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TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2025
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Hotelier urges ‘intervention’ over $1.5m China ship fee By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A SENIOR Bahamian hotelier is urging “government intervention” to prevent soaring food, beverage and other input costs that will result from US plans to impose up to $1.5m port call fees on Chinese-made ships. Robert Sands, a senior Baha Mar executive and immediate past Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) president, told Tribune Business that the levy proposed by the US Trade Representative’s Office
is “certainly a concern” for the local resort industry given that at least 70-80 percent of its food and beverage needs alone are supplied from the US. “There’s no question that particular issue will require intervention not only from the private sector but the Government of The Bahamas,” he said in a recent interview, “recognising the fact that the vast majority of our food items come from North America and on ships that are not built in North America. “It’s certainly a concern, and we are hoping the efforts being done both by private sector
Gov’t hails first ‘positive’ rating outlook in 17 years By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government last night hailed the first positive outlook for The Bahamas’ creditworthiness in more than 17 years as a sign that the country is “regaining its financial footing” amid global economic turmoil. The Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement attributing Moody’s decision to upgrade The Bahamas’ outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ as being driven by its post-COVID fiscal consolidation work, was nevertheless careful not to over-sell the move’s impact by describing it as “a step forward, not a finish line”. For while the ‘positive’ outlook holds out hope that Moody’s may upgrade The Bahamas’ sovereign credit rating within the next to 12 months, it does mean such an improvement is guaranteed. And, with the global credit rating agency maintaining this nation’s actual long-term issuer and
unsecured rating at B1, The Bahamas still remains marooned in so-called ‘junk’ territory some four notches below investment grade status. The Davis administration asserted that the ‘positive’ outlook from Moody’s is the first time that The Bahamas has gained such status since Standard & Poor’s (S&P) gave a similar prognosis in 2007 just before the following year’s global recession and local economic contraction. And, while Moody’s move represents a positive development - particularly in the present climate of global economic chaos, volatility and uncertainty caused by US trade and tariff policies - the assessment that accompanied the improved outlook projected that the increased Budget surpluses and debt ratio reductions forecast by the Government will take longer to emerge than it is predicting.
stakeholders and the Government of The Bahamas will result in some type of arrangement that is positive for The Bahamas, our friendly neighbour in the US and the whole country.” While local and global attention has in recent days been consumed by Donald Trump’s decision to shred the long-standing global commerce and trade order via the imposition of tariffs on all goods that the US imports from other countries, and the subsequent economic fall-out and threat of retaliatory tariffs from other nations, the danger
posed by the Chinese-made ship fee proposal has not gone away. Tropical Shipping, one of the major freight carriers serving The Bahamas, and especially the New Providence and Abaco markets, has already warned that the plan could place its very survival and commercial viability at stake given that nine of its vessels - a major portion of its fleet - are Chinese-made. And the US Trade Representative’s Office is due to make a “ruling” on the proposal on April 17 - just over a week away.
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Bahamas rating upgrade will be no ‘fait accompli’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas must make sure it fully “executes” and does not treat the prospect of a credit rating upgrade by Moody’s as “a fait accompli”, a senior banker warned last night. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune
Business that this nation cannot afford to become carried away over the first ‘positive’ outlook placed on its creditworthiness for more than 17 years as it still remains marooned in so-called ‘junk’ territory some four notches below returning to ‘investment grade’ status’. And, noting that “there’s a tremendous amount of work to be done” for The Bahamas to reclaim
ROBERT SANDS
• Gov’t, private sector must join over US proposal • Baha Mar executive says ‘certainly a concern’ • Caribbean tourism warns of ‘devastating’ effect
‘investment grade’ creditworthiness and achieve an objective unveiled by the Davis administration in the recent mid-year Budget, he warned that all this will have to be accomplished amid the global economic turmoil triggered by Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies. Mr Bowe told this newspaper that, “whether we admit or not, we’re betting on the US being successful in its trade war” and avoiding both an American and global economic recession given that The Bahamas is “so connected and tied to the hip” of the US economy for 90 percent of its visitors, most of its imports and trade and travel connections. Speaking out after Moody’s yesterday
• Nation must ‘execute’ on Moody’s positive outlook • And go further as still ‘four notches’ in junk territory • Bahamas now ‘betting’ on US trade war success elevated The Bahamas’ outlook from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’, while maintaining this nation’s credit rating at ‘B1’, he said: “We
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Consumer watchdog gets no Creators Alliance complaints
SEE PAGE B4 JOHN CHRISTIE
MARIO CAREY
RYAN KNOWLES
Fears of 2008-2009 repeat ‘might be jumping the gun’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN realtors yesterday argued that fears of a 2008-2009 recession repeat due to Donald Trump’s tariff policies “might be jumping the gun” given this nation’s economy is in a much stronger position now. John Christie, H G Christie’s principal and chief executive, told Tribune Business that there is no comparison between the current Bahamian economy and the one that went into that global contraction some 17 years ago because “fundamentally we are in a much stronger and better place” in 2025 than pre-2008. Pushing back against Bahamian economist Therese Turner-Jones, who last week warned Bahamians to “brace” for a potential global depression and repeat of the 2008-2009 recession, which
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
saw thousands lose their jobs, he added that economic activity had already been slowing for some time since 2007 when that latter event occurred. In contrast, and while it is “too early” to determine how the US president’s trade and economic policies will pay out, Mr Christie told this newspaper he has “not seen any slowdown” with international buyer interest in Bahamian real estate as he was yesterday fielding calls from “brand new” potential clients. “From a real estate perspective there are two things,” he said of the differences between the current and 2008-2009 economic environment. “When that recession was happening in 2008, there was a growing palpable fear that things were going to fall apart, and that we need to get as many
THE Consumer Protection Commission’s chairman yesterday said that - while the agency has received inquiries - there have been no formal complaints about a venture with “hallmarks of a pyramid scheme”. Senator Randy Rolle told Tribune Business that the consumer watchdog has received calls over recent weeks questioning the validity of Creators Alliance but these have not translated into formal complaints. He added that, if the Comission received a complaint involving financial fraud, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the financial regulators would have to be involved. “We received some inquiries from Grand Bahama, but no formal complaints. I’m not sure what complaints were put in with other agencies or the Royal Bahamas Police Force, but we have not received any formal complaints about that,” said Mr Rolle. “When we receive a complaint of this nature we would, of course, liaise with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the regulator. So once one agency gets a complaint, we will reach out to collaborate and based on the findings determine how best to handle it.”
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