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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2022
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PM told: $22m savings if BPL fuel trades done By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A DRAFT Cabinet paper seemingly prepared for the Prime Minister advised that Bahamians could enjoy a further $22m in savings if trades were executed to continue Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel hedging at discounted prices. The memorandum from the Ministry of Finance, dated September 30, 2021, said BPL was seeking approval from the Davis Cabinet to execute further oil purchases at a $50 per barrel “strike price” representing a significant discount to then-oil market prices of $75. It suggested that “premiums ranging from $17 to $21 per barrel” could be obtained if the trades were executed. The disclosure of the draft Cabinet
• Draft Cabinet paper told of $21 per barrel ‘premium’ • Projected $46m energy cost savings to January ‘22 • Raises new questions on now-soaring fuel charge memorandum, a copy of which has been seen by Tribune Business, comes as the Government faces increasing pressure over allegations that its failure to execute the trades supporting BPL’s fuel hedging initiative have cost Bahamian households and businesses more than $100m that they did not otherwise have to pay. With the Government’s already-precarious financial position leaving it
unable to further propup BPL’s fuel charge, it has moved to right the latter’s finances through imposing a series of rolling increases that will peak at a 163 percent hike in the electricity supplier’s fuel charge between June 1 and August 31 next year. A portion of the increase will likely go to repaying the $90m debt incurred with BPL’s fuel supplier, Shell, and to repaying the
THE ATTORNEY General last night blasted that it was “a gross oversimplification of reality” for the world to blame The Bahamas for FTX’s collapse as no country had moved “as quickly” to tackle the crypto exchange’s implosion. Ryan Pinder KC, in a national address that sought to rebut international criticism of The Bahamas’ actions and digital assets regulatory regime, while also seeking to reassure Bahamians that the Government is moving to protect the country’s reputation, hailed the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE)
Act for providing the tools that allowed the country to respond more rapidly than any other. The Bahamas appointed a provisional liquidator for FTX Digital Markets, the crypto exchange’s Bahamian subsidiary, one day before 134 other entities in that group were placed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Delaware federal courts. Mr Pinder yesterday effectively accused John Ray, the chief executive appointed for all those companies as a result of the Chapter 11 move, of deliberately misrepresenting actions taken by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas to protect
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NGOs cleared on terrorism: High risks’ $150m turnover By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ALL BAHAMIAN nonprofit groups have been cleared of any involvement in financing terrorism with those deemed to present a “higher” risk found to collectively control some $150m in turnover. A Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) paper, dated September 20, 2022, reported that just 273 out of 1,090 - or 25 percent - of registered Bahamian non-profit organisations (NPOs) fell into that category due to an annual turnover that exceeded $75,000, crossborder transfer of funds
and/or having an “international nexus”. The regional affiliate of the world’s anti-financial crime standard setter, which has recommended that The Bahamas this week be upgraded to ‘compliant’ with global benchmarks on non-profit regulation, added that all such groups operating from or within The Bahamas had been given a clean bill of health with no terrorism financing connections uncovered over a four-year period between 2018 and 2021. “The NPO Act requires all NPOs operating in The Bahamas to register. The registration process under the NPO Act provided an estimation of the amount
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Marina chief suffers ‘worst Thanksgiving in 30 years’ • Blames 20% pt fall-off on VAT imposition By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
PHILIP DAVIS KC Government’s financial support. However, the draft paper provides further evidence this financial pain could have been avoided if the Davis administration had followed the Ministry of Finance briefing and executed the necessary trades - known as “call options” - just weeks after being elected to office on September 16, 2021.
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AG tells world: Don’t blame us over FTX By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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A FORMER Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president says he has suffered “the worst Thanksgiving in 30 years” while linking the drop-off in boating traffic directly to VAT’s imposition on foreign yacht charters. Peter Maury, who operates Bay Street Marina, told Tribune Business that he and other marinas across The Bahamas are “getting creamed” with occupancies over the Thanksgiving period - the US holiday that traditionally kicks-off the winter tourism and boating season - plunging from the traditional “high 80” percent range to between 60-65 percent.
Revealing that he himself has “lost eight big boats to the Caribbean” for the entire season, he blamed the decline in business on the Government’s decision in the 2022-2023 Budget to impose 10 percent VAT on all foreign yacht charters. Mr Maury said many vessels, and their owners/ operators, were being deterred by the process and bureaucracy around having to register the boat with Bahamian tax authorities and then submit the necessary filings rather than the payments and concept of VAT taxation itself. “We’re getting creamed. It’s not good,” he told this newspaper. “It’s the VAT on the charters. All these guys have to register their vessels, and no one wants to do it. I’ve lost eight boats for the season so far to the
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