business@tribunemedia.net
Friday, March 13, 2026
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‘Complete destruction’ of VAT principles and model BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE benefits Bahamian consumers will enjoy from eliminating VAT on uncooked foods are likely to be “far less than originally intended”, a senior banker warned yesterday, as he branded its ‘exempt’ treatment as “the complete destruction of the principles and system” underpinning the tax. Gowon Bowe, the Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive who headed the private sector’s Coalition for Responsible Taxation when VAT was first implemented in 2015, told Tribune Business that applying ‘exempt’ as opposed to ‘zero rated’ status to the Government’s flagship tax relief initiative - set to take effect from April 1, 2026 - turns the long-standing global concept that VAT is ultimately paid by the end-consumer on its head. And, with food stores, gas stations and pharmacies no longer able to recover or net-off VAT paid on input
Tax Coalition chief: Uncooked food VAT-end benefits ‘far less’ Asserts ‘fool’s errand’ as exempt status just ‘shifting the burden’ Food stores, gas stations, pharmacies to increase other prices expenses related to uncooked food, he warned that impacted companies will likely have to increase prices on other goods they sell, resort to cost-cutting or implement a combination of the two simply to “keep the doors open”. Speaking after this newspaper revealed Super Value’s fears that the VAT ‘exempt’ treatment on uncooked foods will cost it an extra $400,000 per month, or $4.8m per annum, Mr Bowe said it was yet another example highlighting that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and “the devil is in the detail”.
Acknowledging that Bahamians have valid complaints about the cost of living, and inflationary pressures, he added that the Government’s intentions behind eliminating VAT on all uncooked foods “may have been noble” but it had failed to disclose upfront its plans for ‘exempt’ as opposed to ‘zero rated’ treatment. This, Mr Bowe said, will merely result in shifting the VAT burden from Bahamian consumers and households to businesses, but not necessarily reducing it, which he branded “a fool’s errand”.
Judge pleads with Gov’t bank not to repossess family home BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SUPREME Court judge has pleaded with a government-owned bank not to proceed with repossessing a couple’s Charlotteville family home after they purportedly made monthly payments plus a $32,000 “lump sum” to bring their mortgage back into compliance. Justice Camille Darville-Gomez, in a March 11, 2026, verdict urged BISXlisted Bank of The Bahamas,
which is 82 percent majority-owned by the Government through the Public Treasury and National Insurance Board (NIB), to resume mortgage restructuring negotiations with Andrew and Natasha Gibson so as to “avert unnecessary hardship” and destabilising their family. She argued that this may prove a better path for Bank of The Bahamas to recover its depositors’ funds than seizing and ultimately selling-off the Lot 33 home that the family now occupies, having ruled
that the “writ of possession” that was served on the couple on November 28, 2025, be “stayed” for 90 days until June 9 this year. “While the court cannot order the bank to resume restructuring discussions with the defendants, it is appropriate to invite them to consider doing so, particularly given the 90-day stay presently in place and because the defendants are now in possession of the requested documentation,” Justice Darville-Gomez urged.
‘You can’t always win in business’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association’s vice-president yesterday suggested that the impact of VAT ‘exempt’ treatment on uncooked foods will be relatively minimal for gas station operators, as he asserted: “You can’t always win in business.” Vasco Bastian, operator of the Esso gas station at the corner of East Street and Soldier Road, told Tribune Business that the private sector “sometimes has to give and take” over the impact of government policies especially if they benefit the public good and
are in the interests of most Bahamians. Asked how concerned the industry is about not being able to recover, or net off, VAT paid on expenses related to uncooked foods with effect from April 1, he replied: “In the gas stations we don’t have that much uncooked food. You cannot always have the best of both worlds. “I think that what the Government is doing is a good initiative. The Government is looking out for business owners, and looking out for not only business owners but the greater good of the economy and society. You can’t always
EXEMPT - See Page B5
$160m renewable provider targets final permits by Q2 BY FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A RENEWABLE energy provider last night said key equipment is already en route to The Bahamas as it prepares for construction on a $160m hybrid power project in Abaco and Eleuthera that will supply electricity by early 2027. Erold Farquharson, chief executive of EA Energy, told an Eleuthera town hall meeting that the company has already secured the necessary regulatory approvals
and is moving toward the construction phase. “Up to this point, we've already achieved all of our licence and regulatory requirements that we have from URCA. We have a licence for the LNG, as well as the electrical licence for our independent power producer, and we also have our CEC from the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection,” said Mr Farquharson. “So our final design works and building permit, we expect to have by the second quarter of this year.
ELECTRICITY - See Page B6
GOWON BOWE
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Mayaguana AI hub ambitions in $5.4bn, 77,000 jobs impact Plans ‘to build an entire economy’ shown to PM Ex-Jamaica planning chief: ‘Perfect for logistics’ Housing, infrastructure issues ‘carefully’ tackled BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
“Such engagement may secure stability for the defendants' household and avert unnecessary hardship, while at the same time advancing the bank's own interest in recovering its funds through consensual repayment rather than by resort to possession and eventual sale.” The writ’s serving on the Gibsons occurred more than two-and-a-half years after Bank of The Bahamas obtained the initial April 6, 2023, judgment against the couple over their delinquent mortgage loan. But, despite making efforts to bring the mortgage back into compliance, the BISX-listed lender said they had made
AMBITIIOUS plans to transform Mayaguana into a Caribbean “hub” for artificial intelligence (AI) and semi-conductor manufacturing, with a $5.4bn annual economic impact generating more than 77,000 jobs, were yesterday said to have “carefully” assessed the island’s lack of population and supporting utilities for such a venture. Professor Gladstone “Fluney” Hutchinson, a former Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) director-general who is spearheading the Mayaguana Vision 2030 project, told Tribune Business he and his team have presented a report to Prime Minister Philip Davis KC in which they “outlined how we’re going to build an entire economy” - also featuring sustainable agriculture and eco-tourism - on one of The Bahamas’ most remote and sparsely-populated islands. Together with Professor W. Mark Crain, who is also based at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, he held a second round of meetings in Nassau from March 6-7 in a bid to advance the proposal with Bahamian private and public sector executives. They have also teamed with Global Lead Consultant Group, the all-Bahamian company behind plans to develop a maritime port and logistics facility on Mayaguana billed as creating 2,000 jobs. Asserting that Mayagauna needs far more than a port facility that can also accommodate cruise ships to develop a sustainable economy, Professor Hutchinson told this newspaper that the island fits “perfectly in the logistics space” given its proximity to major shipping routes and location that can serve as a bridgehead between Africa and the Western Hemisphere. Describing himself and his team as specialists in solving what he termed as “wicked
MORTGAGE - See Page B5
DEVELOP - See Page B4
KWASI THOMPSON He suggested that companies will likely mark-up non-price controlled items in a bid to maintain profit margins and recoup increased costs if they are unable to
TAXATION - See Page B4