$10 BILLION: Pandemic and Dorian send deficit soaring
GOVERNMENT debt is projected to top 10 billion dollars by the end of the 2021/2022 fiscal year as the Minnis administration commits to deficit spending in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Emergency powers extended until June 29
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis tabled a resolution in the House of Assembly yesterday to extend the country’s state of emergency to June 29 as he announced plans to further ease restrictions. The resolution will be debated today. Dr Minnis said he
THE BUDGET: Govt revenues set for $900m drop, tax relief measures introduced
DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest revealed today that there will be a $900m drop in government revenues resulting in a national deficit of $1.3 billion by June next year, brought on by Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jobless rate rise ‘to almost 50%’
THE Bahamas’ unemployment rate has soared to nearly 50 percent due to layoffs brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, a government minister revealed yesterday.
Turnquest dismisses devaluation threat
FINANCE Minister Peter Turnquest has dismissed reports of the government running out of money as false while stressing the Bahamian dollar is not facing a devaluation threat. Yesterday, a statement from Mr Turnquest insisted measures are being taken
Cooper claims budget is going to be brutal
PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Deputy Leader Chester Cooper says the Minnis administration’s 2020/2021 budget will be “brutal” for ordinary Bahamians.
‘ABACO FAMILIES NEED ANSWERS’: MP insists inquiry required to relieve pain of bereaved
CENTRAL and South Abaco MP James Albury has called for an inquiry into the process that led to the burial of 55 Hurricane Dorian victims on Friday.
Govt is fumbling, misstepping and backtracking, claims PLP leader
PLP leader Philip “Brave” Davis criticised the government as “mis-stepping, backtracking” and “fumbling” in a pre-budget statement he delivered last night. He claimed the Minnis administration has cut the Ministry of Works’ capital budget, saying this hampers the work Bahamians could be doing.
PM urges country to go digital
DECLARING that the country will have to make “deep and far-reaching structural changes” to the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday it is “absolutely necessary” that the Bahamas becomes fully digitised.
‘We couldn’t open them all in one go’
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said normal commercial activity on islands like Exuma and Eleuthera has not been restarted because officials have to assume that people may have visited those islands and potentially brought COVID-19 to them.
Minnis backs draft resolution put forward by WHO
ACKNOWLEDGING the destabilising effect Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 have had on The Bahamas in the last year, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis expressed support for the World Health Organisation’s work in a speech during the body’s general assembly m
PLP criticises Minnis for island selection
MEMBERS of the Progressive Liberal Party chastised Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis for not allowing Exuma, Eleuthera and San Salvador to resume normal commercial activity like many other Family Islands without COVID-19 cases.
Repatriation flights to resume this week
A WEEK after the government suspended the repatriation flights of Bahamians stuck abroad, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced yesterday that those flights will resume this week, allowing Bahamians to return home.
OPENING UP: PM sets target date of July 1 to reopen borders
GOVERNMENT officials are considering resuming commercial travel in the country “on or before” July 1, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced yesterday as he revealed the government’s long-awaited plans to “gradually” resume domestic travel.
PM’s address: No new COVID-19 cases for fourth consecutive day
Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minis said we are continuing to make progress in containing the spread of COVID-19, with no new cases for the fourth day in a row.
