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THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2023
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Sir Franklyn: Gas woe ‘won’t cripple country’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
PARADISE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
• Three oil majors brought into Gov’t talks FOCOL’s chairman yesterday said he was “very confident a solution will be • FOCOL chair: Don’t found” to the Bahamian leave our needs out petroleum industry’s financial woes, and added: “This will not be fatal to the country.” • Hints at ‘central Sir Franklyn Wilson, speaking after the BISX-listed purchasing’ scepticism petroleum products provider and its two competitors met yesterday with the Government, told Tribune Business the wholesalers were asked to review “some options and ideas” that were discussed and respond “within a few days” with their position to the Davis administration. Describing the sector’s issues as “complex” and “challenging”, he added that that it has “seen this rodeo before” in terms of retailers’ complaints about how their survival and profitability are being squeezed by inflexible
price-controlled margins that are insufficient to cover ever-escalating operational costs. Hinting that the three oil companies are subject to similar pressures, the FOCOL chief said the issues were “not at one level”. Sir Franklyn told this newspaper that the outcome had often resulted in “benefits” for gas station operators, the petroleum industry’s retail level, while the three wholesalers - FOCOL (Shell), Esso (Sol Petroleum) and Rubis
- “get nothing” in terms of margin or other concessions from the Government. However, he said he was “encouraged” that on this occasion the retailers - who are supplied with the fuel and related petroleum products that they sell by their respective wholesalers - have not made allegations or complaints they have been “mistreated” by the latter. The FOCOL chief, though, hinted he had doubts over the “central purchasing” that the
SIR FRANKLYN WILSON Government plans to explore as potentially generating cost savings and efficiencies through buying The Bahamas’ fuel supplies in bulk. Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, said earlier this week that the Davis administration wanted to assess a mechanism used by other Caribbean states, but Sir Franklyn indicated the
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Kwasi: IMF holds ‘serious concern’ on fiscal reforms By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Opposition’s finance spokesman yesterday asserted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had voiced “serious concerns” over legal reforms that seemingly reduce the Fiscal Responsibility Council’s (FRC) independence. Kwasi Thompson, former minister of state for finance
in the Minnis administration, conceded to Tribune Business he had not been directly informed of the Fund’s position but rather the Opposition was “advised” it had misgivings over legislation to replace the existing Public Financial Management Act 2021 and Fiscal Responsibility Act 2018 via one consolidated Bill. The Government, while not addressing the IMF or any purported misgivings it may have,
reiterated its long-stated position that both those Acts as well as the Public Procurement Act had proven “unworkable” in practice because they were not tailored to the -on-ground realities of The Bahamas. The Prime Minister again accused his predecessors of implementing the legislation without any of the systems or human
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PHILIP DAVIS KC
Gov’ts Central Bank debt soars 85% on IMF SDRs By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE GOVERNMENT’S controversial borrowing of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) reversed five years of decline by causing its net debt to the Central Bank to soar by 85.4 percent to $805.6m. The Central Bank, unveiling its quarterly economic review for the three months to end-December 2022, provided further details on the impact of the Davis administration’s decision to access low-cost foreign currency financing by borrowing $232.3m in SDRs advanced to The
Bahamas by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Besides causing the Central Bank’s net claims on the Government to neardouble, growing by $371m during that quarter, the report revealed that the increase “contrasted” with a five-year “average quarterly decline” of $47m in what was owed to the monetary policy regulator. “Reflecting lending to the Government against the IMF SDR allocations, the Central Bank’s net claims on the Government expanded by $371m (85.4 percent) to $805.6m in the fourth quarter as compared to the
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New Procurement Act to end large firm ‘dominance’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE PRIME Minister yesterday said the Government’s digital procurement platform has generated $2.6m savings in just four months since its launch as he slammed his predecessors for giving large firms “dominance” in contract awards. Philip Davis KC, leading-off House of Assembly debate on reforms to the Public Procurement Act, said close to 1,500 companies have registered with the electronic portal with almost 300 public
sector contracts put out to bid through it. “We will also have fully digital public procurement with the roll out of the Go Bonfire Platform: A best-in-class procurement platform that is being implemented throughout the public sector and in the Public Hospitals Authority,” he told MPs. “Since the launch of the platform last November, 1,490 vendors have been registered. Two hundred and ninety-nine opportunities have been contracted during this period and the estimated savings from the use of the platform is $2.6m. This number is expected
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Atlantis, cruise port: ‘Room’ for PI lighthouse restoration • Both say revival of ‘iconic’ landmark ‘desperately needed’ • And that project can co-exist alongside Royal Caribbean’s • Atlantis: Toby’s proposal ‘lower impact, more sustainable’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ATLANTIS and the Nassau Cruise Port both say there is “room” for a restored Paradise Island lighthouse to provide an “iconic” visitor experience and boost New Providence’s status as a tourism destination. Michael Maura, the cruise port’s chief executive and director, told Tribune Business that “improvement is desperately needed” to what he described as a “fixture” that greets all cruise ships and passengers as they enter Nassau’s harbour. Besides enhancing Nassau’s product offering, and adding to the menu of tours, excursions and attractions available to guests, he added that there was sufficient room for the lighthouse’s revival to co-exist alongside Royal Caribbean’s $100m Royal Beach Club that is also targeted at western Paradise Island’s Colonial Beach area.
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