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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2025
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Banish regulatory ‘handcuffs’ so that Freeport can thrive
‘Disaster’: Govt’s four-month deficit higher than year’s goal
• Hayward urges return to Hawksbill Creek roots • Says ending red tape will have ‘snowball effect’ • Billy Cay set to be included in new cruise port
• October’s $274m deficit near four times’ 12-month target THE Opposition last night slammed the Government’s “disastrous” fiscal perfor- • Opposition demands plan to mance after it emerged that the $274m deficit for 2024‘dig us out of this fiscal hole’ 2025’s first four months is almost four times higher than • Budget ‘red ink’ more than the full-year target. Kwasi Thompson, the doubles against prior year’s Free National Movement’s
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FREEPORT must go back to its Hawksbill Creek Agreement roots and banish the red tape and regulatory “handcuffs” if it is to compete with multi-billion free trade zone rivals, a GBPA director asserted yesterday. Rupert Hayward, also a member of the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s two family owners, told the island’s Business Outlook that the original intent of Freeport’s founding treaty must be revived after being “diluted” and “watered down” by policy “guardrails” such as Immigration policy. Pointing to competition that has long surpassed Freeport’s output and economic impact, he cited Dubai’s Jafza special economic zone as an example “of what we are missing out on” with its $169bn in annual trade value in 2023 generated by playing host to 10,700 companies from 100 countries. And, closer to home, Mr Hayward noted the $130m in trade value generated every year by Cayman Enterprise City, which enjoys 100 percent exemptions on corporate, income, VAT and capital gains taxes plus import duties, and is where businesses can become operational within four to six days aided by renewable five-year work permits and residency visas for staff that are issued within five working days of application. “That’s the competition, ladies and gentlemen, and that’s what we’re up against,” the GBPA director warned. “Under the strict application of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, as it was envisaged in 1955, Freeport would offer a very similar suite of incentives. As we all know, though, the reality today is very different. “Despite many of the unique benefits that Freeport has to offer, we have fallen behind in this race precisely because the provisions
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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
(FNM) finance spokesman, demanded that the Davis administration present a corrective action plan to “dig us out of this fiscal hole” when it unveils the mid-year Budget in less then a fortnight after it was revealed that the deficit for the four months to endOctober 2024 was equivalent to 392.7 percent of the $69.8m full-year target. The Ministry of Finance, in its October fiscal report, revealed that the month’s deficit - which measures by how much government spending exceeds its revenue income had expanded by 43.6 percent
or almost $37m year-overyear, widening from $61.7m to $88.6m. The increase, which moved the deficit in the opposite direction to the Government’s desired fiscal consolidation trajectory, was driven entirely by increased spending as tax and other revenues posted a modest $7.8m year-over-year increase to $256m for October 2024. Total expenditure, though, surged by $34.8m or an 11.2 percent increase, to hit $344.5m. When added to the ‘red ink’ incurred for the first
three months of 2024-2025, which represented the year’s first quarter, October took the combined deficit for the first one-third of the fiscal year to $274m - a sum more than double, or 129 percent, higher than the $119.7m run-up during the same period in 2023-2024. And 2024-2025’s deficit for the first four months is also higher than the $258.7m incurred during the first six months of the prior 20232024 fiscal year. Should the Government have endured a repeat of the $69.6m and
KWASI THOMPSON $65.9m deficits incurred in November and December 2023, respectively, this time around, the combined $135.5m would take the 20242025 mid-year deficit to a mammoth $409.5m. Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, could not be reached for comment before press time last night, but the Government will likely counter that the Budget’s cyclical nature makes it
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Doctors Hospital unveils healthcare finance entry By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DOCTORS Hospital yesterday revealed plans to “directly insert” itself into financing affordable healthcare by late summer 2025 with “insurance-like pricing” up to 50 percent less than existing coverages.
Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s chief financial officer, told the Grand Bahama Business Outlook that it aims to make access to quality medical treatment less costly and more accessible in a climate where companies are enduring premium increases of between 9 percent to even 25 percent to maintain group coverage for employees.
To achieve the promised savings, and keep healthcare costs down, he said Doctors Hospital will focus on “wellness” initiatives designed to keep insured patients from needing higher-priced tertiary care in hospitals. And it is also aiming to remove potential barriers and deterrents to accessing primary care by eliminating the “fee for service” reimbursement method
for physicians, thus controlling patient co-payments and deductibles. Revealing that Doctors Hospital plans to “directly insert ourselves into the healthcare financing landscape” by the time construction on its new Grand Bahama hospital is completed in late summer 2025, Mr Deveaux explained: “We’re
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GB Chamber president rejects abolishing GBPA By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net CALLS to abolish the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) were yesterday rejected by a senior private sector executive who urged sceptics to “accept” it will exist for at least another 29 years. James Carey, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, in leading off the island’s Business Outlook conference also urged the business community not to be “distracted” by the Government’s $357m claim against Freeport’s quasi-governmental authority although he conceded this was the likely effect of the two sides’ dispute
JAMES CAREY and ongoing arbitration proceedings. And, pushing back against calls for the GBPA to be “done away with”, he argued that its current owners - the Hayward and St George families - should
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Carnival choosing vendors ‘outside of Grand Bahama’ By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A GRAND Bahama business owner said Carnival Cruise Line’s Grand Bahama project is not providing adequate opportunities for local businesses. During the question-andanswer segment of Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey’s keynote address at the Grand Bahama Business Outlook yesterday, a local jeweller said she and others operating in the Port Lucaya Marketplace were denied the opportunity to obtain a spot in Carnival’s new cruise port as the mega cruise line preferred to
work with vendors “outside of Grand Bahama”. She said many local vendors have not been given an opportunity to participate in the project and questioned why it was being flaunted as one that would boost local businesses. Mrs Moxey said government officials have encouraged cruise lines to provide opportunities for local businesses but it is ultimately Carnival’s decision on which businesses they choose to partner with. “I’ve been an advocate for Grand Bahama businesses, and so we’ve had many discussions with cruise lines on the same topic. But again, it is
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