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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2025
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Central Bank chief slams ‘flawed’ $3bn reserve fear By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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THE Central Bank’s governor has slammed as “flawed” concerns raised by a noted Caribbean economist that The Bahamas’ external reserves are “more than 100 percent borrowed” because they are lower than this nation’s foreign currency debt. John Rolle, in a written response to Tribune Business inquiries, pushed back at an analysis by Marla Dukharan, the former head Caribbean economist for Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), who in her September 2025 monthly economic report implied that external debts which exceed a
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JOHN ROLLE country’s foreign currency reserves are unsustainable. “The Bahamas, Barbados, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago all have external debt levels that surpass the level of foreign exchange reserves, meaning that
more than100 percent of their reserves are borrowed,” Ms Dukharan, who now runs her own consultancy business, wrote. Referring specifically to The Bahamas, she added: “Total and usable reserves were both down 1.5 percent year-on-year in July 2025 to $3bn and $1.4 bn, or around 2.4 months of imports, and
these reserves are more than 100 percent borrowed! “The Central Bank flipped from a net foreign exchange purchase of $53.5m in July 2024 to a net foreign exchange sale of $16.2m in July 2025.” Mr Rolle, though, denied that this was any cause for concern or that there was any
ROBERT SANDS
SHUNDA STRACHAN
FIXED - See Page B6
Hotels seek ‘red carpet, not red tape’ over liquor By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN hotels are hoping “we can roll out the red carpet rather than red tape” for the industry over the new liquor certification process that operators fear may impede the licensing of their resorts. Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) immediate past president, told Tribune Business that the sector is concerned about the burden imposed by the “onerous” new registration process despite assurances that resorts “won’t have to jump through all the hoops” to
register their restaurants, bars, nightclubs and stores selling liquor. Shunda Strachan, the Department of Inland Revenue’s (DIR) controller, told the BHTA’s quarterly directors meeting last Thursday that the agency had “come up with a very shortened process for the hotels” compared to standalone venues that sell liquor separate and apart from the resort industry. Mr Sands, also Baha Mar’s senior vice-president of government and external affairs, told this newspaper, though, that the resort industry would still have to register all its liquor-selling properties through the new
ALCOHOL - See Page B7
GOWON BOWE
SIR FRANKLYN WILSON
Bahamas warned: ‘Don’t get carried away by S&P move’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas is being urged not to let its upgraded credit rating from Standard & Poor’s “go to your head” even as a prominent businessman hailed the move as “a game changer” and signal the economy has “turned the corner”. Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, speaking after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised the country’s sovereign credit rating by one notch from ‘B+’ to ‘BB-‘ on the basis of it strengthened economy,
told Tribune Business that this was far from the end game but “merely a step towards the achievement we are targeting” – a return to investment grade status with all the rating agencies. The Bahamas still remains three notches away from escaping socalled ‘junk’ status with S&P, and Mr Bowe said this nation must remain disciplined, “continue those actions” that sparked this upgrade and “accelerate” the improvements if it is to achieve Prime Minister Philip Davis KC’s ambitions
UPGRADE - See Page B8