represented The Bahamas at a recent trade and economic conference in his role as the Trade Commission’s deputy chairman.
Tourism ‘booking pace drag’ over crime alerts
Bahamian hotels yesterday revealed recent crime alerts have sparked “a drag on the booking pace” while a former DNA leader blamed seven cancellations at his vacation rental business on the warnings.
BTC outage ‘due to trenching by another utility provider’
THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company said customers in the Eastern Road and Johnson Road corridors had experienced a landline, mobile, and internet outage due to trenching, which led to BTC’s fibre being cut by another utility provider.
IMF: Those with means pay more for health and water
THE Government can slash “unproductive spending” by $116.5m and, in so doing, boost key public services if Bahamians with means pay more for water and access to public healthcare.
Opening Bahamian bank accounts ‘totally insane’
A PROMINENT accountant yesterday blasted “it’s crazy, absolutely insane” that Bahamian businesses face an average wait of more than two months to open a bank account compared to “20 minutes” in the US.
Minister set to intervene on hotel industrial deal
THE minister of labour will today meet with hotel union executives to discuss the latest counter-proposal from resort employees in a bid to break the stalemate over industrial agreement talks.
Energy, labour ‘bottlenecks’ must go for GDP break-out
THE BAHAMAS must overcome labour and energy “bottlenecks” to break out of the lower 1.5-1.8 percent economic growth rates it is forecast to enjoy from 2025 onwards, the IMF is warning.
Private cruise islands set for VAT reform hit
The Government is planning tax reforms that will hit the cruise lines’ Bahamian private islands and end their nine-year VAT-free status, it was confirmed yesterday.
Gov’t ‘disagrees’ on IMF’s ‘top 10%’ income taxation
THE Government “disagrees” with the IMF’s assertion that it must introduce a personal income tax targeting “the top 10 percent of earners” and other reforms to hit its 25 percent revenue-to-GDP goal.
Sandals insulated from Stewart family’s battle
THE Sandals resort chain’s governance and management will not be impacted if the trustee overseeing its late founder’s estate and a $334m cash pile are removed, the Chief Justice has ruled.
Bahamas cool over IMF interest rate rise nudge
THE Bahamas has reacted coolly to persistent nudging from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it should raise short-term interest rates to narrow the gap with those in the US.
Businesses wait over two months for bank account
BAHAMIAN businesses face an average wait of more than two months to open a bank account with almost 80 percent asserting that the process “took longer than expected”.
Hotel industrial deal ‘in need of a miracle’
THE Government’s labour director yesterday said “it’s becoming obvious there now needs to be a miracle” to secure an industrial agreement for the hotel industry after Friday’s talks ended in “stalemate”.
Gov’t deserves fiscal praise but should now look to IMF
The Bahamas is now three years into a recovery from the devastating effects of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit the country only four months apart in 2019- 2020 and wreaked havoc on the economy.
Good start
ActivTrades
Strong big-tech balance sheets lifted Wall Street into positive territory at the end of last week. However, disappointment over the latest US labour market report limited gains.
