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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
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BPL or roadworks? Bran’s $100k IT ‘hell’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FORMER Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader says his law firm is trying to determine whether BPL or the Village Road roadworks is to blame for an incident that “fried” its IT servers, computers, Internet and cable TV services. Branville McCartney told Tribune Business that Halsbury Chambers was “brought to a standstill for two weeks” this summer after all its electronic functions were “shut down” by the as-yet unexplained event that cost it around $100,000 in terms of lost client billings and equipment replacements. Joking that he now has “a little more grey hair”
• All digital functions ‘fried’ at Village Road law firm • Trying to identify culprit after two-week ‘standstill’ • PM’s frugal spending call a ‘two-edged sword’ as a result, he added that it had been “hell” dealing with Internet and cable TV providers over the restoration of these services. But, despite being “handicapped” for at least a fortnight, Mr McCartney said no client-related or other vital data was lost or compromised. Noting that work related to the ongoing road and utility improvements had
been taking place directly outside Halsbury Chambers’ Village Road offices when virtually all digital functions were lost, he told this newspaper: “Twoand-a-half months ago, something happened. The Internet went, cable TV went, and our equipment got burned. “The server, the computers, they all got fried. Everything got fried. We
BRANVILLE MCCARTNEY were basically handicapped for two weeks, trying to get new equipment and the Internet, cable TV and everything back in operation. Most of my computers were burned, and we had to get new computers.” Asked whether any client or other sensitive
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NAGICO mulls exit after $6m losses By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PROPERTY and casualty insurer is mulling whether to exit the Bahamian market by seeking a buyer for its existing portfolio almost a decade after being licensed by the Insurance Commission. Multiple industry sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, revealed that NAGICO (Bahamas) has been testing the market to see whether rival underwriters have any interest in
acquiring its existing insurance book of business. Vibert Williams, NAGICO (Bahamas) managing director, did not deny that the panCaribbean property and casualty insurer is seeking to exit this market while not confirming it either. “If NAGICO has something to communicate, we’ll do it via press release. The company’s position is if there’s something to be said, it will be said via press release,” he told told this newspaper, declining to comment further.
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Stop ‘getting every dollar’ out of Abaco By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PROMINENT Abaconian has blasted the “bureaucratic red tape” that is preventing the island from making further progress on a post-Dorian economic recovery that he estimates its 60-65 percent complete. Roscoe Thompson, head of the Marsh Harbour/ Spring City Township, told Tribune Business it appears as if the Government is “trying to get every dollar out of Abaco” rather than allowing the island to fully recover from the devastating Category Five storm
and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. Asserting that Abaco’s existing VAT and duty-free tax breaks under the Special Economic Recovery Zone (SERZ) should continue for another two years subject to policing, thus only ensuring that legitimate applicants qualify, he identified several businesses that had been unable to access these concessions to bring in equipment vital to the revival of their enterprises. Branding this as “disheartening”, Mr Thompson called on the Government to get out the way so that Abaco can become The
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‘Not claiming victory’: Yet deficit is beaten by $70m By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Finance’s top official yesterday said he “won’t claim that victory yet” despite the prior fiscal year’s $689.5m deficit coming in almost $70m below the final projection outlined in May’s Budget. Simon Wilson, the financial secretary, told Tribune Business it was too early to “celebrate” after the full-year 2021-2022 deficit finished 9.1 percent lower than the $758.6m forecast despite increasing by some $318.7m in the month of June alone. That latter increase was driven by a combination of $251.4m in extra borrowing, which was unveiled with the Budget, and the traditional year-end rush of ministries, departments and agencies presenting unpaid bills for payment before the fiscal period close. The monthly June deficit, which represents by how much the Government’s spending exceeded
SIMON WILSON its revenue income, represented an $87.4m or 37.8 percent year-overyear increase as the Davis administration sought to pay off debts owed by the Water & Sewerage Corporation to its reverse osmosis suppliers; cover COVID-19 and other related outlays at the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA); insurance costs for civil servants; and other sums outstanding. Despite the year-overyear hike, Mr Wilson said the Ministry of Finance had “contained” the impact from the extra borrowing and spending. “The key
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