02112021 BUSINESS

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2021

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opponents: BPC’s Super Value cuts Sunday Oil$200,000 demand will hours on 25% sales drop knock out legal action

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

S

UPER Value has slashed Sunday shopping hours after sales “dropped off 25 percent”, its principal revealed yesterday, adding: “They aren’t coming to show off their church hats any more.”

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that the chain, and its Quality Supermarket affiliate, have adjusted store hours in response to “drastic changes in consumer shopping habits” due to COVID-19 and associated restrictions.

Disclosing that Sunday, which was the last day to enjoy an easing of

• Roberts: ‘Drastic change in shopping habits’ • Former top day off 50% if no ‘double stamps’ • Estimates ‘one-third of people having it tough’

RUPERT ROBERTS pandemic-related measures, had previously been Super Value’s busiest sales day prior to the global health crisis, Mr Roberts said he believed business

would be down 50 percent were it not for the company’s “double stamps” promotion.

Disclosing that payroll would exceed sales revenue if Super Value/Quality’s 13 stores retained their preCOVID-19 Sunday hours, he added that early closures have been staggered according to consumer demand for the past three to four weeks.

While “inner-city” stores are closing at between 1-2pm on Sundays, Super Value’s Winton store in

eastern New Providence is now shutting at 3pm and Golden Gates at 5pm, although Cable Beach is remaining open to 8pm.

Super Value and Quality’s outlets typically closed preCOVID at times such as 3pm and 7pm.

But, striking a more optimistic note, Mr Roberts yesterday said predictions that sales would have fallen off by 20-25 percent at this stage of the pandemic have yet to materialise. While

SEE PAGE 9

‘Reinvent’ agriculture for $190m import cut

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas can slash $190m off its food import bill only if it completely “reinvents” the business model for its shrinking agriculture sector, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has disclosed.

The multilateral lender, in a series of reports tabled in Parliament yesterday, exposed just how far The Bahamas is from realising ambitions to boost domestic production and food security by revealing that a 15 percent annual growth rate is required to recover agricultural production capacity lost to Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.

The category five storm’s impact worsened a decline in annual sector output that fell below $30m in 2018, with the

• Overhaul’s long road as sector output under $30m • Three-year 15% growth needed to recoup Dorian hit • Over 70% of current farmer crop over 60 years-old IDB report’s author, Carlos Puig Esteve, revealing that real value added by the industry fell by more than 183 percent between 1995 and 2017.

“In order to expose the challenge for the country, and considering that the agricultural sector has lost at least one-third of its agricultural production capacity as a result of Hurricane Dorian, the reconstruction effort would need to reach 15 percent annual growth over the next three years to return to its 2018 production level,” the IDB report, which was completed in December 2019, said.

Govt to plug genetic exploitation loophole

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE government yesterday moved to finally plug a loophole that has enabled foreign exploitation of The Bahamas’ biological and genetic resources without this nation earning a cent.

The Biological Resources and Traditional Knowledge Bill, tabled in the House of Assembly by Romauld Ferreira, pictured, minister of the environment and housing, seeks to establish a regulatory, permitting and revenue-sharing regime

with companies seeking to research and exploit this nation’s marine genetic resources.

The legislation thus aims to close a gap identified in an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report,

SEE PAGE 8

‘Sea change’ for national finances

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Finance’s top official last night said reforms tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday represent “a sea change” in the way the government manages the public finances.

Marlon Johnson, the acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that the Public Debt Management Bill and Public Finance Management Bill

SEN KWASI THOMPSON will require the government to “measure our performance and output” on the fiscal front through strengthened reporting as

SEE PAGE 7

“Maintaining this growth rate of 15 percent over the next five years (through to 2027) would double the country’s agricultural output in eight years. Such an objective would be ambitious but achievable, and possibly be surpassed if the appropriate incentives to facilitate investments in improved technologies, greenhouses and polytunnels were facilitated in the short-term while focusing on young people.’

The study repeatedly focused on The Bahamas’ aged population of existing farmers, some 70 percent of whom were said to be aged 60-plus, and with an absence of successors and/or younger

enthusiasts to take over their business.

“The decline in the number of farmers has been significant, from 4,246 in 1978 to 800-1,000 maximum in 2019, of which 70 percent are older than 60 years, which represents an immense challenge since the sector does not attract young farmers,” the IDB report said.

The governmentappointed Economic Recovery Committee (ERC) also referred to similar growth targets in its summary report, and there are indications that the

SEE PAGE 8

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

OIL exploration opponents yesterday admitted they will have to halt their challenge to Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) drilling approvals if it succeeds with its $200,000 “security for costs” demand.

Joe Darville, executive chairman of Save the Bays, and secretary of Waterkeepers Bahamas, the two environmental groups behind the Judicial Review, conceded that they lack “sufficient liquid assets” to pay this sum should the Supreme Court grant BPC’s request.

“The applicants have succeeded in fundraising to begin this action, and are actively seeking further funding to allow them to continue the action to trial,” Mr Darville, referring to Save the Bays and Waterkeepers Bahamas, said.

“Notwithstanding that Save the Bays has substantial assets in the form of the costs certificates detailed, neither Waterkeepers Bahamas nor Save the Bays have sufficient liquid assets currently nor are they likely to be able to raise the same before the upcoming trial) to set $200,000 aside by way of security for costs.

“I can confirm that if the security for costs application succeeds, this action will certainly have to be stayed because Waterkeepers Bahamas and Save the Bays will be unable to raise sufficient sums by that date to both fund its continuation of the action and provide a significant sum in security for costs.”

So-called “security for costs”, which require that a party to a Supreme Court case lodge a performance bond in escrow to

JOE DARVILLE cover the other side’s legal fees, has been increasingly employed as a procedural tactic or weapon in a bid to effectively price-out public interest litigants from the justice system before the merits of their action are heard.

Given that BPC earlier this week abandoned and plugged its Perseverance One exploratory well, and announced no commercial oil quantities had been found, there was some doubt over whether the oil explorer would persist with its “security for costs” demand and opposition to the Judicial Review action as it has already completed what it set out to achieve.

The filing of Mr Darville’s affidavit yesterday suggests it is persisting, with the environmental activists especially keen for the Judicial Review’s merits to be heard so that the court can provide clear guidance on which permits and approvals future oil wells must obtain, and the processes they must follow.

Among the most critical issues to be determined are whether oil wells need to obtain site plan approval under the Planning and Subdivisions Act, and an excavation permit under the Conservation and Protection of the Physical

SEE PAGE 6

PAGE 2, Thursday, February 11, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

BTVI chiefs: Better skills key to economic revival NICKIA MCPHEE

SHEVETTE STRACHAN

CIBC honours two top Bahamian employees CIBC FirstCaribbean has selected two workers as its most outstanding employees in The Bahamas for 2020.

Shevette Strachan, a senior corporate and investment banking officer, was responsible for building, scaling and adapting all cash management systems and protocols in response to the segment’s growth.

And Nickia McPhee, a relationship manager, exceeded her annual target by 53.6 percent. Besides beating her sales targets, she is ranked 5th overall in the Caribbean in the Platinum space - first as a percentage of overall target - and is the highest grossing lender in The Bahamas.

Colette Delaney, CIBC FirstCaribbean’s chief executive, told those gathered

for the online Achievers Awards Ceremony that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused staff at all levels to work even harder to meet the needs of clients.

She praised them for rising to the challenge, saying: “Difficult times have called for innovative approaches to our work, and I am extremely proud of the way our entire team has risen to the challenge.

You are the embodiment of the fact that one can excel in the most trying of circumstances.”

The ten top achievers were drawn from the bank’s business units in Antigua, Barbados, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Dominica and Grenada.

They work across the segments of retail and business banking; corporate and

investment banking; and enterprise security and fraud management.

Ms Delaney said the bank’s “matrix structure” also positioned it to readjust to the new workfrom-home environment “as we are quite used to multinational teams working across borders, often by conference calls and our latest toys – WebEx and Microsoft teams - so to say that FirstCaribbean didn’t miss a beat when the pandemic hit would be an understatement.

“The excellence you have displayed, that got you nominated for these awards, shows your leadership capability and we are relying on you to go back out there and help us keep up the teamwork and collegial spirit.”

TOP Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) executives say improving workforce skills is critical to reducing unemployment and rebuilding the economy post-COVID-19.

A research paper jointly written by BTVI’s president, Dr Robert W Robertson, and its dean of construction and workforce development, Alexander Darville, detailed the institution’s efforts to advance worker skill-sets through accelerated trade courses and certifications.

“Overall, the development of skills within the key trade areas will assist in reducing unemployment and having more Bahamians certified, and therefore in a position to participate in the economy in a tangible way as rebuilding efforts take place in the country,” they wrote in the paper that was published in the Florida Political Chronicle.

They argued that strategic investment in skills development can generate significant benefits in helping economies to recover and rebuild.

The European Commission, in 2020, suggested that critical post COVID-19 skills will include, but not be limited to, technology aptitude, which is regarded as “indispensable”; digital and coding skills to manage processes and data; adaptability and the ability to understand change; the ability to embrace change; and critical thinking to evaluate data and make informed decisions.

The accelerated trade courses model of shorter courses and programmes is expected to enhance student retention, graduation and output, while maintaining quality, the BTVI duo’s paper said.

“The development of the skills within the key trade

DR ROBERT ROBERTSON

ALEXANDER DARVILLE

areas will assist in reducing unemployment and having more Bahamians certified, and therefore in a position to participate in the economy in a tangible way as rebuilding efforts take place in the country,” said the authors.

Their paper added that with the workforce having shifted towards online platforms, there is now a reliance on short, specific, job-ready, professionally-certified courses and training.

BTVI switched 450 courses to the online Moodle learning management system within a three-day period once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

The online courses included case studies, simulations, videos and Zoom classes.

“BTVI has made tremendous steps in advancing online education. At the onset of the pandemic, approximately 40 mostly IT courses were being delivered in a blended mode, and this afforded a template for moving all courses online,” said Dr Robertson and Mr Darville.

Their paper said that while some classes in the trades are particularly difficult to accommodate, more than 95 percent of classes across BTVI’s system continued online.

Trade-related courses held what was dubbed “boot camps” of small, face-toface, hands-on, practical sessions.

BTVI is a certified Cisco Academy and CompTIA award-winning institution

for Information Technology leadership in the Caribbean and Latin America. It is also a City & Guilds centre, and is pursuing registration with the National Centre for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), in conjunction with Valencia College in Florida.

An NCCER certification facilitates offering accelerated and certified trade courses, which ensure that graduates meet industry standards. To facilitate this, a Centre for Online and Distance Education was established at BTVI in spring 2020.

Key to BTVI’s online programme has been faculty training through the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), in addition to short professional development courses for staff that were packaged as “nano degrees”. The programme used open education resources, and included a number of industry-recognised certifications and badges, to assist instructors in becoming more effective in digital classrooms.

The authors concluded that a focus on short, industry-certified courses in the trades - using the NCCER model - is imperative in addressing the skilled worker shortage in The Bahamas. They acknowledged it will take a united long-term effort to close workforce skills gaps and rebuild the economy.

THE TRIBUNE

Distillery ‘overjoyed’ at February re-open

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A PROMINENT Bahamian distillery and tourist attraction yesterday said it was “overjoyed” to have reopened last week after being closed for nine months due to COVID-19 and associated restrictions.

Pepin Argamasilla, John Watling’s Distillery’s managing partner, told Tribune Business that the resumption of business operations had been akin to seeing family members following a long absence.

“Last weekend was a trial run and we didn’t promote the site wanting to go through a test run. We actually were surprised to welcome some tourists who are staying at an Airbnb as well as many locals,” he added.

“They all come for our almost famous John Watling’s Pina Colada. Sales were not like they were before the pandemic, but we understand this is going to be a build. It’s like starting the company all over again.

This week we have been active on social media and look forward to welcoming guests.”

The distillery reopened on February 4, and has resumed regular services including hand-crafted cocktails and fresh conch salad. Mr Argamasilla said: “Before the pandemic, our workers were already accustomed to washing their hands on a regular basis. In addition to washing their hands, they love using hand sanitizer.

“When the pandemic hit we made sure they were fully stocked with hand sanitizer at home. The main thing that has changed for them is wearing a face mask, but they understand that the well-being of our customers comes first.

“We want to get back to crafting our premium products. While we are still selling our hand sanitizer it is not our main focus. What we have done is partnered

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 3

MINISTER: GIVE US ‘OFFSET’ TO HALT OIL DRILLING PURSUIT

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A CABINET minister yesterday argued The Bahamas should seek “offsetting” compensation from neighbouring countries if it bows to their demands to give up oil exploration.

Romauld Ferreira, minister for housing and the environment, speaking in the House of Assembly after the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) this week advised that its exploratory Perseverance One well did not find commercial oil quantities, addressed both the local and international lobbying against the project.

“A lot of different countries and states in the United States offered their opinion as to whether The Bahamas should continue with oil exploration, but I didn’t hear any of them speak of offering offsets to

ROMAULD FERREIRA our economy that would equate, or be the equivalent, to the value of what oil would contribute by funding,” Mr Ferreira said.

He added that The Bahamas’ crown land is held in trust for its people by the prime minister, inclusive of the “biological resources and natural resources”, and these will be developed to the “benefit and well being” of the country and “not any one single interest group”.

While all opinions are respected, Mr Ferreira said, he added that “we’re

all in this together”. His comments came following intensive lobbying against BPC’s exploratory well by local environmental activists, which ultimately resulted in a Judicial Review legal challenge to halt the drilling, as well as pressure from US congressmen and the likes of Coral Gables city in Florida being brought against The Bahamas.

Mr Ferreira said South American and Central African countries frequently face pressure from other nations about the damage mining does to their forests.

In return for halting those activities, these countries turned around and asked the complainants for a financial “offset” and if they

are willing to do the same inside their own borders.

“Larger countries told South America and Central Africa countries, strictly those countries, that we want you to conserve your forests, and their response was quite simple,” Mr Ferreira said. “After they considered, their answer was as follows: ‘You didn’t conserve yours and I’m giving it to you in a nutshell. You develop your economies, our people are living in poverty. Are you prepared to offer us the offset?”

“Biodiversity offsetting” – protecting animals and plants in one area to make up for negative impacts in another – is increasingly used by companies such

as mining firms as a way to boost their corporate responsibility and prevent ethically-minded investors from defecting.

These are conservation actions intended to compensate for the residual, unavoidable impact on biodiversity caused by projects, ensure there is no net loss of biodiversity and, where possible, a net gain.

Mr Ferreira explained that the “offset” principle was important if developing countries such as The Bahamas are to consider requests to halt drillingh for oil or mining for natural resources. He added that no country has the right to block The Bahamas from any natural resources initiative it sees fit to pursue.

SEE PAGE 4

Public Notice

Estate of The late Stanford Gustavous “Gus”,“Big Jew” Outten.

We the Attorneys acting for and on behalf of the Executor of the above mentioned Estate, wish to advise the General Public that no one is authorized to negotiate, sell, collect payments, dispose of or enter into any contractual relations in the name of, or on behalf of the late Stanford ‘Gus’ Outten to the exclusion of the Executor of his Estate.

Therefore, any and all correspondence, issues, inquiries and relations touching and concerning the said Estate or the business dealings of The late Stanford ‘Gus’ Outten, should be directed to the attention of: BowePartners & Associates Caves Village Business Center, Suite 1, Building 4, P.O. Box SP-64293 Nassau, The Bahamas Telephone # 327-8669 or 70 Attorneys for the Executor

PAGE 4, Thursday, February 11, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

ELECTRICITY PRICE REVIEW TARGETS SUMMER FINISH

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

AN electricity sector tariff review will be completed by summer 2021 with the entire sector showing “great interest” in completing this pricing review.

Shevonn Cambridge, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) director for energy, speaking at a Zoom conference on its 2021 draft annual plan, said: “The tariff-setting guidelines have

to do with the rates that you pay. From a regulatory perspective, there are a number of different ways of assessing and setting tariffs.

“But you don’t want to do that by way of surprise or ambush, so to speak. So what we’ve done is we’ve been doing some research as to what is the best, or what we think would be the most appropriate forms of, setting the tariffs locally. We do that by looking at how a tariff is set now, how tariffs are set globally, where the trends going on.

Electric vehicle first launches at the Mall

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ first electric vehicle (EV) show launches today in a bid to showcase a product that is in growing worldwide demand to Bahamian consumers.

Pia Farmer, owner of Easy Car Sales, told Tribune Business: “We are going to be at the Mall at Marathon from Thursday through Saturday. So we’re there for three days. We will be displaying several new EV models, all 100 percent electric, and people are going to be able to check them out and arrange to have a test drive.”

These EVs can go from “0 to 60 miles per hour in a matter of seconds”, Ms Farmer said, adding: “Because there are no gears and need to shift them, they just take off.

These EVs save consumers 75 percent of their fuel and service expenses. So what they can do is trade in their old gas cars and get an electric car.

“DHL is fully electric, and Cable Bahamas has about a dozen electric vans.

They are transitioning their fleet from gas to electric, and we will trade in an old gas van for a new van.

We’re serious about this.”

EV prices start at $27,000 and go all the way up to $75,000. A “nice sized SUV can cost about $35,000”, said Ms Farmer. EV sales have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, beating conventional wisdom that all industries have been suffering as a result of the economic fall-out.

Ms Farmer told Tribune Business last month she is looking to “double” growth this year and build on the success of 2020.

PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS BOARD 141A NASSAU STREET • PHONE NO. 242 326-3114 EMAIL: bdmanager@coralwave.com or bdmanager@icloud.com

PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS EXAMINATION SCHEDULE 2021 REGISTRATION 8th February 2021 – 19th March 2021 EXAMINATION BRIEFING 10th April 2021 CASE STUDY DUE DATE 21st May 2021 WRITTEN EXAMINATION 5th June 2021 ORAL EXAMINATION 26th June 2021

“So it’s not only an economic assessment; it also has to do with how are things changing in the industry.”

This review will begin by the end of February with expected completion by summer 2021.

Mr Cambridge added: “Previously, when tariffs were set, we were dealing more with conventional fossil fuel-type generation, but now we are now seeing the advancement and adoption of more renewable sources.

“So this requires a different mindset. And so we’re out there doing the research, we’re putting together the ideas as to what would be most appropriate and applicable in The Bahamas, and then we put it out for consultation. You, as stakeholders, are then able to provide your feedback and we take that into consideration. And we will then say that these are the new guidelines as to how we set tariffs.”

Mr Cambridge said URCA is undertaking a

tariff study because the situation is “changing rapidly” in the industry, and URCA has to keep pace with evolving global standards and new technology.

“We have great interest from utilities in reviewing their tariffs, and so we need to set the guidelines and the rules as to just how you go about making that application to URCA, what we will be taking into account when we review those tariffs, and what we will do in terms of putting those tariffs in place,” he added.

URCA PLANS TO STUDY THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR FEASIBILITY

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamian electronic communications sector faces a comprehensive market review that could possibly pave the way for the introduction of a third mobile phone operator.

Walden Russell, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) director for information technology, speaking at a Zoom conference on its draft 2021 annual plan, said: “The first tier one project on the list for the electronic communications sector is the comprehensive market survey.”

This will focus on ways to increase access to services, and improve their quality, in a bid to determine if there is room for a third mobile phone operator. “The second project is to assess the feasibility of a

third mobile operator,” Mr Russell added.

“As set out in the draft electronic communications sector policy, the Government of the Bahamas will consider whether further liberalisation of the mobile telecommunications market should be undertaken in the form of introducing a third mobile operator.”

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and Aliv are the two mobile players presently, and the survey will determine whether there is room for a third operator or if it will oversaturate the market. Mr Russell said: “URCA’s advice and recommendations must be supported by feasibility and market analysis.” The survey is expected to be completed by December.

There will also be market surveys for Pay TV and FM broadcasting, with the aim of understanding consumers’ viewing and listening habits, and to

NOTICE IN THE ESTATE OF ALEXANDER CORRELL KNOWLES late of #258 Coral Close, Treasure Cove in the Eastern District of the Island of New Providence one of the Islands of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, deceased.

NOTICE is hereby given that all persons having any claim or demand against the above Estate are required to send the same duly certified in writing to the Undersigned on or before the 31st day of March, A.D. 2021, after which date the Executor will proceed to distribute the assets having regard only to the claims to which he shall then have had notice.

AND NOTICE is hereby given that all persons indebted to the said Estate are requested to make full settlement on or before the date hereinbefore mentioned.

MERIDIAN LAW CHAMBERS Attorneys for the Executor Chambers, P.O. Box N-168, East Bay Shopping Center, East Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas.

gather information on the experience they are enjoying while tuned in to each medium.

Mr Russell added: “It has been five years since the last market review on fixed services, and that includes pay TV, a well-conducted review of the retail markets for fixed-voice telephone and pay TV services to determine whether operators have significant market power and, if they do, URCA will determine the appropriate remedies.”

Mr Russell also spoke about the “repackaging application of Cable Bahamas” on pay-TV, and said: “We have started our work on that project. And, as noted before, we intend to complete before the end of the first trimester which is the end of April 2021.”

JOHN WATLING’S

Distillery ‘overjoyed’ at February re-open FROM PAGE THREE with other hand sanitizer companies to provide them with alcohol at 96 percent strength. This is proving to be a great business.”

Further measures taken

by John Watling’s include the hiring of a “full-time cleaning person” who has sole responsibility for keeping customer areas clean.

“Our preparation is constant. We clean, clean, and when we think it is clean, we clean it again. You can never be too careful. As for our washrooms, these are cleaned every two hours,” Mr Argamasilla added.

All customers are required to wear face masks upon entry to the premises and are sprayed with the Beuna Vista hand sanitizer.

Besides the re-opening last week, John Watling’s is adding a Conch stand that will serve various forms of conch salad, particularly a traditional salad spiked with their “pale rum.”

The distillery, located at the Buena Vista Estate on Delancy Street between Augusta and West Street, produces more than 20 Bahamian hand-craft awardwinning rums, Red Turtle pink-sand-filtered vodka, and Gun Cay Bahamian aged rums.

FOR SALE

BY OWNER 4 BED | 2 BATH HOME ON A LARGE LOT Centrally Located

$299k No Realtors

376-5599

Full-Time employment opportunity to join our dynamic team.

Welder Certified 3-5 years’ experience Experienced Fabricator Mechanical Machinery Email Resume to Hrbahamas@cemex.com

PUBLIC NOTICE TEMPLE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2021-2022 Temple Christian High School will hold its Entrance Examination on Saturday, February 13, 2021 at the school on Shirley Street from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon for students wishing to enter grades 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Application forms are available at the High School Office. The application fee is twentyfive dollars ($25). Application forms should be completed and returned to the school by Friday, February 12, 2021.

For further information, please call telephone number: 394-4481/394-4484.

The Bahamas National Council for Disability Executives wish to advise the public that NO DUES should be paid to

Monique Carey or any other person appointed by her on behalf of the organization.

Monique Carey

is NO LONGER recognized as the President of the Council.

All dues should be paid to

Mrs. Altermese Major, the elected Treasurer.

She can be contacted at

454-4966

for further information.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 5

URCA TARGETING ENERGY CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) yesterday pledged that consumer protection safeguards for Bahamian electricity consumers will be implemented this year.

Shevonn Cambridge, URCA’s head of energy regulation, speaking on a Zoom conference to discuss the regulator’s 2021 draft annual plan, said its electricity sector focus will be on “consumer protection, the framework development, and renewable energy”.

He explained: “The first under the consumer protection group of projects will be the ADR (alternative dispute resolution) project.

This project is actually a continuing project carried over from last year. It’s to establish one or more alternative dispute resolution schemes for resolving disputes between licensees and consumers, and between licensees and independent power producers, or to approve a set of schemes put forward by licensees.

The intention is to provide a mechanism where all

stakeholders are accountable, and the rules are clear.”

Mr Cambridge said these rules will be made public and become operational before the end of 2021.

“The next matter under this umbrella will be the promotion of BPL’s (Bahamas Power & Light) consumer protection plan and the ES (electricity sector) consumer protection regulation,” he added.

BPL’s consumer protection plan was established at the end of 2019. However, Mr Cambridge added: “The electricity sector consumer protection regulation is actually more of a sectorwide document that sets the minimum standards for such relationship between our consumers and other licensees.” He explained that they will “set the minimum guidelines” for all licensees and their consumer relationships.

Turning to renewable energy, Mr Cambridge said: “Another one of our consumer-related projects has to do with the advancement of the renewable energy programmes.”

Acknowledging the work done on the small scale renewable energy (SSRG) programme last year, he

said URCA is adding the “renewable energy self generation (RESG) programme” to its suite of initiatives on the sector.

“The major difference between that programme and the SSRG programme is that the renewable energy self-generation programme is for large commercial consumers and the government.

It allows for an installed renewable energy capacity going from 100 kilowatts (KW) up to one megawatt (MW).”

For the smaller SSRG initiative, Mr Cambridge said: “The ability for consumers to participate up to the capacity of their average consumption already exists. So the way the regulation is designed, it is really designed for you to to subsidise your own consumption.

“So the regulations provide for the sizing of your generator to be consistent with your average consumption, and that way your system is almost perfectly matched to your consumption. And so the ability for surplus shouldn’t be kind of minimal, but it allows you to receive some compensation when you do provide that surplus back to the grid.”

BAHAMAS TO SHOWCASE ITS ROMANCE ATTRACTIONS THE expo will bring together industry leaders, partners, hotels, venues and services in an effort to educate trade and consumer participants on the nation’s attractions as a wedding and honeymoon destination.

The virtual events will begin on Wednesday, March 3, between 1pm and 4pm with an afternoon targeted at travel agents, event planners and other trade professionals.

The second event will be held on Wednesday, March 10, between 4pm to 7pm, and is open to consumers including soon-to-be engaged or recently engaged couples; future brides and grooms; bachelorette party planners; honeymoon doover seekers and more.

“With intimate, secluded cays, unmatched turquoise

waters and pink and white sand beaches, it’s easy to understand why The Bahamas is considered one of the world’s most romantic destinations,” said Joy Jibrilu, the Ministry of Tourism’s director-general.

“With so many offerings available, we are thrilled to connect consumers to experts across a number of industries through our virtual romance expo experience to ensure the ease of planning a romantic Bahamian getaway, especially after so many plans were upended this last year.”

From the Bahamas With Love will feature a diverse series of panel discussions with experts from across all romance industry sectors, along with opportunities to network directly with partners.

Virtual sessions will highlight current trends, including how to accommodate various wedding styles and preferences in The Bahamas. Among the panellists and presenters will be the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation’s deputy directorgeneral Ellison “Tommy” Thompson; Jena Conway, director of weddings and special occasions at Atlantis; Desiree Moxey, director of events at Baha Mar’s Grand Hyatt; and boutique hotels.

Cindy Coakley-Knowles, president of the Bahamas Bridal Association, will moderate a panel discussion featuring Natalie Appleyard, director of Wildflowers; Marva Munroe of Chic Bahamas Weddings; photographer Lyndah Wells; and Kenton Burrows of Expressions Entertainment.

PAGE 6, Thursday, February 11, 2021

Oil opponents: BPC’s $200,000 demand will knock out legal action FROM PAGE ONE Landscape of The Bahamas Act, as well as the application of merchant shipping laws and international pollution treaties.

Meanwhile, the “costs certificates” referred to by Mr Darville represent previous legal expenses awarded to Save the Bays by the Supreme Court over previous Judicial Review challenges

involving accused fashion designer, Peter Nygard, and his associates.

“Save the Bays has an unblemished record over the last almost eight years in bringing successful Judicial Review proceedings against government and public agencies for their actions, inaction and decisions in relation to unregulated development in The Bahamas. This is a matter of public record,” Mr Darville alleged.

“The costs awarded to Save the Bays in the actions listed..... amount to many millions of dollars. Some bills

THE TRIBUNE have been taxed and paid, some remain untaxed and others have been taxed and are subject to negotiations for payment or enforcement proceedings.

“There are many separate costs orders against government respondents, Peter Nygard and attorney Keod Smith in the actions listed that remain unpaid. Peter Nygard remains indebted to Save the Bays on a number of Certificates of Costs referenced by action numbers.

STB is in the process of executing for payment thereof.”

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A realtor’s valuation appraisal attached to Mr Darville’s affidavit valued Nygard Cay, the fashion designer’s Lyford Cay home, at $14m. Mr Darville alleged that Mr Nygard still owes Save the Bays some $411,660 in unpaid legal bills.

“Keod Smith, a senior member of the Bar of The Bahamas, likewise remains indebted to Save the Bays on two certificates of taxation of costs,” Mr Darville added.

“Save the Bays is in the process of executing for payment thereof. Copies of the two certificates for $111,500 and $263,000, totalling $374,500 with interest accruing at the statutory rate, are exhibited.

He said enforcement proceedings have also been launched against the government to collect $1.387m

in taxed legal costs awarded over Judicial Review challenges involving unregulated development at Nygard Cay. Meanwhile, environmental activists yesterday called for “independent verification” that BPC’s exploratory well has been properly plugged and there is no possibility of “leakages”.

Casuarina McKinneyLambert, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) executive director, told Tribune Business: “When will we get an independent confirmation that the well has been capped?”

Citing scientific reports expressing concern over the number of oil wells that need to be plugged and abandoned, she said: “We are very concerned about the well

plugging that is reportedly being undertaken before the [BPC] well is abandoned.

“Numerous other wells around the world have leaked after being inadequately plugged and abandoned.

There should be independent verification that this is done properly, and that there is no leakage of methane, benzene, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide or other substances.

“What sort of follow-up monitoring will take place?

This is one of the reasons why we were repeatedly asking about the terms of the insurance, including the duration of the policy and if there are any exclusions to the coverage. Would the insurance cover a leaking well? Or would this be the responsibility of the contractors?”

THE TRIBUNE

‘Sea change’ for national finances

FROM PAGE ONE

well as the greater use of analytic tools and data.

He was echoed by Kwasi Thompson, minister of state for finance, who said: “Legislative reform doesn’t often seem revolutionary, but we don’t want Bahamians to miss the monumental changes these Bills will bring about.

“For the Public Finance Management Bill, there will be criminal penalties imposed for the first time for financial malfeasance in the public sector. Everyone will be held to a higher standard. New financial reporting requirements, like monthly budget reports, will be introduced to government for the first time.

“Bahamians may have assumed these things were in place, but the truth is, the Financial Administration and Audit Act 2010, which we are now replacing, had many weaknesses and was terribly outdated,” he added.

DR HUBERT MINNIS The Public Finance Management Bill moves the government to a principles-based approach to managing its finances, which focuses on results rather than the administrative approach employed by the Financial Administration and Audit Act 2010. The new legislation requires outcomes-based budgeting and reporting to support better management of The Bahamas’ finances.

“This is very significant as it will require cultural changes within our ministries and agencies. Ministries are not

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 7 only responsible for spending and accounting for budgeted resources,” Mr Thompson said.

“They will now be responsible for tracking and reporting the impact of their spending; the impact of their programmes. Are they using public funds in a way that deliver the desired and intended results? These are monumental shifts we are ushering in with our legislative forms.”

The Bills were introduced in the House of Assembly by Dr Hubert Minnis, prime minister and minister of finance, who said they are “critical” to sound fiscal management and “evidence-based decision making” in the government’s finances.

“These pieces of legislation will modernise the very foundation of public finance management in The Bahamas,” he said, with the Public Debt Management Bill mandating that the government at all times minimise debt servicing costs associated with its borrowings.

“The Public Debt Management Bill seeks to create a modern and comprehensive legal framework that permits a clearly articulated and transparent framework for public debt management,” the

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prime minister added.

“The overriding objective of the Public Debt Management Bill is to consolidate and modernise existing debt management provisions.

The legislation will create necessary linkages with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which provides parameters for debt ceilings that

correspond to the trajectory of the country’s economic growth. This legislation will set the framework for the country’s debt management strategy going forward.

“A core tenet of my government is the promise of accountability and transparency, particularly when it comes to the

management of the people’s money. These Bills will continue to deliver on that promise. They will further upgrade and bring our fiscal governance in line with international best practices by fostering much enhanced transparency and accountability in the way we manage the public purse.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, February 11, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

‘Reinvent’ agriculture for $190m import cut FROM PAGE ONE government may be following much of the IDB playbook in its efforts to revive the contracting agricultural sector after

COVID-19’s devastating fall-out revived interest in boosting the nation’s food security.

Michael Pintard, minister of agriculture and marine resources, told the recent

Bahamas Business Outlook conference that this country could slash its annual food import bill by $200m through focusing on the production of 77 organic items as suggested by an IDB

report that, at the time, he did not identify.

It is unclear whether the documents tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday are what he was referring to, although there is a high probability they are. The $189.6m “import substitution” figure cited in yesterday’s documents is extremely close to the numbers cited by Mr Pintard, while they both detailed the same areas as having the greatest potential for Bahamian farmers.

“Agri-food and ornamental crop import substitutions represent a potential value of $189.6m, or 28 percent of total agri-food products and ornamentals imports [of] $678m,” the IDB study said, adding that this sum included $117.8m worth of fresh and chilled food products, plus live plants, that could be supplied by domestic Bahamian producers maximising their potential.

“The $117.8m potential import substitution of fresh products represents four times’ the country’s total estimated agricultural output value of $29.7m in 2018,” the report added.

“Vegetables represent the largest import substitution potential among fresh and chilled agri-food products ($44.8m of the $117.6m, or 38 percent at 2018 levels. “[This is] followed by fruits at $30.2m and plants at $14.7m. The potential

for fresh animal products is lower: Poultry, $10.1m; Swine, $7.6m; sheep and goats, $5.3m; eggs, $5.1m; but jointly make up $28.2m or nearly a quarter of the total substitution potential at 24 percent.”

The IDB study added that fresh product imports, which Bahamian farmers should attempt to replace, had increased by a 10.3 percent annual average growth rate over the three years to 2018, indicating the potential for domestic producers to service an expanding market.

However, it warned that to achieve its agriculture goals, The Bahamas will have to completely overturn its present farming model and the ways that the government supports the industry. One flaw it identified involves the management of 38,857 acres of crown land that the government has allocated for lease to farmers.

These arrangements are supposed to be overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources’ Land Unit, but the IDB report said there was no oversight and follow-up to prevent this land from being used for non-farming purposes.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources’ Land Unit does not follow up on the exploited lands, and on the business plans initially proposed by the farmer in exploiting crown land, which results in a large

Govt to plug genetic exploitation loophole FROM PAGE ONE revealed by Tribune Business in October 2020 last year, which exposed that the Bahamian people are earning nothing from foreign exploitation of resources

that have produced over 100 “new natural products”.

The document, which accompanied the IDB’s recent $200m loan to the government, disclosed that this nation was gaining zero commercial and financial benefits from the research activity it permits annually in the waters of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

This is despite the granting of more than 100 research permits per year, most of which are to institutions based in the US and Canada. The report revealed that many of these research initiatives had resulted in patent applications being made in the US, “a large cluster” of which covered “a marine microbe” found in Bahamian waters and its use in the lucrative global pharmaceutical industry.

The IDB said one of the “biomolecules” generated from this Bahamian microbe strain had made it to “clinical phase II” drug trials in 2014, but the failure of successive administrations to establish a commercial and regulatory regime to ensure this nation gains a just share of any resulting revenues/ profit from such exploitation of its resources has deprived it of a potentially “significant” income source.

The Bill introduced by Mr Ferreira creates an Access to Benefit Sharing (ABS) committee that will review and make recommendations on whether to approve research and development applications by companies seeking to exploit The Bahamas’ genetic resources.

The committee, which will be staffed by civil servants from multiple government agencies, will recommend to the Competent National Authority - the entity in charge of all matters related to biological diversity whether to approve such permits, and provide advice on the revenue/benefit sharing terms agreed with private sector entities.

Any earnings generated for The Bahamas will be placed in a so-called Benefit Trust Fund for the public’s benefit. While the legislation introduces more government bodies and bureaucracy, it also sets out a regulatory regime complete with penalties for those who illegally exploit the country’s biological and genetic resources.

And individuals and companies involved in previously unregulated “bioprospecting or other genetic prospecting related work in The Bahamas, including all registered resulting industrial property, will commit “an offence” if they fail to disclose this when applying for permits under the new regulatory regime.

part of the leased lands not being used for agricultural purposes,” the IDB report said.

Noting that The Bahamas’ agricultural exports totalled just $800,000, or less than 1 percent, in 2018, the study recommended radical reform as the only way to save a sector that has effectively been dying a slow death for decades.

“Fundamentally different business conditions might need to be promoted to reverse these trends,” it added. “The Government of The Bahamas’ marketing system approach, using guaranteed purchases, is inefficient and unproductive, and has become increasingly expensive to operate while lacking a market-driven approach.

“The marketing of agricultural produce is constrained by inadequate information on domestic supplies, pricing and sales opportunities, which has become a major limitation. This contributes to a mismatch between supply and demand, preventing buyers and suppliers from coming together and contributing to a lack of market transparency.

“The technical analysis leads to confirming that in order to be more competitive in the market, it is essential to reinvent the ways of doing and the strategies implemented so far.”

“The Bahamas used to issue over 100 research permits per year, about 90 percent of which were issued to foreign institutions (generally from the US and Canada) enabling access to genetic resources, mostly in the marine environment,” the IDB report said.

“A study published in 2012 calculated that 125 new natural products were discovered in EEZ in the 2000s. A preliminary review of the patent databases of the US revealed that a significant number of research initiatives conducted in The Bahamas applied for US patents.

“A large cluster of patents covers a marine microbe originating from The Bahamas, the production of biomolecules with this specific Bahamian strain and their use as pharmaceuticals.

For one of these molecules, clinical phase II tests were announced to start in 2014,” the report continued.

“These inventions based on a Bahamian genetic resource might be developed into commercially successful drugs with significant revenues. Due to the lack of a regulatory access and benefit (ABS) regime in The Bahamas and appropriate contractual provisions, almost no benefits are flowing back to the country from these and other cases of utilisation and commercialisation of Bahamian genetic resources.”

With The Bahamas’ foreign exchange earnings having almost completely dried-up due to the COVID19 pandemic and tourism industry shutdown, which have left the Public Treasury in a similar cash-strapped state, it behooves the Government to seek out, identify and extract such revenueearning opportunities as the one potentially identified by the IDB. The IDB confirmed then that the government is moving to create an ABS policy framework that would allow The Bahamas to share in the financial benefits from research, development, innovation and commercialisation of its marine microbe assets as part of its economic diversification strategy via the so-called “Blue Economy”.

The Blue Economy involves maximising economic growth and environmental sustainability through controlled exploitation of this nation’s marine industry, and the IDB revealed that the government is in the process of establishing an Inter-Departmental Blue Economy Co-ordination Group to drive this effort.

Headed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, the group will have input from academics as well as the private and public sectors, and be responsible for coordinating agencies with responsibilities for ocean affairs and marine resources.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 9

Super Value cuts Sunday hours on 25% sales drop FROM PAGE ONE sales were flat in the week leading up to the weekend’s Super Bowl, he added that they had since recovered to be ahead by six percent this week.

The Super Value chief said consumer demand for healthier foods had also altered his sales mix, with sales of fruit and vegetable perishables and groceries now accounting for 57 percent of purchases compared to 40 percent pre-pandemic.

Groceries, on the other hand, had dropped from a 60 percent majority to become the new majority.

The supermarket chain is also preparing to take a gross margin hit in a bid to offload excess inventory acquired at the pandemic’s height, with Mr Roberts estimating that average consumer per spend per transaction has suffered due to COVID-19’s impact on jobs and incomes.

“There’s 30 percent more cars in the parking lot but not a penny more in sales,” he said of his Golden Gates store.

“What we have found since things have changed, and they don’t go to church to show off their pretty hats and don’t come to the supermarkets to show them off, is that Sunday business has dropped off by 25 percent,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business.

“So we clock off accordingly in different areas. The

inner-city stores we close at 1-2pm, Winton at 3pm.

Cable Beach is at 8pm, and Golden Gates is 5pm. After dark, consumers don’t shop.

We are now open on Mondays through Saturdays from 7am to 7pm. That’s new; we used to stay open until 9pm.

“We did our survey, and if we stay open after those hours at the 13 stores we will only do $40,000 in sales.

It will cost more in payroll to keep them open. There’s no use increasing expenses to keep them open. We’ve had to restructure our shopping hours according to the way people shop, and a lot of shopping habits have changed,” he continued.

“Shopping habits have changed drastically even though we have ‘double stamps’. I believe we would have fallen off by 50 percent if we didn’t have double stamps on Sunday. That’s what’s holding it up. We used to do more on Sunday per square foot than any other day and it changed.

“A lot of things have changed. In the next ten months there are going to be more changes than you’ve seen in the last ten years.”

When asked to explain what he meant, Mr Roberts pointed to the switch in buying habits that has seen consumers increasingly purchase fruits and vegetables rather than groceries as part of an apparent switch to healthier foods.

“In our remodelling we will have to take twice as much space in the produce department, fruits and vegetables,” he added. “In period four, groceries had fallen to 43 percent [of the sales mix]. It’s gone down from 60 percent to 43 percent. Perishables have gone up to 57 percent. It really used to be the other way around.

“People are eating healthier, shopping at different times, doing different things. We have to watch it and follow the trends.”

Super Value’s principal suggested many Bahamians, rather than food shopping, were instead enjoying their freedom from months-long COVID-19 restrictions to spend time with their families at the beach or other forms of relaxation.

Still, Mr Roberts said dire predictions of a major revenue slump some 11 months into the pandemic have yet to become reality. “My banker and myself estimated that by this time in the pandemic our sales would be off by 20-25 percent. It hasn’t happened. People are finding money from somewhere, and there’s still a little bit of tourism trickling in,” he told Tribune Business.

“I hope it holds for the rest of the year. For Christmas we only ordered two-thirds of the hams and turkeys that we did in previous years, but we sold out.

I thought sales would be off by 20 percent by then, but people found ways to enjoy Christmas. I’m hoping there’s more money hidden around in fixed deposits, savings accounts, that will

hold things until we get back to some sort of normalcy.”

Disclosing that he did not closely monitor consumer spending per transaction, being more focused on business volumes and controlling expenses, Mr Roberts added: “Average sales per customer are down 25 percent; that would be my guess.

“I work at Golden Gates, and when I go down from the office to the store there’s

30 percent more cars in the parking lot but store sales are not going up by a penny.

More people are coming and spending less. But you can buy macaroni and cheese on special; buy potatoes and corn beef, buy Campbell’s soup, buy cabbage.

“You’d be surprised at what low budget family members can cook up when they have to and make a pot.

That’s my guess; one-third of the people are on zero

budgets. They’re depending on the government and family members to help them. I’d think it would be as high as one-third of the people are having it rough.”

With supply chain concerns and pressures easing, and Super Value regaining access to “name” or preferred brands, Mr Roberts said it was now faced with having to sell off their substitutes at a discount to entice shoppers to buy them.

PAGE 10, Thursday, February 11, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Biden backs off on TikTok ban in review of Trump China moves Associated Press THE Biden administration is backing off former President Donald Trump’s attempts to ban the popular video app TikTok, asking a judge to postpone a legal dispute over the proposed ban as the government begins a broader review of the national security threats posed by Chinese technology companies.

A court filing yesterday said the US Commerce Department is reviewing whether Trump’s claims about TikTok’s threat to national security justified the attempts to ban it from smartphone app stores and deny it vital technical services.

Separately, the Biden administration has “indefinitely” shelved a proposed US takeover of the TikTok, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Last year, the Trump administration brokered a deal that would have had US corporations Oracle and Walmart take a large stake in the

TIKTOK app icon.

Chinese-owned app on national-security grounds.

The unusual arrangement stemmed from a Trump executive order that aimed to ban TikTok in the US unless it accepted a greater degree of American control.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not deny

the Journal report, but said yesterday the Biden administration hasn’t taken a “new proactive step” in the process.

Psaki added that the Biden administration is comprehensively evaluating risks to US data, including those involving TikTok. A review of TikTok by the

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which considers national security implications of such investments, is ongoing, Psaki said. She didn’t offer a timetable for that process.

Trump targeted TikTok over the summer with a series of executive orders

that cited concerns over the US data that TikTok collects from its users.

But courts temporarily blocked the White House’s attempted ban, and the presidential election soon took overshadowed the TikTok fight.

While President Joe Biden has said TikTok is a concern, his administration hadn’t said whether it will continue to try to ban TikTok or force a sale.

Biden has so far taken a cautious approach to inheriting Trump’s China policies and hasn’t promised to scale back or cancel tariffs and other combative measures.

The Biden administration appears to be creating a clearer set of criteria to evaluate which Chinese technology platforms pose a legitimate security risk to Americans, said Samm Sacks, a China expert at Yale Law School.

“I don’t think they see TikTok itself as a highpriority issue,” she said, calling it a hypothetical future threat. “This oneoff ban on a rotating cast of Chinese tech companies, that’s not likely to continue.”

In September, Trump gave his tentative blessing to a proposal by TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance that would form a new US arm of TikTok in partnership with Oracle and Walmart, who would make significant investments in the new company. The arrangement aimed to hand management of the app’s US user data to Oracle.

CFIUS, however, has not completed its required review of the arrangement.

A government deadline for TikTok to sell its US operations has passed.

TikTok is now looking to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review Trump’s divestment order and the government’s nationalsecurity review.

TikTok and Oracle didn’t return requests for comment yesterday. Walmart declined comment Wednesday and referred questions to the Biden administration.

The Treasury Department, which chairs the CFIUS agency reviewing the TikTok deal, did not reply to a request for comment. Neither did the Commerce Department, which last year had sought

to enforce Trump’s orders, nor the Justice Department, which is handling the court challenges.

The Chinese government’s stance toward the deal is unclear. State media in September criticised the proposal as US bullying and extortion.

Trump cited concerns that the Chinese government could spy on TikTok users if the app remains under Chinese ownership.

TikTok has denied it’s a security threat but said it was still trying to work with the US government to resolve its concerns.

TikTok said Oracle and Walmart could acquire up to a combined 20% stake in the new company ahead of a TikTok initial public offering, which Walmart said could happen within the next year. Oracle’s stake would be 12.5%, and Walmart’s would be 7.5%.

Where Oracle stood to handle data management, Walmart said it would provide e-commerce, fulfillment, payments and other services to the new company. TikTok said in a November court filing that the new entity, owned

by Oracle, Walmart and ByteDance’s existing US investors, would be responsible for TikTok’s US user data and content moderation.

The Trump administration’s aggressive tactics were part of a broader effort to counter the influence of China. During his term in office, Trump waged a trade war with China, blocked mergers involving Chinese companies and stifled the business of Chinese firms like Huawei, a maker of phones and telecom equipment.

The Biden administration shares many of the Trump administration’s concerns about Chinese technology and trade practices, but they’re likely to use “different tactics and tone on how to achieve those strategic objectives”, said Martijn Rasser, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“They’re taking a holistic, strategic approach to these issues and not going after these companies on a oneoff basis,” he said. “It’s part of a broader reassessment.”

LEGAL NOTICE

WYKO BAHAMAS LIMITED NOTICE is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138(8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, the dissolution of WYKO BAHAMAS LIMITED has been completed; a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies with effect from the 9th day of December, 2020.

Kevin G. Cambridge & Prince Rahming (Joint Liquidators)

LEGAL NOTICE

B & P WILD LIMITED NOTICE is hereby given that, in accordance with Section 138(8) of the International Business Companies Act 2000, the dissolution of B & P WILD LIMITED has been completed; a Certificate of Dissolution has been issued and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies with effect from the 9th day of December, 2020.

Kevin G. Cambridge & Prince Rahming (Joint Liquidators)

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 11

Budget deficit totals record $735.7bn through January WASHINGTON Associated Press THE US government’s budget deficit hit $735.7bn through the first four months of the budget year — an all-time high for the period — as a pandemic-induced recession cut into tax revenues while spending on COVID relief measures sent outlays soaring.

The Treasury Department reported yesterday that the deficit so far for the budget year that began Oct 1 is 89% higher than the $389.2bn deficit run up in the same period a year ago. Last year’s deficit through January had not yet been impacted by the pandemic, which began hitting the US in February.

The report showed that spending through the first four months of this budget year was up 22.7% to $1.92tn compared to the same period last year, while government tax revenues were down 0.8% to $1.19tn.

For January, the deficit totaled a record for the month of $182.8bn. One of the big spending categories last month included $139bn for another round of individual economic relief payments authorised by the $900bn relief measure

Congress passed in late December.

President Joe Biden is pushing for Congress to approve another $1.9tn relief measure that would provide a round of $1,400 payments. The December measure included individual payments of $600.

Republicans are resisting the proposal, saying it is too expensive and is coming at a time when the economy has begun to recover. Biden has insisted that the bigger danger is doing too little, and Democrats have begun a process that will allow them to pass the $1.9tn package without Republican support.

All the spending for COVID relief sent the budget deficit for the 2020 fiscal year that ended Sept.

30 to a record $3.1tn. That was more than three times the 2019 budget deficit of $984.4bn, a shortfall that was elevated by the higher spending on domestic programs and the military and the costs of then-President Donald

Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

Nancy Vanden Houten, senior economist at Oxford Economics, said she believes the deficit for this year would hit a record of $3.3tn.

She said that figure covers

expected passage of another $1.3tn rescue package, $600bn lower than the $1.9tn package Biden has proposed.

All the deficit spending has pushed the amount of public debt to levels not

seen since the end of World War II. Even with the much higher level of government debt, the amount being spent on interest payments on the debt fell by $34bn to $160bn for the first four months of

this budget year.

The lower payments on a higher level of debt reflect the fact that even though debt levels are rising, interest rates have been falling during the downturn.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, JEROME MACKEY, of Adderley Street, Nassau, Bahamas intend to change my name to GREGORY JEROME MACKEY. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL The Public is hereby advised that I, HUELESIA NEKILA BRAMBLE, of Bailey Town in the Eastern District, Bimini, Bahamas intend to change my name to HUELESIA NEKILA SAUNDERS. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that VEYONIQUE BRUTUS, of Bahama Avenue , New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 4th day of February 2021 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that ALIX LOUIS, of Montrose Avenue, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twentyeight days from the 11th day of February 2021 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given that KASSANDRA DERISSON, of Mackey Street, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 11th day of February 2021 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau,

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

WEDNESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2021

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX:

CLOSE

CHANGE

1983.15

-1.14

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

-0.06 -109.31

-5.22

(242) 323-2330 (242) 323-2320

BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.50 33.05 2.00 2.15 2.10 6.00 6.90 3.55 6.15 4.33 6.16 12.77 3.64 6.85 10.88 8.44 15.08 4.25 9.26 16.00

52WK LOW 3.13 22.65 0.67 1.62 1.66 5.00 6.00 2.70 4.27 3.25 5.50 10.20 2.10 4.75 9.50 7.70 13.00 3.50 8.15 14.00

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 0.90

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Benchmark Bahamas First Holdings Limited Bank of Bahamas Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Cable Bahamas Commonwealth Brewery Commonwealth Bank Colina Holdings CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Bahamas Limited Focol Finco J. S. Johnson

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ

LAST CLOSE 4.50 32.12 1.62 2.15 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.98 4.74 3.25 5.50 10.20 2.72 6.76 9.92 8.40 13.50 3.80 8.50 15.20

CLOSE 4.50 32.12 1.62 2.15 1.67 6.00 6.61 2.98 4.74 3.25 5.60 10.20 2.66 6.76 9.97 8.40 13.50 3.75 8.50 15.20

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

LAST SALE 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

BAH29 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0307 BG0330 BG0407 BSBGR1320294 BSBGR1321391 BSBGR1322498

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Bahamas First Holdings Preference Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Fidelity Bank Bahamas Class A Focol Class B

BFHP CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 102.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

SECURITY Fidelity Bank (Note 22 Series B+) Bahamas First Holdings Limited

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y BGRS FX BSBGR1320294 BGRS FX BSBGR1321391 BGRS FX BSBGR1322498

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.10 0.00 (0.06) 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 (0.05) 0.00 0.00

VOLUME

1,000

1,000

1,800 4,000

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.110 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

VOLUME

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.030 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 18.8 34.5 N/M N/M N/M N/M 17.9 -6.8 33.9 17.7 12.5 14.1 26.1 14.5 15.4 11.5 16.5 18.5 9.1 24.1

YIELD 3.78% 3.92% 1.23% 1.40% 0.00% 0.00% 3.93% 0.00% 0.00% 3.69% 3.93% 7.06% 16.32% 0.89% 3.29% 2.86% 4.00% 3.20% 2.35% 4.01%

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25%

19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025

MATURITY

6.95% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.50% 6.25% 4.25% 4.81% 5.29% 5.65%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2022 15-Oct-2029 15-Oct-2039 15-Oct-2049

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.39 4.43 2.14 201.90 184.85 1.69 1.85 1.78 1.24 8.49 10.26 7.28 13.91 12.84 10.81 10.00 10.20 13.79

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.66 1.79 1.75 1.05 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Financial Conservative Fund Leno Financial Aggressive Fund Leno Financial Balanced Fund Leno Financial Global Bond Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund Royal Fidelity Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Equities Sub Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - High Yield Fund Royal Fidelity Int'l Fund - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.39 4.43 2.14 201.90 184.85 1.68 1.79 1.76 1.05 8.49 10.03 7.28 13.91 12.84 10.05 N/A 10.20 13.79

YTD% 12 MTH% 4.55% 4.55% 1.58% 1.58% 2.60% 2.60% 3.47% 3.47% 10.86% 10.86% 1.03% 1.03% -3.14% -3.14% 0.26% 0.26% -12.29% -12.29% 1.76% 1.76% -1.97% -1.97% 4.91% 4.91% 5.28% 15.75% 0.05% 3.96% -0.35% -6.34% N/A N/A 8.60% 8.60% 11.90% 11.90%

NAV Date

31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020 31-Dec-2020

MARKET TERMS

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price

52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks

Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity

52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks

Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity

Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume

Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price

Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume

Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week

Change - Change in closing price from day to day

EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths

Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today

NAV - Net Asset Value

DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months

N/M - Not Meaningful

P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | CAROLISLE 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 11, 2021, PAGE 15

UBER’S 4Q LOSS NARROWS, RAISING HOPES FOR PANDEMIC RECOVERY SAN RAMON Associated Press

UBER’S whittled its losses at the end of a topsyturvy year that forced the ride-hailing service to rely more heavily on its fooddelivery business after the pandemic dramatically reduced the number of people willing to hop into a car driven by a stranger.

The fourth-quarter results announced yesterday drew a picture of a company making strides in its attempt to recover from a staggering blow delivered last March, when efforts to contain the novel coronavirus shut down much of the economy

and upended its ride-hailing service.

The upheaval accelerated Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s plans to expand the company’s fooddelivery operation as part of an effort to build a more versatile transportation service. Those efforts, which included a $2.65bn acquisition of Postmates last year, have enabled the food-delivery service to bring in nearly as much revenue Uber’s ride-hailing business.

Uber is poised to expand even further beyond transporting people with its recent $1.1bn deal for alcohol delivery service Drizly.

But analysts believe Uber’s pioneering

ride-hailing service will also eventually bounce back as more people are vaccinated against COVID-19. Those predictions, coupled with the success of the fooddelivery expansion, is the main reason Uber’s stock price has recently been hovering at its all-time high, more than quadrupling from its lows reached nearly 11 months ago during the early stages of the pandemic.

Uber’s shares dipped by about 3% in yesterday’s extended trading after the quarterly numbers came out. The decline may have reflected mild disappointment with quarterly revenue that fell slightly below the estimates of analysts polled

by FactSet. “We’re cautiously optimistic that this progress will continue and, in fact, accelerate over the next quarters,” Khosrowshahi told analysts in a conference call. He also predicted that Uber’s losses may evaporate by the end of this year.

In a research note, Wedbush Securites analyst Daniel Ives touted Uber as “a poster child” for a postpandemic comeback.

For now, Uber still remains a long way from turning a profit — a goal that has eluded the San Francisco company since its founding more than a decade ago.

Uber lost $968m, or

54 cents per share, in the October-December period, narrowing from a loss of nearly $1.1bn, or 64 cents per share, at the same time in the prior year. The latest loss also marked an improvement from the quarters earlier in the pandemic.

Revenue for the past quarter decreased 16% from the previous year to $3.17bn.

The company’s ridehailing service brought in revenue of $1.48bn in the quarter, a 52% drop from the prior year. Meanwhile, revenue in Uber’s fooddelivery service more than tripled from the previous year to $1.37bn.

Uber probably would

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TONIGHT

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

Mostly sunny

Partly cloudy with spotty showers

Partly sunny

Partly sunny and pleasant

Partly sunny and nice

Abundant sunshine and pleasant

High: 80°

Low: 70°

High: 80° Low: 69°

High: 80° Low: 69°

High: 81° Low: 68°

High: 82° Low: 69°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

83° F

69° F

84°-67° F

85°-69° F

87°-68° F

89°-69° F

ORLANDO

TAMPA

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 67° F/19° C

The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature® is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body—everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels. Temperatures reflect the high and the low for the day.

N

almanac

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 77° F/25° C Low: 71° F/22° C

7-14 knots

S

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 70° F/21° C

7-14 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 81° F/27° C Low: 72° F/22° C

E

W S

E

W

WEST PALM BEACH

N

uV inDex toDay

TODAY

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 65° F/18° C

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 68° F/20° C

MIAMI

High: 81° F/27° C Low: 72° F/22° C

6-12 knots

Statistics are for Nassau through 1 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 81° F/27° C Low .................................................... 71° F/22° C Normal high ....................................... 77° F/25° C Normal low ........................................ 64° F/18° C Last year’s high ................................. 83° F/28° C Last year’s low ................................... 71° F/21° C Precipitation As of 1 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.00” Year to date ................................................. 1.86” Normal year to date ..................................... 1.89”

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 70° F/21° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021

High: 78° F/26° C Low: 73° F/23° C

N

KEY WEST

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 73° F/23° C

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 73° F/23° C

N

S

E

W

7-14 knots

S

8-16 knots

ANDROS

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

High

Ht.(ft.)

Low

Ht.(ft.)

Today

7:26 a.m.

7:46 p.m.

3.1 2.5

1:05 a.m. -0.5 1:53 p.m. -0.4

Friday

8:10 a.m.

8:31 p.m.

3.0 2.5

1:53 a.m. -0.5 2:35 p.m. -0.4

Saturday

8:52 a.m.

9:13 p.m.

2.9 2.5

2:38 a.m. -0.4 3:15 p.m. -0.3

Sunday

9:31 a.m.

9:54 p.m.

2.8 2.5

3:21 a.m. -0.2 3:52 p.m. -0.2

Monday

10:10 a.m.

10:36 p.m.

2.6 2.5

4:04 a.m. -0.1 4:29 p.m. -0.1

Tuesday

10:48 a.m.

11:18 p.m.

2.4 2.4

4:47 a.m.

5:06 p.m.

0.1 0.0

Wednesday 11:29 a.m.

-----

2.2 -----

5:32 a.m.

5:45 p.m.

0.3 0.1

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

6:47 a.m.

6:02 p.m.

Moonrise Moonset

6:54 a.m.

6:05 p.m.

New

First

Full

Last

Feb. 11

Feb. 19

Feb. 27

Mar. 5

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 73° F/23° C

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 75° F/24° C

N E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 81° F/27° C Low: 74° F/23° C

8-16 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 81° F/27° C Low: 74° F/23° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures

H

tiDes For nassau

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 79° F/26° C Low: 72° F/22° C

L

The higher the AccuWeather UV IndexTM number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.

CAT ISLAND

E

W

have been in an even deeper hole if it hadn’t been able to join forces with rival Lyft and a few other mobile app services to win an exemption from a California law that would have required it to classify its drivers in its biggest markets as fullfledged employees with a wide range of costly benefits, instead of as independent contractors.

To gain the exemption from the California law, Uber and its allies spent more than $200m on a ballot measure that passed with 58% approval in November.

The California Supreme Court refused to hear a legal challenge to the ballot measure earlier this month.

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS

are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

RAGGED ISLAND High: 80° F/27° C Low: 76° F/24° C

High: 80° F/27° C Low: 75° F/24° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 82° F/28° C Low: 75° F/24° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

8-16 knots

10-20 knots

marine Forecast ABACO ANDROS CAT ISLAND CROOKED ISLAND ELEUTHERA FREEPORT GREAT EXUMA GREAT INAGUA LONG ISLAND MAYAGUANA NASSAU RAGGED ISLAND SAN SALVADOR

Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday: Today: Friday:

WINDS SE at 7-14 Knots SE at 6-12 Knots E at 7-14 Knots SE at 6-12 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 7-14 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots ESE at 7-14 Knots SE at 7-14 Knots SE at 6-12 Knots SE at 6-12 Knots E at 8-16 Knots SE at 7-14 Knots E at 10-20 Knots E at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots E at 6-12 Knots SE at 6-12 Knots E at 8-16 Knots ESE at 8-16 Knots E at 8-16 Knots SE at 7-14 Knots

WAVES 3-5 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-5 Feet 3-5 Feet 4-7 Feet 4-7 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 4-7 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet 2-4 Feet 4-8 Feet 4-7 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet

VISIBILITY 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 76° F 75° F 76° F 77° F 77° F 77° F 79° F 79° F 75° F 75° F 80° F 80° F 77° F 77° F 80° F 80° F 79° F 79° F 78° F 78° F 76° F 76° F 78° F 78° F 76° F 76° F