business@tribunemedia.net
Friday, February 27, 2026
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New Bahamas price app will ‘cause more harm than good’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN merchant yesterday warned that the Government’s newly-unveiled price transparency and competitiveness app will “cause more harm than good” for small retailers in its current format, adding that such operators should be “super worried”. Brent Burrows, vice-president of CBS Bahamas, told Tribune Business that - in its current configuration - the Price Pal app, which was again promoted by the Government yesterday (see article on Page 3B), is more suited to larger merchants such as his company and threatens to disadvantage the very small retailers, such as ‘Mom and Pop’ stores, that it is intended to benefit. Emphasising that he is not against price competition, and
CBS Bahamas chief: Smaller retailers will struggle to ‘keep up’
that the intent behind the app is a noble one, he added that those retailers who lack both “tech savviness” and a proper online presence - typically the smaller merchants - will struggle to update Price Pal with information on their current prices and stock in real time. As a result, these operators could be exposed to inaccurate, outdated pricing details that “push people away from shopping with them”.
Shoppers ‘pushed away’ if Price Pal info inaccurate, outdated
Mr Burrows, warning that smaller Bahamian merchants will likely face “a massive challenge” just to place pricing information in a format that can both integrate with Price Pal and be easily digested by consumers, said the only alternative to such businesses doing this themselves was to rely on the Government’s price control inspectors to manually upload
‘Next to impossible’ to use inspectors to update ‘clunky’ app
the relevant details after they visit store locations. However, he argued that it will be “next to impossible” for price control inspectors to do this as there are not nearly enough to canvas the hundreds of retail stores spread throughout The Bahamas on a frequency that matches how regularly prices are updated. Citing CBS Bahamas as an
THE Government was yesterday accused of seeking to meet its Budget surplus ambitions by not paying Bahamian companies what they are owed after its unpaid invoices and arrears increased by 97.6 percent, or almost $120m, year-over-year to hit $242m at year-end 2025. Both the Opposition and private sector executives argued that the mid-year Budget data shows the Davis administration is keeping its fiscal goals within in reach only by rolling over accounts
payables owed to suppliers of goods and services each month. Dr Duane Sands, the Free National Movement’s (FNM) chairman, told Tribune Business that the level of arrears and unpaid invoices “screams that they have a cash flow problem.” And Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive and head of the private sector’s Coalition for Responsible Taxation, warned that the Government and others “cannot be dismissive of the cries of many businesses that may have significant arrears”. He added that talk among many businesses “around the water cooler”, and in both
formal and informal settings, was that obligations owed to them by the Public Treasury are “becoming very challenging” to manage from their own cash flow and liquidity perspective, and being able to pay their own bills. “They are effectively funding the Government’s activities by not being paid in a timely manner,” Mr Bowe told this newspaper of the Government’s corporate creditors. Describing their relationship with the Government as “catch-22”, given that it provided a regular and stable customer but failed to pay its bills in full and on time, Mr Bowe added:
Energy minister and Pintard clash on $25m BPL shortfall By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net THE Government’s energy minister and the Opposition’s leader clashed yesterday over the latter’s assertions that the Davis administration’s electricity reforms will leave Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) with an annual $25m revenue shortfall that will have to be made up via a rate increase in consumer bills. Michael Pintard argued that the minimum annual payments that BPL must make to Bahamas Utility Company, Bahamas Grid Company and its Island Grid manager, and multiple renewable energy providers
JOBETH COLEBY-DAVIS via power purchase agreements (PPAs) total around $223.7m annually. However, his calculations suggested that BPL’s projected annual revenue collections are presently just an estimated $197m,
POWER - See Page B8
Bahamas must embrace world where ‘old rules out the window’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers' Confederation (BCCEC) yesterday warned local businesses that they must learn how to “survive in a world where the old rules of global trade are being thrown out the window” following the latest Trump tariff volatility. The private sector advocay group, in a statement responding to Tribune Business inquiries, said Bahamians companies must
continue to diversify their supply chains and product sources to achieve cost savings with President Trump threatening a 15 percent global tariff on all imports entering the US. But, viewing the situation as an opportunity as well as a risk and challenge, Dr Leo Rolle, the Chamber’s chief executive, said: “The jump to a 15 percent US tariff is a wake-up call but also an opportunity. “Since we rely heavily on US middlemen as our default for the importation of goods, as those
TRADE - See Page B4
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Urgent ‘elbow grease’ required for unlocking $130m corporate taxes Banker urges ‘vigour’ over DMTT rules, regulations Otherwise payers may ‘withhold’ and not ‘cut cheque’ Budget suplus relies on GBPA, Lucayan ‘one-offs’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@ tribunemedia.net
“Government can contribute to a tremendous amount of expansion in the economy just by paying its bills in a timely manner.”
A SENIOR Bahamian banker yesterday warned that a “big component” of the Government’s Budget surplus ambitions GOWON BOWE could be “withheld” by major taxpayers unless they are assured they have a mechanism to claim reciprocal tax relief in their home country jurisdictions. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, yesterday told Tribune Business that the absence of rules, regulations and guidance notes to accompany The Bahamas’ 15 percent corporate income tax - known as the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Act - had left impacted companies “reluctant to cut a cheque” to the Government. This, he explained, is because they need documentary evidence - which the regulations are to provide - that they can show their home country tax authorities proving that income tax has been levied on their Bahamas’ profits. This is critical to ensuring such profits are not ‘double taxed’ - meaning that they are subject to taxation in just The Bahamas or their home country, but not both. Mr Bowe told this newspaper that the Government is likely banking on earning more than the projected $130.1m from the new corporate income tax to hit its $75.5m Budget surplus target for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The levy, which was imposed to ensure The Bahamas complies with the G-20/Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
FINANCE - See Page B7
PAYMENT - See Page B6
TECHNOLOGY - See Page B4
Vendors ‘funding Gov’t’ via $242m unpaid bills BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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DR DUANE SANDS