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CCA ‘stays’ $1.6bn Sarkis threat to two Nassau hotels By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHA Mar’s contractor yesterday obtained an “emergency stay” to protect “hundreds” of Bahamian jobs and block the potential “liquidation” of its two Nassau resorts from Sarkis Izmirlian enforcing his $1.642bn award. The New York State Supreme Court’s appeal division granted the interim injunction, which for the moment prevents Baha Mar’s original developer from collecting on the fruits of his comprehensive legal win, after China
• Warns ‘hundreds’ of jobs in peril if verdict enforced • Baha Mar developer can drive contractor ‘insolvent’ • British Colonial, Pointe no use for $1.98bn bond Construction America (CCA) and its affiliates pleaded poverty and warned they would “suffer catastrophic and irreparable harm” absent such a stay.
BAHA MAR
The Chinese state-owned contractor moved rapidly to secure this relief because it was unable to obtain the near-$2bn bond
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BRITISH COLONIAL
Bahamas must ‘flirt’ Key CCA executive now with 3% growth to Bahamas ‘special envoy’ sustain jobless cut • Daniel Liu biography By NEIL HARTNELL and FAY SIMMONS nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE BAHAMAS must “flirt” with sustained annual economic growth of up to 3 percent to further slash structural unemployment and prove external forecasters wrong, the Central Bank’s governor said yesterday. John Rolle told Tribune Business that consistently expanding economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP), by between 2-3 percent annually would have a “very large dollar impact” compared to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2024 and nearterm projections for The Bahamas. The Washington D.Cbased Fund, in its latest World Economic Outlook report released last month, cut The Bahamas’ 2024 GDP growth forecast to 1.9 percent and projected that it will fall even further to 1.7 percent in 2025
JOHN ROLLE and 1.5 percent in 2029 as this nation places the rapid post-COVID rebound firmly behind it. Mr Rolle told this newspaper that the IMF’s growth forecasts were in line with those of the Central Bank, but pointed out that both this year’s and 2025’s projections remain above the 1.5 percent level that has long been considered The Bahamas’ historical average.
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A SENIOR China Construction America (CCA) executive who played a key role in the Baha Mar dispute appears to have further prospered through being appointed “a special envoy” by the Bahamian government. Daniel Liu, CCA’s former senior vicepresident, who featured prominently in the section of the New York State Supreme Court ruling that found the Chinese stateowned contractor “actively worked to curry favour with the Bahamian government”, has disclosed in his
reveals 2023 appointment • But foreign minister says not specific to China • Sarkis ally: ‘One has to wonder what going on’ biography that the Davis administration last year made him a “special envoy to China”. The revelation is made towards the back of a 16-page brochure for an entity named SilverStar Management Group Company, for which Mr Liu is named as the president
and managing director. “In year 2023, Mr Liu has officially approved from Bahamas government as ‘special envoy to China’,” it proudly states. However, Fred Mitchell, minister of foreign affairs, yesterday corrected this to confirm that while Mr Liu is indeed a “special envoy”
DANIEL LIU for the Bahamian government it is not specific to China. “No, he’s not the special envoy to China,” Mr Mitchell replied when contacted by this newspaper. “No, that’s not correct. “He may have a designation from time to time as a ‘special envoy’ but not special envoy to China. He’s a special envoy but not to China. I believe the way special envoy works is when a senior government
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Vacation rental ‘dampening’ fears from pricing declines By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Central Bank’s governor yesterday voiced concern that declining vacation rental prices and occupancies could “dampen new investments” in the sector if this drop-off becomes a sustaining trend. John Rolle, speaking at the regulator’s 2024 third quarter economic briefing, said that while the number of Bahamian vacation rental properties on the market continues to
increase there were “incremental declines” in key performance indicators compared to the first nine months of last year. Acknowledging that the sector’s growth has helped to offset reduced hotel room accommodation, he added: “While, as a buffer, the vacation rental inventory continued to increase, in 2024 these properties experienced incremental declines in both average prices and average occupancy compared to the first three quarters of 2023. “This shift, if it is maintained over an extended
period, could begin to dampen new investments targeted at this segment.” Data unveiled by the Central Bank yesterday revealed that the average occupancy rate for ‘entire place listing’ vacation rentals fell from 32.7 percent during the first nine months in 2023 to 29.1 percent for the same period this year. And, when it came to ‘hotel comparable’ listings, the average occupancy rate dropped year-over-year from 36 percent to 34 percent for the three quarters to end-September 2024.
There were some 3,808 vacation rental listings at the end of that period. “Listings for Abaco, Grand Bahama and New Providence advanced by 21.3 percent, 23.4 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, in September, relative to the comparative period last year. However, Exuma listings fell by 17.8 percent,” the Central Bank said. Any slowdown in vacation rental popularity or demand would negatively impact hundreds of Bahamian entrepreneurs
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Regulator to ‘tolerate’ larger bank dividends to ease fee pressures By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Central Bank’s governor yesterday said it will “tolerate” larger dividend payments to the Canadian parents of Bahamian commercial banks to ease the pressure for further fee increases. John Rolle, addressing the regulator’s 2024 third quarter economic briefing, said it would permit larger “outflows” to both
regional and home country head offices to reduce excess capital in the Bahamian commercial banking industry and thereby prevent “overly accelerated” lending and credit growth. With surplus liquidity in the commercial banking industry standing at $3.051bn as at end-September 2024, he disclosed: “The Central Bank is also prepared to tolerate some larger net outflows on dividends, against excess capital in the domestic banks, so they can stay
ahead of potential future financial stability risks from any overly accelerated lending trends as well as to reduce some of the current pressures to generate earnings from fees.” Bank fees, and the transparency associated with any fee rises, have been a particular concern and sore point again with Bahamian consumers in recent months. Mr Rolle, meanwhile, revealed that The Bahamas’ foreign currency reserves which support the one:one peg with the US
dollar increased by more than $350m or more than 15 percent during the nine months to end-September 2024. Explaining that this was driven largely by the Government’s new foreign currency borrowings, the Governor added: “In the foreign exchange markets, the indications of moderating growth were revealed on both the supply and demand sides of transactions.
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