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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021
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Secret austerity deal denied By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
MARLON JOHNSON
A SENIOR Ministry of Finance official yesterday branded as “absolutely incorrect” assertions that the Government cut a secret austerity deal with its lenders in return for last year’s $825m foreign currency bonds. Marlon Johnson, the acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that “no such undertakings were given” to international investors that the Minnis administration would raise taxes, cut back on spending and reduce the civil service payroll in return for their money.
• Gov’t: No tax rise, civil service cut promises to lenders • Brave, Sir Franklyn allege this why election called early • Latter argues ‘most consequential’ vote since 1972 He spoke out after Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Finance chairman, alleged he had been informed by both local and international financiers that such assurances were given when The Bahamas placed its
SIGNIFICANT “pentup demand” should fuel an increase in Bahamian capital market investment activity heading into 2022 with over $400m in transactions at various stages of readiness, a top banker said yesterday. Michael Anderson, RF Bank & Trust’s president,
told Tribune Business that investment activity had largely been on hold for the past eight to nine months once talk of an early general election started to surface coupled with the protracted wait for government-connected entities to finalise their capital raising plans. With just three months left post-election before year-end 2021, he projected that many of the
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
MICHAEL ANDERSON transactions originally expected to occur this year will likely roll over into 2022. These include
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Minister: We stopped developer ‘free for all’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister says the Minnis administration stopped a development “free for all” by introducing new laws and regulations similar to what foreign investors must comply with in their home nations.
Romauld Ferreira, minister of the environment and housing, pushed back against assertions from real estate developers that the introduction of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) had merely created another layer of bureaucracy and added to the costs
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SIR FRANKLYN WILSON
Honeymoon cancelled
‘Pent-up’ demand to invest post-election By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
two foreign currency bonds - worth $600m and $225m respectively - on the global markets late last year. Sir Franklyn asserted this was why Dr Hubert Minnis had chosen to call an early,
THE Bahamas’ next administration will not have the luxury of a “honeymoon” upon taking office, a prominent banker warning yesterday: “It’s going to be right about the business because there’s a lot we must right.” Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the victorious party in today’s general election will have little time to celebrate if they are to change The Bahamas’ direction and set it back on “the correct path”. He added that “institutional strengthening” across all government ministries, agencies and departments post-election by ensuring
• Top banker: ‘Right about business’ for election victor • Warns Bahamas ‘on wrong path’, course must alter • Gov’t ‘institutional they have the necessary skill-sets will be critical to executing the incoming administration’s plans, he added, while asserting: “You are only as strong as the public sector you employ.” Reiterating previous calls for The Bahamas to revive the National Development Plan (NDP) as the road map for its revival
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GOWON BOWE