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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2024
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$270m cruise boost goal ‘not impossible’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas will gain a $270m economic boost if it elevates per capita cruise passenger spending in line with regional highs, as Nassau Cruise Port’s top executive asserted: “It’s not impossible. Others are doing it.” Michael Maura, the Prince George Wharf operator’s chief executive, told Tribune Business this dollar figure is the extra economic impact that The Bahamas can generate from the six million cruise passengers projected to visit Nassau in 2025 if this nation can increase their average expenditure per head
MICHAEL MAURA by $45 to match the US Virgin Islands. Reiterating that this demands The Bahamas be “creative, innovative and unique” with the tours, excursions and amenities/
Pharmacists: Consumer chief ‘threw us under bus’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association’s (BPA) head yesterday branded talk of a partnership with the Consumer Protection Commission as “laughable” as he accused its chairman of throwing the sector “under the bus”. Marvin Smith, hitting back after Senator Randy Rolle disclosed that unidentified pharmacies were selling medicines after their expiration date, blasted: “You can’t call for partnership after you try to throw us under the bus. “That’s the equivalent of saying: ‘Well, since I’ve already mistreated you, we might as well try to be friends now.’ That makes no sense. The BPA is clear about this: Partnership must be based on mutual respect and trust.” Mr Rolle had previously said: “Beyond grocery stores, we observed that some Over-the-Hill counter medication in drug stores was outdated, which also poses a health risk. Some medication, they have a date best used by as well. And again, right now, I think the National Insurance Board has a
TECHNOLOGY specialists yesterday voiced fears that hackers may start viewing The Bahamas as “an easy target” unless the Government, private sector and others start treating cyber security “more seriously”. Duran Humes, chief executive of Plato Alpha Design, a software development firm, speaking after BISX-listed Arawak Port Development Company (APD) revealed it was hit by a ransomeware attack in April 2024, told Tribune Business he was aware of cyber security breaches occurring in The Bahamas at the rate of one incident per week. Describing that as “a bit more frequent” than he would wish, Mr Humes called for this nation to go beyond the Government’s Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) and create a “force” of cyber security specialists - similar to the police and Defence Force - to guard “the front lines”
Mr Maura conceded that some of the survey rankings for The Bahamas, such as the slippage in how likely cruise passengers were to return as high-spending hotel guests and stopover visitors, was “disappointing” especially given the $300m-plus investment in upgrading Nassau Cruise Port. But, while agreeing that “we would have liked to have seen better ratings”, he added he was not viewing the FCCA study’s findings “as a negative, but as an opportunity” for The Bahamas to effect the necessary tourism product and other improvements that will increase visitor spending and get the
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• Generated if 6m visitors match regional spend lead in ‘25 • Nassau port chief: ‘We must be creative, innovative, unique’ • Nation’s rankings ‘but disappointing’, but expose ‘opportunity’
CCA: $1.6bn Baha Mar ruling ‘not the last word’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
• Chinese contractor confirms New York appeal filing SARKIS Izmirlian and Baha Mar’s contrac- • Sarkis: ‘Blaming others for tor traded further blows its misconduct is absurd’ yesterday with the latter DR MARVIN SMITH committee that looks at these things. “But again, as consumer protection and not working in silos and being our brother’s keepers, we noticed that some of them were selling outdated medication. I don’t want to go into more details than that but there was a number of them that, again, we communicated with the relevant agencies, we communicated with some store owners and, for the most part, we got a lot of buy-in and co-operation that they’re going to try and adjust these practices.” Mr Smith told this newspaper that information should have never been released at a press conference, and questioned whether the Commission is seeking “brownie points” or if it really wants to aid in
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‘Easy target’ fears over Bahamas cyber security By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
attractions it offers to visitors, he argued that the FloridaCaribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) recent study had exposed “a real opportunity” for this nation to extract an even greater economic impact from the sector. The FCCA, which represents the major cruise lines such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean, in its first post-COVID study of the sector’s economic impact on the Caribbean and Latin America unveiled several concerning findings for The Bahamas including an 8 percent reduction in per capita spending by passengers compared to their average outlay six years ago in 2018.
of this growing threat especially given the growing reliance on a knowledgebased, digital economy. Keith Roye, Plato Alpha Design’s chief operations officer and a Tribune Business columnist, echoed his colleague’s concerns in telling this newspaper that micro, small and mediumsized (MSME) Bahamian businesses are likely to be “very vulnerable” to cyber criminals simply because they lack the financing, technical resources and expertise to properly protect themselves. He added that breaches, especially those that result in customer data being lost, stolen or hacked, can do tremendous damage to a company’s reputation and operations for once clients are made aware they will often switch their business to rival companies. “Breaches are definitely happening at least once a week here in The Bahamas, which is a bit more frequent than I would like it,” Mr Humes said. “It’s definitely something companies
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asserting the $1.6bn verdict against it “is by no means the last word” as it formally filed notice of its planned appeal. China Construction America (CCA), in a statement confirming the appeal notice was filed, said the move is a “first step towards correcting” the New York State Supreme Court verdict that ruled it perpetrated “an absolute sham and shakedown” on Baha Mar’s original while providing “phony” completion dates that ultimately cost him his $845m investment in the project.
The Chinese stateowned contractor again defended “the consistently tireless construction work” it performed in a bid to achieve the busted March 27, 2015, completion date, while continuing to blame Mr Izmirlian, his BML Properties vehicle and executive team for mismanaging the development and its budget. Mr Izmirlian, though, fired back in his own statement last night by branding as “absurd” CCA’s attempts to blame everyone but itself for the missed deadline. He also
pointed out that CCA has already failed twice with appeals to the New York State Supreme Court’s appellate division relating to the case. Nevertheless, CCA pledged to use all efforts to overturn Judge Andrew Borrok’s verdict as it argued that Mr Izmirlian went “behind the backs” of itself, the Christie administration and the China Export-Import Bank, the project’s financier, in seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. It argued that this, and the legal battles, receivership
SARKIS IZMIRLIAN and sales process that followed, delayed completion and hurt the Bahamian economy. “The lower court’s decision is by no means the last word in this matter, and the action we have taken to begin the appeal process is the first step towards correcting a ruling that misapplies basic principles of New York law, misconstrues core facts, and completely overlooks the consistently tireless construction work done by CCA Bahamas that ultimately completed the
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Minister: ‘Much work’ despite Moody’s stable credit rating By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister has affirmed “much work” remains to rebuild sufficient “headroom” for the Government’s finances despite Moody’s confirmation of The Bahamas’ creditworthiness and ‘stable’ outlook. Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, responding to Tribune Business inquiries via messaged replies said that lowering the $11.5bn national debt and eliminating the annual fiscal deficit remain pressing priorities for the Government given the ever-present threat posed by more frequent and powerful hurricanes. “My reaction is that we are pleased with the progress that we have made in improving the Government’s finances over the past three years, but we recognise that much work needs to be done to rebuild the fiscal headroom we lost as a result of our response to the pandemic,” he said. “We are mindful of the everpresent threats of natural disaster and this undergirds our commitment to fiscal discipline.” The Bahamas added more than $3bn to its national debt over the
three fiscal years from 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 as a result of its response to both Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic, when the bottom effectively fell out of this country’s tourism-dependent economy overnight. Dorian by itself was estimated to have inflicted a combined $3.4bn in economic damages and losses. As a result, The Bahamas used up virtually all its borrowing ability for when further emergencies arise. It has, however, been spared a further major hurricane over the past five years since Dorian, which has given the Government breathing room to slash the annual fiscal deficit (to a forecast $70m in the 2024-2025 Budget year) and lay the path for generating the anticipated surplus and rebuilding “headroom”. Moody’s last week, in its latest update on The Bahamas, praised the Government’s “effective fiscal management” in slashing its annual deficits but cast doubts over whether it will hit its 25 percent revenue-to-GDP ratio target and achieve the Budget surpluses anticipated. The credit rating agency, which maintained a ‘B1’ rating on The Bahamas’ sovereign along
MICHAEL HALKITIS
KWASI THOMPSON
with a ‘stable’ outlook, thus indicating this nation is unlikely to suffer a further downgrade to its creditworthiness over the next 12 months, backed the Davis
administration’s forecast that it is on target to deliver a “steady fiscal surplus” from 2025-2026 onwards.
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