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Tuesday, February 10, 2026
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‘No cause for panic’ over 27% points off-peak credit • Renewed growth BAHAMIAN bankers requires yesterday asserted that the 27 percentage point more decline in private sector borrowers, credit, as a proportion of national GDP, over the ‘discipline’ past 15 years is “no cause BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
for panic” or “solely a sign of weakness” but demands a renewed focus on economic fundamentals. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business that reigniting sustainable lending to households, businesses and consumers requires expanding the number of qualifed borrowers by further lowering unemployment and reviving “discipline” among Bahamians when it comes to savings and their personal finances. Noting that many existing borrowers are “treading water”, and unable to access further credit because they are effectively maxed out and at their regulatory-permitted limits, he recalled that
• Current generation more focused on needs than homes
• Not just ‘sign of weakness’; credit-toGDP at 20year low
GOWON BOWE
TANGELA ALBURY
- while most Bahamian parents and grand-parents obtained their first loan to purchase a home - today’s generation are more likely to do so to acquire vehicles, consumer goods and go on holiday. Mr Bowe’s call for a cultural, or mindshift, change when it comes to Bahamian saving and borrowing
habits came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its just-released Article IV consultation with The Bahamas, disclosed that this nation’s private sector credit - as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) or economic output - is at its lowest level in two decades.
‘Stop governing in dark’ on PPPs, MP demands
CONTRACTS - See Page B5
LEND - See Page B5
Civil service union’s president ‘happy IMF doesn’t run nation’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday renewed demands for the Government to “stop governing in the dark” while arguing that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had further backed concerns over public-private partnership (PPP) agreements. Kwasi Thompson, the east Grand Bahama MP, speaking after the Fund unveiled its Article IV consultation report with The Bahamas, told Tribune Business that it had “pretty much confirmed there’s a degree of hidden liabilities in these” arrangements that the Davis administration has entered into on critical infrastructure projects. In particular, he asserted that the Fund’s warning about “the risk of under-estimating liabilities” created by so-called PPPs had confirmed both previous concerns raised by the Free National Movement (FNM) as well as The Bahamas’ independent Fiscal Responsibility Council. “You have two independent parties raising those concerns,” Mr Thompson told this newspaper. “I think it speaks to the validity of those concerns. I think all the issues that the Opposition previously pointed out with those PPPs, the breach of the Government’s own PPP policy, the way I know I would put it is: Stop governing in the dark. “The Government must be more transparent and justify to the public the spending of millions and millions of dollars, which they have not. The IMF’s confirmation, the Fiscal Reponsibility Council’s confirmation, only further raises the concerns the Opposition spoke about. “It speaks to our concerns wirh respect to the Procurement Act, with respect to granting these direct awards
The Washington D.C-based Fund, while acknowledging that growth was in the initial stages of revival, and The Bahamas was faring better than other Caribbean states, added that the 39 percent credit-to-GDP ratio hit at year-end 2024 was some five percentage points below pre-COVID levels in 2019 and 27 percentage points below the “peak” 66 percent mark achieved just before the 2009 global recession took hold. “Growth in private sector credit was generally weak in The Bahamas following the global financial crisis and immediately after the pandemic,” the
KIMSLEY FERGUSON
THE Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) president yesterday branded the call for all 23,000 civil sevants to start contributing to their retirement income as “foolishness”, and asserted: “I’m happy the IMF doesn’t run the country.” Kimsley Ferguson, responding to the International Monetary Fund’s
A GOVERNMENT policy advisor yesterday branded The Bahamas as one of the world’s ten most expensive countries to live in as it unveiled an app to enable consumers to compare prices at different merchants. Ian Poitier said PricePal’s launch was significant as it supports the Government’s agenda “about how we bring down prices” and ease cost of living pressure for Bahamian families. By comparing different products at various stores, it will give consumers better price transparency and enable them to identify lowest-cost options. A national price comparison app, PricePal has also been introduced in a bid to promote fair competition as well as consumer empowerment. It is the result of partnerships between the Office of the Prime Minister, the Bahamas Trade Commission, Consumer
Protection Commission (CPC) which will have a role in managing the app - and the Consumer Affairs Department, which will be responsible for running and maintaining it, along with its developer, the Novio Group. “I always want to start with just a key sort of data point, which is Tye Bahamas is one of the ten most expensive places in the world. I don't think we really let that land. A country of our size, and a country with all our advantages, and this is something that's obviously continued for a very long time, but it's getting increasingly difficult. Households, families, individuals are really struggling to make ends meet,” Mr Poitier said. Senator Barry Griffin, chairman of The Bahamas Trade Commission, in a video address presented at last night’s private preview, said the app is his “baby” and that more than 1,500 Bahamians will be able to test it over a two-week period
EXPENSE - See Page B5
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Minnis: I’d never agree to China hospital loan terms • Ex-PM would have rejected foreign governing law, arbitration • Controversy ‘never an issue’ if his administration’s plan used • Study: Bahamian contractors ‘fully capable’ of doing hospital BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DR HUBERT Minnis is asserting he would never have agreed to any government borrowing being governed by a foreign lender’s own laws as the Davis administration has over the second New Providence hospital’s $195m financing. The former prime minister told Tribune Business his administration would never have signed-off on a loan governed by the laws of a foreign jurisdiction, or agreed to the lender’s home country being the legal forum for resolving any disputes, after it emerged that the China Export-Import Bank funding will be subject to Chinese law with
(IMF) recommendation that the Government’s planned pension reforms go further in a bid to close an ever-increasing $2bn-plus hole in the public finances, told Tribune Business that this cannot occur “at the expense” of public officials already deemed “permanent and pensionable”. He argued that existing civil servants should continue on the existing ‘pay-as-you-go’ scheme, which is 100 percent financed by Bahamian taxpayers in the Government’s annual Budget, and retain their existing benefits while contributing zero to their retirement savings. And the BPSU chief, while agreeing that all new civil service hires should join the defined contribution pension scheme proposed in the Government’s draft Pensions
Pricing comparison app to aid cost of living fight BY ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
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DR HUBERT MINNIS Beijing as the location for any arbitration proceedings. The Killarney MP, arguing that selecting a “neutral” third-party venue such as the UK for arbitration was the only concession he would have made, said
OVERSEE - See Page B4
Bill 2023, also objected to existing civil servants with less than eight years’ service making the switch to such a plan as intended. Mr Ferguson, whie agreeing that “the burden on the taxpayer needs to be decreased” along with The Bahamas’ $11.5bn national debt, told this newspaper that any reform pain needs to be shared equally across the civil service and not placed disproportionately on the lower ranks. He also argued that, if public officials are to help finance their retirement, then this task needs to be made easier by increasing their salaries. The IMF, in its just-released Article IV consultation report on The Bahamas, called on the Davis
RETIRE - See Page B4