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MONDAY, MARCH 13, 2023
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Bahamas on track, but ‘slow spending faster’
‘Absolutely not worried’ by Royal Caribbean’s PI plan
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Cruise port chief ‘very confident’ enough visitors for all
THE BAHAMAS must produce “a faster slowdown on spending” to ensure it hits the revised $575.4m full-year deficit target and other key fiscal goals, a major international financial services group is urging. Santander’s US capital markets unit, in a March 10 research note on The Bahamas to its institutional investor clients, warned that “spending needs to slow” in what was otherwise a relatively upbeat assessment on the country’s “remarkable recovery” in tourism and year-overyear improvement in government
• Santander: ‘Decelerate’ to hit $575m deficit • But hails ‘remarkable recovery’ for tourism • ‘Huge credibility boost’, warns of ‘slow fix’ revenues as the economy emerged from COVID’s ravages. However, it said the $124.7m revenue increase for the 2022-2023 fiscal
year’s first half “has not been sufficient to compensate” for a 26 percent year-over-year increase in total government spending during the three months to end-December 2022. During this period, Santander said the total deficit had increased by 75.2 percent year-over-year - from $145m in the 2021 calendar year’s fourth quarter to $254m in 2022. “There is no immediate threat to the full year 2022-2023 fiscal targets on still six months remaining, and the July to December 2022 deficit of $281m at 49 percent of the full-year budgeted deficit of $564m,” Santander said in its Bahamas investor
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Petroleum retailer: Gov’t says ‘they want us to fail’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A GAS station operator yesterday suggested a six-month job swap with a Cabinet minister so the latter can gain a full understanding of the industry’s plight, adding: “He’s telling us he wants us to fail.” Vasco Bastian, the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association’s (BPRA) vice-president, told Tribune Business he was willing to exchange roles with Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, so he can see exactly why the sector is pushing so hard for an increase in its price-controlled fixed margins. Responding after Mr Halkitis, speaking during the Senate’s mid-year Budget debate, reiterated the Government’s continued opposition to any increase in gasoline or diesel margins, he urged the minister “for the love of
Jesus” to reconsider his and the Davis administration’s position. With gas station operators unable to remain profitable, and absorb ever-increasing costs and inflationary pressures via fixed margins that have not increased for more than 11 years, Mr Bastian said he and other dealers noticed that the Government has granted concessions to multiple foreign investors and the trade unions but is unwilling to do the same for Bahamian investors who “fuel the economy every day”. Emphasising that he has “the utmost respect” for Mr Halkitis, and that his comments were not to be taken personally, he nevertheless argued that the minister’s Senate statement “tells Bahamian gas station operators throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas they they don’t care about us”.
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Hotels strike ‘glass ceiling’ on 15-20% room shortage By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS may be unable to fully meet tourism demand for 12-18 months due to a room shortage caused by up to 15-20 percent of available inventory being taken offline, a senior hotelier has revealed. Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business he is optimistic the industry will soon “shatter the glass ceiling” caused by an imbalance between supply of available rooms and the surge in post-COVID
ROBERT SANDS visitor demand for the destination. Speaking after Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism’s deputy directorgeneral and acting head
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BAHAMAS Petroleum Retailers Association (BPRA) members.
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net NASSAU Cruise Port’s top executive says he is “absolutely not worried” about Royal Caribbean’s $100m Paradise Island project sucking away passengers to the detriment of his facility and other Bahamian-owned businesses. Michael Maura told Tribune Business he is “very confident” there will be sufficient visitor volumes to support his $300m project, Bay Street and downtown Nassau merchants, restaurants and straw vendors, and all cruise-reliant industries once the cruise giant’s Royal Beach Club opens in 2025. Noting that there will be days when Nassau Cruise Port receives as many as 30,000-plus passengers, he argued that not all will want “to go and sit on a beach”
MICHAEL MAURA but, instead, seek out authentic Bahamian experiences involving this nation’s culture, heritage, cuisine and other unique aspects. For that reason, Mr Maura renewed his call for Bahamian investors and entrepreneurs to invest in tours, excursions and attractions that will deliver such experiences ahead of Royal Caribbean’s beach club project becoming operational,
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