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Volume: 120 No.181, September 21, 2023
THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: PRICE–$1
SUPER VALUE CHIEF: FOOD COST UP 30%
Roberts reveals assessment of 15 common items By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SUPER Value’s principal yesterday said a review of 15 commonly-bought items revealed The Bahamas sustained food inflation of around 30 percent over the past two years. Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that the simple assessment, involving products shoppers purchase on a weekly basis such as bread, rice and poultry, exposed that the extent of food price increases between 2021 and
2023 was triple or three times’ what some of his buyers had projected. He also predicted that surging global oil prices will send Bahamian gasoline prices to $6.25 per gallon within weeks, saying the ever-increasing cost of living will take a growing cut of Super Value’s sales and those of other retailers. He added: ““Customers are retraining us. Anything that’s too expensive we will not buy or re-order.”
STANDARD & Poor’s (S&P) last night argued that the Government will likely struggle to meet its debt reduction targets “without material new revenues, significant cost-cutting or well above average economic growth”.
By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net
FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
S&P REVENUE WARNING IF GOVT IS TO MEET TARGETS By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
REVISED COST OF PRISON CUT BY $30-40M
The rating agency made no change to this nation’s creditworthiness, but said debt produced by Hurricane Dorian and COVID means “previous fiscal consolidation plans” are insufficient to achieve government fiscal goals unless economic growth is strong enough. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
MUNROE DEFENDS SCHEME HE SAID WAS FAKE NEWS NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe. By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe defended the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s new arrest incentive system yesterday, comparing it to schemes for teachers or people who work in banks. He said there is no budget to give cash awards to officers. It remains unclear how the officers will be rewarded. Mr Munroe previously dismissed reports of the incentive scheme as “fake news”. Yesterday, he said he was referring to officers getting cash prizes when
Photo: Moise Amisial he did this. “Nobody is paid for it,” he told reporters. “And that was what I was responding to. They have no budget to pay anyone for it. “What was being suggested was they were being paid in money. As far as I’m aware, they’re not paid money. As far as I’m aware, there’s no budget to pay them. In every field, whatever your performance standard is, you’re judged by it.” When Mr Munroe told The Tribune “fake news”, it was in response to a question for comment about the leaked document. No question about any financial award was posed. SEE PAGE THREE
Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper
THE cost of expanding the Bahamas Department of Corrections has been reduced by about 40 per cent, down from the previous $93m, according to acting Corrections Commissioner Doan Cleare. “There are lots of savings,” he said. “And I will wish for the government to release the final cost that we have done. But I’ll say this: we have cut off at least about $30-$40m of the cost.” In July, Mr Cleare revealed the government asked prison officials to reduce the cost of the upgrade. SEE PAGE THREE
COLONIAL HOTEL TO RECRUIT 300 FOR OPENING By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net THE British Colonial Hotel anticipates reopening the doors of the renovated hotel in December and plans to recruit more than 300 staff. The Department of Labour, in conjunction with the hotel, will host a job fair, recruiting for supervisory roles, hotel management, line staff, and front and back-end roles. The fair will be held at the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium on September 26 and 27 from 9.30am to 4pm. SEE PAGE FIVE