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Tuesday, December 23, 2025
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Fiscal deficit cut Marinas fear $25m hit as 32% during first Yacht Show is cancelled two months By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN marinas fear they will lose $25m in direct revenue as a result of boating fee hikes and cumbersome regulatory processes, it was revealed yesterday, with the industry also blaming these woes for the cancellation of next month’s Bahamas Charter Yacht Show. Peter Maury, the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president, told Tribune Business that a recent survey of its members also disclosed that around 1,000 jobs could be endangered by the sharp “40 percent” decline in both charter and cruising arrivals as he warned: “The Bahamas is not the most popular destination right now.” The cancellation of the fourth annual Bahamas Charter Yacht Show emerged as Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, finally announced that the Government will “review” the fee increases and regulatory changes that were implemented on July 1, 2025, following six months of warnings and advocacy by maritime and tourism stakeholders about their likely damaging impact. While Mr Cooper said the review (see other article on Page 1B), for which no start or finish dates were given, will assess the “competitiveness” and “impacts” of The Bahamas’ boating regulatory regime, several marina and tourism sources
• ABM chief says: ‘It’s 100% the fees’ • Concern up to 1,000 jobs threatened • ‘Damage is done’ for winter season
Gov’t boating fee review: ‘We start over yet again’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government yesterday pledged to “review” the “competitiveness” of the boating fee hikes and accompanying regulatory reforms following the Prime Minister’s intervention, with marina industry chiefs asserting the sector feels as if “every five years we start over again”. Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, in a statement that was released to the international boating community as well as for local consumption, asserted that the Davis administration will assess the “impacts” and “implementation” of the new and increased fees, plus regulatory
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
PETER MAURY
adjustments, that were introduced with other Budget reforms on July 1, 2025. Finally responding to more than six months of advocacy and warnings, and with marinas asserting they will be “satisfied” to generate just 50 percent of the prior year’s business volumes, Mr Cooper voiced optimism that a solution that reverses this sharp drop-off - as well as generates funding for environmental preservation and sustainable management of maritime resources - can be delivered. Speaking as the full impact of the Government’s policy is hitting home, with many in the maritime sector describing the 2025-2026 winter boating season as lost, Mr Cooper said: “The Bahamas has built its global reputation on a foundation of warmth, openness and a seamless partnership with those who visit our waters. Our priority is to protect that
ANALYSIS SEE Page B5 CHESTER COOPER
RESERVATION - See Page B4
Doctors chief: Tax fast food eateries ‘to the hilt’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net A DOCTOR’S union president yesterday called for new taxation to be imposed on fast food restaurants to help cover the public healthcare system’s forecast $24m financing deficit while also slamming the fees being levied on National Health Insurance (NHI) providers. Dr Charelle Lockhart, the Consultant Physicians
Staff Association (CPSA) president, told Tribune Business that fast-food restaurants must bear some responsibility for poor dietary and eating habits among Bahamians as she backed suggestions by Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, that adding a “nominal” 50 cent tax on every sugary drink sold could collectively generate “millions”. “We also need to be taxing all of these fast food restaurants,” said Dr Lockhart, who heads the union
representing more senior doctors at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and in the public healthcare system. “They should be taxed heavily because they are a big part of the problems that our society is facing right now. “It's just a proliferation of fast food restaurants, and they need to get taxed, and people need to be taxed buying food from them because it is not healthy. It is unhealthy, and they need to put the taxes down on fresh fruit and vegetables
and tax these fast food restaurants up the hilt. “I like my fast food here and there, but people literally are eating fast food every day - every single day. I'm talking to parents with little children, and I'm asking the kids what they eat, and the first thing that comes out of their mouth [is] Bamboo Shack, Wendy's, McDonald's... They eat fast food five days a week,” she added.
LEVY - See Page B6
THE Government slashed its fiscal deficit by 32 percent, or almost one-third, for the first two months of the current 20252026 Budget year due to a more than $50m decline in the amount of ‘red ink’ incurred during August. The Ministry of Finance, unveiling the monthly fiscal report for August 2025, disclosed that the month’s deficit - measuring by how much government spending exceeds its revenue income - contracted by some 83.3 percent compared to the prior year’s $61.1m to come in at just $10.2m. This, in turn, helped to more than offset the yearover-year jump in July’s deficit to $69.1m. The total deficit for the first two months of the current Budget year was thus relatively contained at $79.3m, representing a $37.3m fall compared to the $116.6m incurred during July and August 2024. While the two-month deficit figure represents a $154.8m difference, or gap, to the Government’s forecast $75.5m Budget surplus for the full 2025-2026 fiscal year that closes at end-June
2026, it still has plenty of time to make that up. This is because the revenue-rich part of the Budget cycle does not occur until the calendar year’s first four months, coinciding with the peak winter tourism season as well as the bulk of Business Licence fee and real property tax payments. The Government, in the last 2024-2025 fiscal year, generated a more than $182m monthly surplus in April. However, the relatively modest deficits for August and the first two months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year contrast somewhat sharply with the near$308m increase in total public sector debt that was recorded for the three months to end-September. The Ministry of Finance’s public debt bulletin for the 2025-2026 fiscal year’s first quarter seemingly indicates that a relatively large deficit was incurred in September given the gap between the $79.3m deficit for the first two months and the $307.9m debt increase, coupled with the Government’s continued reliance on modified cash-based accounting which only records and tracks expenditure when it is incurred.
SLASH - See Page B6