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FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021
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US departures back to 75% pre-COVID levels By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
U
S pre-clearance at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) expects to be processing 70-75 percent of pre-COVID’s record passenger volumes “by the end of summer”, a top official revealed yesterday. Jeff Mara, area port director for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), conceded to Tribune Business this was “a tough number” to hit given the 1.4m departures processed in the last full pre-pandemic year but said it was based on passenger demand data
• CBP chief gives travel ‘ramp up’ boost • ‘Tough number’ after ‘19’s record 1.4m • LPIA pre-clearance staffing boosted provided by the airlines. The 16 percent yearover-year rise in outbound travellers heading to the US in the 12 months to end-September 2019 was the highest growth rate for any US preclearance station, and Mr Mara said CBP has redeployed officers from similar facilities in Canada and Ireland to Nassau with effect from June 6 to cope with the projected “ramp up” in tourism demand. Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister of tourism and aviation,
recently voiced concern that there was insufficient manpower at LPIA’s US pre-clearance facility to handle the anticipated surge in passenger numbers, which will be inflated further - especially at weekends - by several thousand departing cruise passengers as a result of Royal Caribbean and Crystal Cruises’ Nassau home porting. The minister expressed fears that delays in preclearance processing could negatively impact the guest
experience and final impressions of The Bahamas, adding that the government had raised the matter with the US Embassy “and made them aware of this problem. It doesn’t seem as if they can respond that readily to it”. Mr Mara, though, reassured that CBP’s Nassau pre-clearance station is “fully prepared” to handle the pent-up travel demand from Bahamians and
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Construction costs to jump 20% this year
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
TWO ex-Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA) presidents yesterday warned that construction costs will likely increase up to 20 percent this year as cement became the latest product to take a hit. Stephen Wrinkle and Leonard Sands both warned project sponsors ranging from multi-million dollar developers to residential home owners - to brace for a significant price spike over the remainder of 2021 due to the postCOVID environment facing The Bahamas and rest of the world. With cement supplies running low in recent days (see other article on Page 1B), the duo reiterated that increased construction
• Ex-BCA chiefs say surge to last into 2022 • Call to ‘bond’ building materials imports • ‘Every part of society paying COVID price’
STEPHEN WRINKLE
LEONARD SANDS
activity and building materials demand had combined with supply chain and shipping bottlenecks worldwide to generate a surge in costs as the world continues to emerge from the pandemic. Mr Wrinkle, warning that “every aspect of
society is paying the price for COVID-19”, warned: “All across building materials and shipping, virtually every aspect of the industry is going up. It’s going to be difficult to hold prices at the end of the day because the contractor cannot absorb
Nassau ‘running low’ on cement supplies By YOURI KEMP and NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Reporters
NEW Providence is “running very low” on cement supplies due to a combination of shipping delays and surging post-COVID construction activity, merchants disclosed yesterday. They told Tribune Business that tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico, which have held-up incoming shipments, have imposed short-term pressure on cement supplies but the impact is unlikely to last long-term. Philip Andrews, Bahamas
Redi-Mix Concrete’s managing director, told Tribune Business: “We’re not out of cement, but the island is running very low. We’re supposed to have our shipment come in next week. “We have had shipping problems with the cement, because our shipment was supposed to have been here a week ago but they had some kind of storm in the Gulf of Mexico and that’s where our boats come from, the Gulf of Mexico. There was a tropical storm that went over into the Gulf and up past Alabama.”
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Sanctions letters for 11 registered agents By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE government has issued sanctions warnings to 11 financial services providers for failing to supply beneficial ownership details on corporate entities they act for, the attorney general revealed yesterday. Carl Bethel QC, pictured, in his contribution to the Senate budget debate, said similar warning letters had been issued to ten companies who do not have registered agents in a bid to bring them into compliance
with the Register of Beneficial Ownership Act. “As of September 15, 2019, one hundred of the largest registered agents for companies and exempted limited liability partnerships were onboarded into
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that. There’s not enough margin in the industry to absorb that. “Costs are going up across the whole production and supply chain. It’s like a house of cards. It looks like this will continue through the end of the year as it will take that long to catch up. Every time a contractor prices a job he has to account for the price of labour and materials going up. They have to factor that in one way or another.” While larger construction contracts contain clauses that deal with price/cost rises, Mr Wrinkle warned
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‘Greater resolve’ to eliminate Bahamas in financial services By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER prime minister yesterday warned that COVID-19 has “only strengthened the resolve” of major nations to eliminate the competitive threat posed by The Bahamas and other Caribbean countries. Perry Christie, making a rare public appearance in giving the keynote address at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) conference, warned that it was “not an option” for this country and others to lose financial services industries that have been critical to developing their societies’ middle classes. The ex-PLP leader, who stepped down from the party’s leadership following the FNM’s 2017 landslide election victory, also suggested that there were “obvious answers” pointing towards the urgent need for tax reform in The Bahamas and wider Caribbean given concerns about fairness and whether existing systems are generating sufficient funds to finance essential public services. Acknowledging that COVID-19’s devastating blow to government finances worldwide will only make G-7 and European Union (EU) members keener to drive international financial centres (IFCs) out of business, due to the perceived loss of tax revenues, Mr Christie argued that their initiatives over the past two decades have been more about eradicating competition. He added that these powerful nation blocs and their forums are “using the perception of the Caribbean
Ex-PM says ‘answers seem obvious’ on tax reform
PERRY CHRISTIE region being used for piracy to suggest that the Caribbean is more susceptible to being used for money laundering and terrorism financing. “The real objective is to eliminate any competitive advantage IFCs have because of tax systems that are not identical to those of OECD countries,” Mr Christie said, in a nod to the G-7’s agreement on a 15 percent minimum global corporate tax rate. “The global pandemic has only strengthened the resolve of those countries to eliminate IFCs. Protectionism has become the order of the day, whether they are likely to admit it or not.” He also agreed that it was especially troubling that the Biden administration is now ensuring the US provides “back up” for the initiatives already launched by the EU and Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The former prime minister suggested it had been a mistake for The Bahamas
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