02202017 business

business@tribunemedia.net

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2017

$4.20

$4.24

$4.28

IMF Bahamas chief supports fiscal limits

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Bahamas mission chief has backed calls for a Fiscal Responsibility Act, describing it as “a useful medium term component” for reforming the Government’s finances.

Jarkko Turunen also said the Bahamas’ vulnerability to major hurricanes was not

Jarkko Turunen

Melia’s 1,000 staff enjoy ‘Perfect Luck’ over new employer

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A trade union leader has criticised the lack of consultation over the transfer of the Melia Nassau Beach Resort’s 1,000-strong staff, and their employment contracts and rights, to the China Export-Import Bank.

Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress’s president, told Tribune Business that both the Department of Labour and unions representing Melia staff should have been given advance warning of the transfer to ensure the process went “smoothly”.

Warning that uncertainty could result in “unanticipated consequences” for both employer and staff, Mr Ferguson said unions and the Government had to become “more assertive with, and more responsive to” multinational companies entering the Bahamas to do business.

Given that such entities tended to bring their own culture with them, the TUC president argued that they needed to meet with both government and trade unions to ensure all parties started their relationship ‘on the same page’.

Mr Ferguson was speaking after Baha Mar’s receivers, the Deloitte & Touche accounting firm, informed Melia staff via a February 10, 2017, letter that they had a new employer.

The letter, a copy of which has been obtained See pg b6

Workers transferred to affiliate of China bank’s SPV Unions critical over lack of advance warning New Baha Mar hires to be employed by CTFE entity

necessarily an impediment to implementing stricter ‘fiscal rules’, explaining that there “are ways to design” them to allow the Government to respond properly to natural disasters.

Mr Turunen, in an exclusive interview with Tribune Business, described a Fiscal Responsibility Act and ‘fiscal rules’ as “important steps” in the Bahamas’ effort to rein in See pg b4

A veteran Freeport retailer says he is suffering International Bazaar “deja vu” with sales across his two Lucaya-area stores down 82 per cent since Hurricane Matthew.

Godfrey Roberts, who owns the sundries store in the Grand Lucayan, and Seahorse Drug Mart in Port Lucaya, told Tribune Business that the business climate in the Marketplace was eerily similar to that which had confronted the Bazaar in 2004.

Revealing that his businesses had suffered a “bitter blow” with the collective loss of $500,000 in sales since Matthew, Mr Roberts said the Marketplace was “like a morgue some days” due to the lack of customer traffic.

Allen, Forbes refute $100k ‘extortion’ allegation Duo denies Stellar’s claim, wants it dismissed

And ‘ways to design’ fiscal rules for hurricanes

But decline in FDI flows a current account ‘risk’

Retailer’s 82% sales fall Bazaar ‘deja vu’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

LOI firm’s advisers admit PM meeting to discuss project

Fiscal Responsibility Act ‘useful’ medium term tool

Fund exec also backs Business License reforms

Suffers ‘bitter blow’ from $500k sales loss post-storm Marketplace ‘like a morgue some days’ Rent discount not enough to offset $200-$300 daily sale With his Grand Lucayan store closed since October 4, like much of the hotel itself, Mr Roberts, a 45-year Freeport veteran, indicated he was losing hope, with the city unable to survive any further hits of Matthew’s scale.

See pg b5

$4.23

But don’t deny Stellar’s PM $40m guarantee claim

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net Key advisers to the group at the centre of the Renward Wells’ Letter of Intent (LOI) controversy have admitted arranging a meeting with Prime Minister Perry Christie where they “spent quite a long time” discussing its waste-to-energy project.

Both Algernon Allen, the Urban Renewal Commission co-chair, and businessman Frank Forbes, conceded in legal documents that they arranged the October 2013 meeting with Mr Christie as they “diligently pursued” the approval sought by Stellar Energy.

The duo, in defences filed to Stellar’s claim Frank Forbes for claim for $727.364 million in damages against themselves, Mr Wells and the Government, largely denied and sought to dismiss - the waste-to-energy group’s allegations.

However, Messrs Allen and Forbes made some notable admissions, not least concerning Stellar’s claim regarding the duo’s See pg b4

Graeme Davis

Raymond Winder

Bahamas ‘can triple cruise return’ with 2/3 less passengers

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The Central Bank’s governor says the Bahamas “could triple our return from the cruise industry with two-thirds less” passengers coming to its shores, arguing that passenger numbers were not the best measure of success.

John Rolle told the Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Economy Forum 2017 that the Bahamas needed to design its cruise tourism product “for me first”, meaning that uniquely Bahamian products would be an attraction

Governor implies giving too much in incentives ‘Me first’ focus to upgrade Nassau attraction Carnival gains Cuba sailing permission that “spills over” to foreign visitors.

“I have strong personal views around the cruise industry,” Mr Rolle said, See pg b5

Why Buy Anywhere Else ?

standard size windows & doors in stock Premier Dealer

Most extensive line of Windows, Doors, Entrance Doors & Hurricane Shutters

Manufactured HERE, in the Bahamas 325-6633/34 | email. sales@stormframewindows.com | website. stormframewindows.com

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 3

Bahamas urged: ‘Move now’ on energy reform

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas was yesterday urged to follow Jamaica’s lead and “move now” to alternative energy, a private sector executive arguing that lower electricity costs were key to turning this nation’s economy around.

Debbie Deal, head of the Energy and Environment Division at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), told Tribune Business that the private sector must take the lead, adding: “The days of waiting for government are over.”

Ms Deal, who led a Chamber delegation to Jamaica last week as part of a study tour on alternative or renewable energy infrastructure, said that nation in recent years has witnessed an economic rebound and positive forecast from ratings agencies. Its move to alternative energy such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) is seen as a key element driving that turnaround.

“A lot of the issues that they faced are similar to the issues that we face; an unpopular utility, frequent outages and old infrastruc-

Nation urged to follow Jamaica’s lead ‘Days of waiting for government are over’ ture,” said Ms Deal.

US-based New Fortress Energy, and Jamaica’s legacy utility, JPS, signed an agreement in 2015 for the supply of LNG from a 120 Megawatt (MW) power plant in western Jamaica, shifting the latter’s fuel mix away from diesel.

“They get the natural gas from the US, and they ship it to Jamaica and the United States. Why can’t we be paying $14-17 cents per kilowatt hour like Jamaica?”

MsDeal said. “When you talk to an employer you will hear them say I have to decide whether I pay my employees or pay my BEC bill.

“That’s the crisis that we are in here. A lot of foreign companies don’t come here any more because it’s too expensive to do business.

We have to see what we can do to bring those people back, and what we can do to make Bahamian businesses

profitable and keep them from closing down. Addressing the cost of energy is one thing we can look at.”

Ms Deal added: “We have to come up with some suggestions that we can offer to government. It doesn’t have to be government-led. The private sector can do it.

“A lot of things in this country are going to have to be private sector-driven.

The days of waiting for government are over. We have to set goals and keep pace with the technology. We need to move to alternative energy.

“Natural gas is something you can use day and night.

There is a solar farm in Jamaica as well, and they have pre-paid meters. Moving to alternative energy would be the first step to reducing our cost. Their economy is better, they have businesses thriving and improving; it’s just incredible. They are emerging as a top country in the region and most of it has to do with energy.”

Ms Deal estimated that the average Bahamian business pays $3,000-$15,000 a month for electricity bill, and for some it is much higher. “If you can reduce that just a quarter, they would be able to put more money in their business and hire staff,” she added.

Business ‘underreporting’ hurts GDP data accuracy

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net The Government’s top finance official has questioned the accuracy of Bahamian economic growth data because of years of “under-reporting” by multiple Bahamian businesses.

Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, said the implementation of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on New Year’s Day 2015 had, for the first time, enabled the Government to see the true sales activity of many Bahamian companies.

He argued that, in the past, the Department of Statistics and other agencies attempting to measure the Bahamian economy’s growth had failed to capture much of the activity due to companies underreporting sales to minimise Business License fees.

Disclosing that VAT filings showed some large reg-

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A contractor has called for an assessment and, where necessary, upgrades to the Bahamas’ Building Code in the wake of Hurricanes Joaquin and Matthew, telling this newspaper: “We can’t wait any longer”.

Debbie Deal, principal of Contemporary Builder, and head of the Energy and Environment Division at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC, told Tribune Business that

Minister tours $2m Brewery expansion

With more than 900 locals and tourists visiting the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company’ every week, the multi-million dollar expansion is proof of the company’s continued committment to Grand Bahama, and its economic growth and stability.

Once completed the upgrades will include a new warehouse, increasing the square footage from approximately 40,000 square feet to over 100,000 square feet.

Hepson Health Care Limited Wong’s Plaza Palmdale

CertifiCation exam

Share your news

pharmaCy teChniCian Course

The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods.

Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award.

If so, call us on 3221986 and share your story.

Since 1996 Very limited, register early Just 3 to 4 months to success Call: 356-4860

Says ‘larger businesses’ enjoying ‘double digit’ rises istrants were “growing at three-four times” the nominal rate of GDP growth, Mr Wilson told the Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Economy 2017 forum that this showed there was “significant” activity not being captured by official statistics.

As a result, he suggested that the revised data, showing the Bahamian economy contracted by 0.52 per cent and 1.66 per cent, in 2014 and 2015, respectively, may not be accurate - and a major under-estimate of what actually occurred.

“We’re the only country in the Caribbean with three

years of negative growth,” Mr Wilson said, referring to official data.

Pointing out the challenges with collecting statistics in an island archipelago, the Financial Secretary added that prior to VAT’s implementation, there was much that businesses were able to conceal from the tax authorities.

In particular, he argued that many Bahamas-based companies were able to under-report their sales revenue and turnover in a bid to minimise Business License fees, a ‘loophole’ since closed by the requirement for auditor sign-off.

“We have seen a significant amount of businesses that were under-reporting their revenue, suppressing their revenue and suppressing the country’s GDP,” Mr Wilson said.

“Some large businesses are growing at three-four times’ the rate of nominal [GDP] growth. They’re See pg b6

Contractor calls for Build Code update

By NATARIO McKENZIE

The Minister of Grand Bahama, Dr Michael Darville, tours the 35,000 square foot warehouse facility at the Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company’s Queen’s Highway facility, as major expansion works get underway.

Photo/Derrick Carrol for Barefoot Marketing

Top finance official queries negative growth stats

perhaps the biggest obstacle is the need for such reforms to be legislated by Parliament.

Ms Deal suggested the creation of a committee, comprised of representatives from the engineering and architectural professions, to vote on changes to the Building Code.

“How can we do it without having to go to Parliament? That’s the big obstacle,” she added. “We need to do things quickly. We can’t wait any longer. We had two devastating hurricanes not far apart. When are we going to do something?”

Ms Deal said enforcement of the Building Codes was also critical. She added that homeowners should be required to have some form of hurricane protection for their home.

“I think that anybody who builds a house should have to have hurricane protection. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but before you get your occupancy certificate you must show that you have hurricane protection for all of your windows and doors. When they go to the bank to borrow money I believe that should be included,” said Ms Deal.

PAGE 4, Monday, February 20, 2017

LOI firm’s advisers admit PM meeting to discuss project From pg B1 meeting with Mr Christie to push the merits of their now-$400 million waste-toenergy project proposed for the New Providence landfill.

“Around the end of October 2013, the fourth and fifth defendants [Messrs Allen and Forbes] arranged a meeting with Prime Minister Perry Gladstone Christie,” Stellar’s statement of claim alleged in paragraph 58.

“The Prime Minister advised the plaintiffs that he could not speak with them in any detail since the plaintiffs [Stellar] were still a part of the Bahamas energy reform RFP ‘in order not to contaminate the process’.

“Notwithstanding this, the Prime Minister spent quite a long time with [Messrs Allen and Forbes] discussing the plaintiff’s project.

Subsequently,

[Messrs Allen and Forbes] informed the plaintiffs: ‘We hold the key of the kingdom’.”

In their separate defences, both Messrs Forbes and Allen only denied that they said ‘we hold the key of the kingdom’. Both admitted the rest of those allegations, and said they “diligently pursued the approval” sought by Stellar for its waste-to-energy project in their capacity as the group’s advisers.

Messrs Forbes and Allen also admitted that the latter wrote to Mr Wells, in his capacity as co-head of the Government’s Energy Task Force, on December 6, 2013, and that the then-parliamentary secretary gave “an encouraging reply’.

The duo then confirmed that they “sought to secure sufficient funding for the anticipated costs associated with negotiations required

IMF Bahamas chief supports fiscal limits From pg B1 its fiscal deficits and national debt.

“The exact shape of that medium-term fiscal framework, there’s many ways to do it, but in principle I would see it as a useful component of fiscal reform

and fiscal planning in the Bahamas,” he said of a Fiscal Responsibility Act. Mr Turunen’s comments are likely to delight groups such as the Chamber of Commerce’s Coalition for Responsible Taxation, and the Organisation for

to obtain the approval of the Government of the Bahamas’.

This was a direct response to Stellar’s claim that Mr Allen had presented it with an invoice for $100,000, a claim that the group “considered as an attempt of extortion”.

Both Messrs Allen and Forbes refuted the extortion claim in their defences, which were filed on November 17, 2016, and the $100,000 invoice - according to Stellar’s statement of claim - was waived.

The duo’s defences are likely similar because they worked together in relation to Stellar and now have the same attorney, Lockhart & Company and Damian Gomez QC, the former minister of state for legal affairs, acting for them.

Yet the defences raise more questions, and provide few answers, over the machinations within the Christie administration at the highest levels in the runup to the July 2014 ‘leaking’ of the LOI, which subsequently led to Mr Wells’s departure three months later.

The controversy has yet

to disappear or die, and continues to return to haunt the Government at regular intervals, largely because none of the parties involved has provided a convincing explanation to the Bahamian people of what happened and why.

Both Messrs Allen and Forbes, for instance, neither admitted nor denied Stellar’s claim that it was advised by the latter that the Prime Minister would arrange a $40 million government guarantee to support its engineering studies at the New Providence landfill.

The same paragraph also alleged that Mr Forbes caused Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, to write to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) seeking its support in arranging the $40 million guarantee.

Attached to this letter was a copy of the now-infamous LOI, with Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, not Mr Wells, named as the purported signatory on the Government’s behalf.

That letter to the IDB was sent on May 26, 2014, more than a month before

Mr Wells signed it and the subsequent LOI ‘leaking’, proving that the document’s existence - and intention to sign it - was known at Cabinet level, and that the ensuing controversy was politically manufactured.

Both Messrs Allen and Forbes, in their defences, alleged that Stellar needed an LOI to show potential investors and financiers that its project was for real, thereby enabling it to obtain the necessary funding.

The duo, in turn, said Stellar’s inability to do this meant it “failed to satisfy the Government of the Bahamas that they had the resources to justify being granted the approval sought.

Stellar, which is headed by Dr Fabrizio Zanaboni and Jean-Paul ( JP) Michielsen, is alleging that the Government, and Messrs Forbes and Allen, prevented and “frustrated” it from fulfilling the terms of the LOI. Apart from the damages, it is seeking Supreme Court declarations that the Government both “honour” the LOI contract and not award a waste-to-energy contract to any other company until

damages are paid.

Elsewhere, both Messrs Allen and Forbes vehemently denied Stellar’s claim that they held themselves out as “agents acting” on the Government’s behalf in facilitating the proposed waste-to-energy plant deal.

Instead, the duo argued that they “acted professionally for the principals of [Stellar] in circumstances which clearly indicated” they were not representatives or agents of the Government.

Messrs Forbes and Allen also denied giving the group “any assurance” regarding the LOI and the likelihood of the Government executing that and other documents, and refuted claims that each recommended the other be appointed to Stellar’s Board of Directors.

Both described the other as being a shareholder and director of Stellar, which they said was key to combating the Government’s policy that waste management and collection was restricted to Bahamianowned businesses only.

Responsible Governance (ORG), who have long campaigned for the introduction of such legislation as a means to force the Government to be more transparent and accountable over how it spends taxpayer monies.

His remarks also contradict the position expressed recently by Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, who told ‘The Revolution’ radio show that there were both “merits” and “drawbacks” to implementing such an Act. The Minister said an IMF study had identified both the advantages and disadvantages associated

with a Fiscal Responsibility Act, and expressed concerns it would prevent the Government from responding properly in the wake of events such as a Hurricane Matthew-type storm.

The IMF study referenced by Mr Halkitis had suggested that the Government enhance its economic data and statistics collection before implementing such legislation, hence Mr Turunen’s reference to the “medium term”.

However, the Bahamas’ IMF Mission chief suggested that this country could eventually even go beyond a Fiscal Responsibility Act through the implementa-

tion of so-called ‘fiscal rules’.

While the Act would force the Government to return to Parliament to explain, and gain approval for, exceeding previously set Budget limits with more spending, ‘fiscal rules’ go even further. They set targets, or limits, such as debt and deficit ‘caps’, and accompanying ratios, which the Government cannot go beyond.

“I would say there are ways to design fiscal rules that allow the Government to take into account natural disasters and events not anticipated,” Mr Turunen told Tribune Business.

The Christie administration has failed to deliver on February 2015 promises to initiate consultation on a Fiscal Responsibility Act, and the 75 per cent yearover-year increase in the deficit for the four months to end-October 2016 has reignited domestic demands for such legislation.

The $67 million increase took the Government’s $157.5 million deficit for the four months to endOctober 2016, more than 50 per cent higher than its fullyear projection.

Mr Turunen, meanwhile, also agreed with Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, that the Bahamas needed to reform its Business License regime and find more equitable ways to tax the private sector.

Mr Wilson told a Chamber of Commerce-organised seminar last week that Business License fee rates needed to be lowered, acknowledging that the turnover-based tax was inefficient and regressive because it did not take into account company profitability.

“I think that in terms of the general principle, I would agree with what Simon said,” Mr Turunen told Tribune Business.

“There are better ways of taxing businesses and profits than the current Business License fee. We don’t have a position out there in terms of an alternative, but it’s something we would look at.”

Bahamian businesses have complained about the Business License fee’s structure for years, arguing that using turnover as the basis for its calculation disproportionately places the burden on ‘high sales’ companies, such as food stores and gas stations, which have low profit margins.

Many companies complain of paying more in Business License fees than they earn in annual profits, with the ‘turnover basis’ also exacerbating the effects of price controls for many firms.

Mr Turunen had earlier told the Chamber’s State of the Economy 2017 forum that the IMF had flagged declining foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows as “a risk” in relation to the Bahamas’ current account deficits.

Due to this nation importing most of what it

consumes, the Bahamas traditionally runs current account deficits - the physical goods it exports minus those it consumes - worth several billion dollars annually.

These, though, are financed by billion dollar inflows on its capital account, which represent tourist spending in the Bahamas and, historically, FDI inflows.

Mr Turunen, though, said a reduction in FDI inflows meant the current account deficit was now being financed by alternative capital sources that were “less reliable”.

“One trend we’ve seen is the decline in foreign direct investment inflows,” he said. “That used to be a big part of financing current account deficits, and now it’s much less so.

“This source of financing has been replaced by government borrowing to some extent, and other capital flows.. Some of those flows are less reliable, and we’ve identified it as a risk, and identified it as a risk in our reports.”

Mr Turunen added that the IMF had been “a bit surprised” by the extent of the Department of Statistics’ revisions to the 2014 and 2015 GDP numbers, which showed that the Bahamian economy contracted by 0.52 per cent and 1.66 per cent, respectively, for those two years.

“We were a bit surprised.

We had anticipated a downward revision, but not by such a margin,” Mr Turunen said, adding that the IMF often wanted governments to move more quickly on reform.

“We are often in agreement on the direction.

Sometimes we are impatient. We’d like to see the authorities moving faster, including in areas of structural reform, but these things are difficult to achieve,” he explained.

Mr Turunen told Tribune Business that it was possible for the Bahamas to achieve faster GDP growth rates at the same time as fiscal consolidation, again calling for the Government to re-purpose more of its spending to capital and infrastructure projects.

The Christie administration has done the opposite, reducing its capital spending in favour of mobilising private capital via public-private partnerships (PPPs), such as those for the Road Traffic Department and Post Office buildings.

Reiterating that it was time for the Government to “rationalise spending to achieve further consolidation”, Mr Turunen said reforms to the various components of the Bahamas’ ‘ease of doing’ would take time to bear fruit in terms of better economic growth.

“I would say that the Bahamas should have a bright future,” he told Tribune Business. “There are challenges; low growth, the need for fiscal consolidation, and the impact from the hurricane, but to some extent the country is managing with these challenges perhaps better than some of the neighbouring countries.”

Notice Please be advised that Mrs. Michelle Johnson-Farrington is no longer with the Bahamas Down Syndrome & Friends Center.

Mrs. Johnson-Farrington is not allowed to conduct any communications or correspondence on behalf of the Bahamas Down Syndrome & Friends Center Mrs. Johnson-Farrington also has no relations with the Bahamas Down Syndrome association, The Bahamas down Syndrome Foundation or the Bahamas Down Syndrome & Friends Center.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

HEAD CHEF

Dolphin Encounters Ltd. is seeking to hire a chef, creative and proficient in all aspects of food preparation, planning and culinary activities.

Responsibilities: Include but are not limited to; • Estimating food requirements as well as food/labor costs • Keeping up with industry trends and

creating new recipes • Planning and directing food preparation and culinary activities • Modifying menus or creating new ones

that meet quality standards • Ordering food and supplies as well as

arranging for equipment purchases and repairs • Comply with nutrition and sanitation regulations and safety standards Requirements • Working knowledge of various computer

software programs (MS Office, restaurant

management software, POS) • Strong knowledge of proper food handling and sanitation standards • Able to work in a fast-paced environment • 3+ years working experience as a chef • 3+ years’ experience in a supervisory role • Associate Degree in Culinary Arts

required (Bachelor’s preferred) Only qualified applicants will be contacted.

Please send resumes to hr@dolphinencounters.com or fax 363-4437

THE TRIBUNE

call 502-2394 to advertise in the tribune today!

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 5

Retailer’s 82% sales fall Bazaar ‘deja vu’ From pg B1 Pointing out that the Grand Lucayan and Memories owner, Hutchison Whampoa, “hasn’t struck the first nail yet” on hurricane repairs, he expressed fears that the Hong Kongbased conglomerate may follow the example set by Driftwood in 2004 over the Royal Oasis.

The latter, having collected the insurance proceeds in the aftermath of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, exited Freeport by closing the resort and putting it on the market for sale, with 1,200 Bahamians losing their jobs.

Hutchison Whampoa, which has extensive Freeport-based interests via its $1 billion-plus investments in the Container Port, plus the partnership with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) in DevCo, the Harbour Company and Airport Company, is less likely to follow Driftwood’s ‘cut and run’ example.

Yet uncertainty surrounds its intentions towards the Grand Lucayan and the sales process it initiated last year, with an offer to acquire the property

by the Canadian-based real estate developer, the Wynn Group, still said to be ‘on the table’.

“I was on the Board at the Bazaar when it was hit after Jeanne and Frances, and it seems like deja vu with how Port Lucaya will be pretty soon,” Mr Roberts told Tribune Business of the hotel closures’ impact.

“I’m down 82 per cent in sales since the hurricane.

I’m down 70-some per cent at Port Lucaya, and at the Grand Lucayan I’m down 100 per cent. That’s close to $500,000 in sales. That’s a bitter blow with the way things are doing down.

“At Port Lucaya, different stores are closing every month. It seems like more are going to close. I don’t know what will happen in March.”

While grateful for the 50 per cent discount on rent provided by Peter Hunt, the Marketplace’s owner, Mr Roberts said this was not enough to compensate for the lack of tourist and local consumer traffic, and sales.

“Even if the rent is free, you’re truly not doing enough to make a profit when you’re doing $200$300 in sales a day,” he

Bahamas ‘can triple cruise return’ with 2/3 less passengers From pg B1 in response to an audience question on Norwegian Cruise Line’s recent decision to switch 25 cruises from Nassau and Freeport to Havana in the 2017 second half.

“We could triple our return from the cruise industry with two-thirds less the amount [of passengers] coming here, because of the incentives we provide to the cruise ships to come here.

Headcount is not the best indicator of how the cruise industry is performing.”

The major cruise lines receive tax incentives such as a reduction in departure taxes (cruise passenger head tax) if they exceed volume targets, and are making increased use of their multiple private islands scattered throughout the Bahamas, as opposed to calling on Nassau and Freeport.

This was not lost on Mr Rolle, who said: “We see the cruise ships going more to their private destinations. Even in the Bahamas, there is more competition among destinations.

“There are probably some quick wins in terms of the city of Nassau that we should focus on. My philosophy is to develop Nassau for me first, and then they will come.”

The Central Bank governor pointed to the Arawak Cay ‘Fish Fry’ as an example, explaining that it had first been developed as a destination for Bahamians that ultimately ended up being just as attractive for visitors, wishing to experience local culture and food.

“The bottom line is some of the improvements we need in terms of quality of life improvements, if we focus on the inhabitants first, they will provide ample benefits that spill over to the cruise product,” Mr Rolle said.

Tribune Business revealed Norwegian’s decision to switch the 25 cruises from Nassau and Freeport to Havana, in a bid to both alert Bahamians to the increasing competitive threat posed by Cuba and the potential for other cruise lines to follow its lead.

Norwegian Cruise Lines talked up Cuba, and Havana’s, cultural, historic and other attractions in the statement announcing its 25 cruise-switch. With Cuba having been closed for more than 50 years, many Americans are likely to be attracted to the prospect of exploring a new destination.

And, swiftly following Norwegian’s lead, Carnival Cruise Line - the world’s largest operator - said last week that it had now received approval to sail to Cuba.

Its Carnival Paradise will begin sailing to Havana on select voyages from Tampa, starting in June 2017. The

overnight visits to Havana will be featured on 12 four and five-day cruises.

The four-day cruises will depart on June 29, July 13, August 24, September 7 and 21, and October 5 and 19, 2017, as well as May 3, 2018 and include a daytime and overnight visit to Havana.

Five-day voyages will depart on August 14 and 28, September 25 and October 9, 2017, and include a day-

added. “It’s like a morgue some days.

“I’ve had to let four to five people go from the hotel, and two from Port Lucaya. To tell you the truth, I was talking to the Labour Board this morning, and saying don’t [be surprised] if you get more people from Port Lucaya.

“To live, I have to work the store myself. It kills me, but that’s the way it is.

There’s just no way to survive in this type of atmosphere, but the whole island is like this,” Mr Roberts continued.

“We have so many problems. It’s very, very bad. We have too many underlying factors for Freeport to survive another hit after the hurricane. There’s no hope.

There’s a lot of things, and nobody seems to be trying to get ahead of the times.”

Mr Roberts said that apart from the loss of stopover tourist traffic due to the Memories pull-out, and Grand Lucayan closure, the Marketplace was also being hurt by the absence of cruise passengers.

“They’re not even allowed in their ‘point of interest’ talks to mention the word Port Lucaya,” he told Tribune Business of the cruise ships, echoing recent comments by fellow retailer, David Fingland, who said Freeport and Grand time and overnight visit to Havana, as well as a stop in either Cozumel or Key West.

“Cuba is an island jewel unique from anywhere else in the Caribbean, and we are thrilled to have this rare opportunity to take our guests to this fascinating destination,” said Christine Duffy, Carnival Cruise Line’s president.

“The opportunity to visit Havana, combined with the fun, relaxed ambiance and wide variety of amenities and features offered on Carnival Paradise, will make for a truly one-of-akind vacation experience.

Bahama were no longer being marketed as a retail/ shopping destination to passengers.

Mr Roberts, meanwhile, recalled the demise of the International Bazaar in the wake of the 2004 hurricane season and Royal Oasis closure, drawing parallels between that and the current state of Port Lucaya Marketplace.

Noting that he managed City Associates, the Bazaar’s largest owner, when he first came to Freeport, Mr Roberts said: “I remember when you had a souvenir store in the main arcade

that did $5,000-$7,000 per day 40 years ago.

“Right before Frances and Jeanne, I had a souvenir store on Hong Kong street that was doing $3,000 per day.”

From 144 stores and attractions at its peak, Mr Roberts said the Bazaar had declined to just nine functioning businesses, including a barber’s shop, “strip joint”, bar and convenience store.

“Why people are still holding out is beyond me,” he added of the Bazaar. “It really needs to be bulldozed down. It will take millions

of dollars to repair the infrastructure; sewerage “I can see it coming just like that [with Port Lucaya], as people can’t take it. There’s just not enough traffic. We don’t have any air traffic here at all, and with Memories closed we’ve lost all that Canadian business. There’s absolutely nothing.”

Mr Roberts said it was impossible to “know who to believe” over the possible Grand Lucayan sale, and how far it progressed, suggesting that the upcoming general election had further clouded what was going on.

PAGE 6, Monday, February 20, 2017

Business ‘underreporting’ hurts GDP data accuracy From pg B3

growing, in some cases, by double digits, so we know there’s significant growth in the economy not captured on the consumption side....

There’s significant economic activity that’s not being fully reflected.”

VAT’s implementation, with its self-enforcing mechanism and requirements for registrants to produce the full transaction chain ‘paper trail’, has enabled the Government to better assess the amount of economic activity taking place in the Bahamas.

It is now able to use the monthly and quarterly VAT filings to determine a businesses’ true annual sales, and use these to cross-check with Business License fee payments and filings, eliminating discrepancies there.

Mr Wilson said the Department of Inland Revenue was now able to identify companies that were “paying their Business License on $5, but paying VAT on $10”.

He added: “We’re able to be more aggressive on identifying anomalies in the tax system. That’s yielding significant amounts of revenue.”

Melia’s 1,000 staff enjoy ‘Perfect Luck’ over new employer From pg B1

by Tribune Business, informs Melia employees that they have been transferred from Cable Beach Resorts to Perfect Luck Employer (No. 1) Ltd. The latter is an affiliate of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) created by China Export-Import Bank to purchase Baha Mar’s assets from the receivers, and has inherited all the benefits and entitlements owed to Melia staff.

Raymond Winder, Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) managing partner, told employees that the sale of Baha Mar’s assets to the SPV, Perfect Luck Assets Ltd, was completed on September 27, 2016.

As a result, Mr Winder said the Melia was “under new ownership” - that of the China Export-Import Bank’s SPV, which had reached an agreement with China Construction America (CCA) to complete Baha Mar’s physical construction.

“By operation of law under Section 72 of the Employment Act 2001, your employment continues without interruption, and we wish to inform you that Perfect Luck Employer

(No. 1) Ltd (a subsidiary of [the] SPV) is your new employer,” Mr Winder told Melia staff.

“Pursuant to section 72, all of your accrued employee benefits and entitlements have been assumed by Perfect Luck Employer (No.1) Ltd.” The letter concludes by asking Melia staff to consent to their ‘employment’ transfer by signing and returning the letter to Mr Winder.

The latter’s letter to the employees is also signed by a Perfect Luck Employer (No. 1) Ltd director, Mark Munnings, a Bahamian accountant and fellow Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) partner who works with Mr Winder.

Mr Winder confirmed the letter’s contents when contacted by Tribune Business, and said the transfer of the Melia employees - together with their benefits and rights - was part of the ‘first Baha Mar sale’.

This sale was solely intended to move Baha Mar’s assets out of receivership through their acquisition by China Export-Import Bank, the project’s secured creditor, which used its Perfect Luck Assets Ltd SPV to effect the transfer.

“You must remember there are two sales,” Mr Winder said. “The first was

to Perfect Luck, and that first transaction has been completed. That [the Melia employees] was a Perfect Luck transaction.”

The ‘second sale’ is from Perfect Luck Assets Ltd SPV to Baha Mar’s new owner, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), a deal which, although agreed, will not close until late 2017 when CCA has completed the project’s construction.

Some observers, though, are likely to question why the 1,000 Melia employees have been transferred to Perfect Luck Employer (No. 1) Ltd, rather than have CTFE as their new employer.

Mr Winder, though, said that because the Melia had been the only Baha Mar resort to remain in operation throughout the receivership, it - and its staff - had to be treated differently.

“For the most part, Melia, as an operation, existed during the receivership period, and after the receivership period still exists as an operation,” he explained.

“Melia has been dealt with differently from the rest of Baha Mar.” Graeme Davis, president of CTFE (Bahamas), confirmed in a statement to Tribune Business that the employer for Baha Mar’s 1,500 new staff will be a Bahamian subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, not the SPV. He declined to comment on the alleged stroke suffered by CTFE’s chairman, Dr Henry Cheng, but said any personal issues would

THE TRIBUNE not impact completion of Baha Mar’s purchase.

“I can confirm he remains in full control of the company,” Mr Davis said of Mr Cheng, “and it has no impact on the sale of Baha Mar to CTFE.” Mr Ferguson, meanwhile, said the trade unions were operating as if their existing industrial agreements with the Melia’s original holding company, Cable Beach Resorts Ltd, were still in effect.

The latter was part of the corporate structure set up by original developer, Sarkis Izmirlian, and Mr Ferguson said “the implication” of Mr Winder’s letter was that the industrial agreements had been transferred to Perfect Luck Employer (No. 1) Ltd. “It doesn’t spell it out,” the TUC president added of Mr Winder’s letter, “but from a legal standpoint that is the position we are adopting; that all the benefits and collective agreements are an agreement of statute.”

Mr Winder did not comment on whether the industrial agreements had been transferred to Perfect Luck Employer (No. 1) Ltd, but Tribune Business sources confirmed this was the case.

Melia employees are represented by two trade unions, the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association (BHMA), which acts for middle management and is affiliated with Mr Ferguson’s TUC, and the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union, which looks after line staff.

“A letter of this nature

ought not to have gone out without the Minister of Labour and union being consulted,” Mr Ferguson said of the February 10 document, “if you’re talking about things being done in a co-operative way, and the goal was to maintain good workplace relations.

“We don’t object to the transfer, as the whole objective was for those workers to be employed, but for it to be a sustainable situation there ought to have been consultation.

“In the absence of consultation, you could have unanticipated situations where consequences flow.

The lack of communication can sometimes cause it. I’ve been in contact with the Department of Labour and Registrar to let them know what my views are.”

Mr Ferguson said the Bahamas needed to alter how it dealt with multinational corporations that came it its shores, adding: “I think labour has to become more assertive and more responsive to these nuances that are coming on board as a result of these multinational and transnational companies.

“Wherever they go in the world they impose their culture on local laws and local labour. The Minister of Labour and Department of Labour ought to become more proactive in engaging these parties to come together at a very early stage with these large conglomerates, so that there is some consensual understanding of how to move forward.”

Heinz ketchup bottles are displayed on the shelf of a market on in Barre, Vt. U.S. food giant Kraft Heinz Co. says its offer to buy Europe’s Unilever was rejected, but that it is still pursuing the deal. The maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Jell-O pudding and Velveeta cheese said there’s no certainty that it will make another offer for Unilever, which owns brands including Hellmann’s, Lipton and Knorr. (AP Photo)

Kraft Heinz withdraws $143B bid to buy Unilever NEW YORK (AP) — Ketchup maker and packaged food giant Kraft Heinz has withdrawn a $143 billion offer to buy Unilever, backing away after the mayonnaise, tea and seasonings maker rejected the bid as too low.

The companies an-

nounced the decision Sunday in a joint press release, saying that Kraft Heinz has “amicably” abandoned the offer.

The deal would have combined Kraft Heinz brands such as Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Velveeta with Unilever’s Hellman’s, Lipton and Knorr. The merged company would have rivaled Nestle as the world’s biggest packaged food maker by sales.

Analysts say Kraft Heinz, co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, is still in the market for acquisitions.

The fact that it bid for all of Unilever and not just its food business indicates that Kraft Heinz is potentially open to acquiring other

packaged consumer goods, one analyst said.

Unilever, which has a head office in London, also has a stable of personal care brands such as Dove soap.

Unilever rejected the offer on Friday, but despite that, Kraft Heinz said at the time that it was still interested in the deal.

Such acquisitions might not lead to big changes that customers would notice on supermarket shelves, but shifting tastes are partly driving deal-making in the food industry.

Part of the challenge is the proliferation of smaller food makers marketing products that seem more wholesome, which makes it harder for the established

companies to drive up sales simply by selling more of well-known products or by raising prices, as they have in the past.

“That obviously has its limits,” said David Garfield, head of the consumer products unit at consulting firm AlixPartners, said last week.

Instead, major packaged food companies are being forced to dig deeper to find cost efficiencies or tap into new markets, Garfield said.

That can include mergers that result in consolidated manufacturing systems, or that give companies access to distribution networks in regions of the world where they don’t have a big presence.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 7

France, Germany welcome ‘useful’ meeting with US on Syria Vice President Mike Pence swears in Mick Mulvaney as Director of Office of Management and Budget in the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, as Pamela West Mulvaney holds the Bible. (AP Photo)

Tea party gains voice in Trump's Cabinet with budget chief WASHINGTON (AP) — The tea party wing of the GOP gained a voice in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet on Thursday when Mick Mulvaney was sworn in as director of the White House budget office.

Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office hours after the Senate confirmed the South Carolina Republican’s nomination on a narrow 51-49 vote in the GOPcontrolled Senate.

Pence praised Mulvaney’s “extraordinary record” and said he “couldn’t be more enthusiastic” about Trump’s decision to choose him.

Not all Republicans shared Pence’s sentiments.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is emerging as perhaps the most vocal GOP critic of the Trump administration, opposed the former congressman based on his past House votes supporting cuts to Pentagon spending.

“Mulvaney has spent his last six years in the House of Representatives pitting the national debt against our military,” said McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Senators also gave a tentative 54-46 procedural green light to Trump’s choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. It was a signal that Pruitt should sail through on a final vote scheduled for Friday, despite being opposed by Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a GOP moderate.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, two of the party’s more moderate members, backed Pruitt.

Trump has tapped some of the wealthiest Americans to serve in his Cabinet and ethics reviews have slowed the confirmation process.

So have Senate Democrats who have mostly opposed all the nominees and forced hours of debate.

Trump lashed out a Senate Democrats during a White House news conference Thursday, saying he has worked to build a Cabinet over their “delays and obstruction ... You’ve seen what they’ve done over the last long number of years.”

In fact, Democrats pushed to secure confirmation of President Barack Obama’s picks the past eight years.

Mulvaney’s vote means that 13 out of 22 Trump Cabinet or Cabinet-level picks have been confirmed.

Nominees to key Cabinet departments such as Interior, Housing and Urban Development, and Energy await confirmation.

Mulvaney’s confirmation promises to accelerate work on Trump’s upcoming budget plan, which is overdue. That’s typical at the beginning of an administration. But there is also the need to complete more than $1 trillion in unfinished spending bills for the current budget year, as well as transmit Trump’s request for a quick start on his oftpromised U.S.-Mexico border wall and tens of billions of dollars in emergency cash for the military.

In the past, Mulvaney has routinely opposed catchall appropriations bills, which required Republicans to compromise with the Obama White House. The upcoming measure is also going to require deals with Democrats.

Mulvaney brings strong conservative credentials to the job, and he’s likely to seek big cuts to longtime GOP targets such as the EPA and other domestic programs whose budgets are set each year by Congress.

Trump has indicated, however, that he’s not interested in tackling highly popular benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare and wants a major investment in highways and other public works. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill, issued a statement saying that the president’s pick of Mulvaney “sends a strong message that the Trump administration is serious about tackling our national debt.”

Democrats opposed Mulvaney over his support for curbing the growth of Medicare and Social Security and other issues, such as his brinksmanship as a freshman lawmaker during the 2011 debt crisis in which the government came uncomfortably close to defaulting on its obligations.

“He said to me in a oneon-one meeting how he would prioritize the debts he would pay if he defaulted on the debt,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. “Wouldn’t that be a great addition to the chaos we are all feeling right now?”

BONN, Germany (AP) — The foreign ministers of France and Germany voiced cautious optimism Friday about the willingness of the Trump administration to engage on Syria, after new U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took part in talks on Syria on the sidelines of a diplomatic summit.

France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said the meeting Friday in Bonn, Germany, was “particularly useful,” noting that it came a week before the U.N.-backed peace talks in Geneva are to resume.

“It is important and absolutely instrumental for us to have a close dialogue with the United States on the Syrian issue and on many other issues,” Ayrault told reporters.

His German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, said Tillerson had “participated vigorously” in the discussion, which also included top envoys from Italy, Britain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and the European Union.

Gabriel said those who participated agreed that only a political solution could bring lasting peace to Syria, which has been shaken by war for almost six years.

Russia, which has pro-

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, second from left, and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attend a meeting on the conflict in Syria during a meeting of the G-20 Foreign Ministers in Bonn, western Germany, last Friday. (AP Photo)

vided military backing to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad in its fight against a range of opposition forces, didn’t take part in the talks on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging economies.

Gabriel noted, however, that Russia’s support was crucial for progress to happen at the peace talks.

“On its own, the regime in Damascus won’t conduct

any serious negotiations,” he said.

Ayrault reiterated France’s position that Assad can’t be part of a future Syrian government, adding that Europe wouldn’t finance the rebuilding of the country if he is.

Syria was one of several crises discussed by diplomats from the G-20 nations.

The G-20 was created in the late 1990s as a means of discussing global economic stability in a broader forum than the G-8 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

The format gained further prominence when the heads of government met for the first time in 2008 in a bid to resolve the global financial meltdown.

Chairmanship of the group has rotated among the members and Germany is to host leaders in Hamburg on July 7-8.

The meeting in Bonn was the first opportunity for many foreign ministers to meet Tillerson and learn more about the Trump administration’s future foreign policy.

PAGE 8, Monday, February 20, 2017

THE TRIBUNE

Stocks inch to new records; S&P 500 up 4 straight weeks NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes inched ahead to record highs Friday, barely, after a late-afternoon push erased losses from earlier in the day. It caps the fourth straight week of gains for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, its longest such streak since July.

Reports through the week showed that the economy is improving and corporate profits are growing more quickly than analysts expected. The encouraging data, along with hopes for lower taxes and other business-friendly policies from Washington, pushed the S&P 500 to a 1.5 percent rise last week, its best weekly performance since the first week of January.

The S&P 500 rose 3.94 points Friday, or 0.2 percent, to 2,351.16. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up by 4.28 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 20,624.05 and also set a record. The Nasdaq rose 23.68, or 0.4 percent, to

5,838.58, its own all-time high.

Slightly more stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

The last two days have been lackluster for stocks, with the S&P 500 dipping on Thursday, in comparison to the strong run they had been on. That slowdown was more a result of investors looking to cash in some profits than on any fear or need to get out of the market, said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.

“People don’t want unnecessary risk heading into a three-day weekend,” he said. “This is more about taking off risk than about aggressive selling.”

U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Presidents Day. Kinahan pointed to relative calmness in the markets for the VIX index, which measures expectations for upcoming volatility in the S&P 500, and for gold, a traditional landing spot when investors are

nervous.

Kraft Heinz surged to the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after it made an offer to buy European consumer goods giant Unilever.

Unilever rejected the bid, which offered 18 percent more than where Unilever’s shares closed on Thursday, and called it too low.

Kraft Heinz, which is behind the Lunchables and Oscar Mayer brands, jumped $9.37, or 10.7 percent, to $96.65. U.S.-listed shares of Unilever, which sells Breyers ice cream and Dove soap, surged $5.96, or 14 percent, to $48.53.

Campbell Soup had the biggest drop in the S&P 500 after the company surprised analysts by reporting weaker revenue in its latest quarter than a year earlier. Its earnings were better than Wall Street had forecast, however. Shares fell $4.07, or 6.5 percent, to $58.48.

General Mills fell $2.31, or 3.8 percent, to $59.23 after it warned of tougher

Specialist John Parisi, left, and trader Michael Smyth work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Stocks are posting moderate declines in early trading as a fastpaced market rally of the past two weeks goes into reverse. (AP Photo)

times ahead. It said weaker-than-expected U.S. sales of yogurt and soup pushed it to cut its sales and profit forecast for its fiscal year, which ends in May. Treasury yields gave back some of the gains they made earlier in the week.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.42 percent from 2.45 percent late Thursday. The twoyear yield dipped to 1.19 percent from 1.21 percent, and the 30-year Treasury yield sank to 3.02 percent from 3.05 percent.

In European stock markets, the French CAC 40 index fell 0.7 percent, Germany’s DAX was virtually flat and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 percent, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.3 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index slipped 0.1 percent.

The dollar fell to 112.93 Japanese yen from 113.11 yen late Thursday. The euro fell to $1.0607 from $1.0677, and the British pound fell to $1.2416 from $1.2497.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 4 cents to settle at $53.40 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 16 cents to close at $55.81 a barrel.

Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.83 per 1,000 cubic feet, wholesale gasoline fell nearly 1 cent to $1.52 per gallon and heating oil rose a fraction of a penny to $1.64 per gallon.

Gold fell $2.50 to settle at $1,239.10 per ounce, silver fell 4 cents to $18.03 per ounce and copper fell 1 cent to $2.71 per pound.

Global shares slip after Wall Street fall and Samsung arrest TOKYO (AP) — Global shares slipped Friday following a drop on Wall Street as the stronger dollar sent Japanese issues lower and the arrest of an executive at Samsung weighed on Korean stocks.

KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 slipped nearly 0.2 percent to 4,892.25 in early trading, while Germany’s DAX fell nearly 0.1 percent to

11,749.78. Britain’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.1 percent to 7,270.48. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures losing 0.1 percent to 20,573. S&P 500 futures were down 0.1 percent at 2,342.80.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.6 percent to finish at 19,234.62. South Korea’s Kospi edged down nearly 0.1 percent to 2,080.58.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200

fell nearly 0.2 percent to 5,805.80. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 24,008.87, while the Shanghai Composite was also down 0.9 percent at 3,202.08.

THE QUOTE: “The future outlook is clouded by rising political uncertainties and waves of anti-globalization sentiments from the U.S. and Europe. As U.S. reaches full employment and approaches closer

A man walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 .

Asian shares slipped Friday following a drop on Wall Street as the stronger dollar sent Japanese issues lower and the arrest of an executive at Samsung weighed on Korean stocks. (AP Photo)

to the Fed’s inflation target, a tighter Federal monetary policy is expected to lead to a stronger US dollar in the months ahead. This might worry investors,” says Margaret Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.

SAMSUNG WOES: A South Korean court approved the arrest of a billionaire heir to Samsung accused of bribery and oth-

er related crimes, a stunning development for the nation’s richest family. The news of the arrest of Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman at Samsung Electronics and son of Samsung chair Lee Kun-hee, sent Samsung Electronics stock down by more than 1 percent, although it recovered about half of that drop later in the day.

ENERGY: Benchmark

U.S. crude rose 9 cents to $53.45 a barrel in New York. It rose 25 cents to settle at $53.36 per barrel Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 14 cents to $55.79 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell slightly to 113.40 yen from 113.61 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0657 from $1.0635.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 9

Asian shares slip after Wall Street fall and Samsung arrest TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares slipped Friday following a drop on Wall Street as the stronger dollar sent Japanese issues lower and the arrest of an executive at Samsung weighed on Korean stocks.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.6 percent to 19,238.81 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi

edged down 0.1 percent to 2,079.60. Australia’s S&P/ ASX 200 fell nearly 0.2 percent to 5,807.20. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.1 percent to 24,082.17, while the Shanghai Composite was also down 0.1 percent at 3,225.75.

WALL STREET: The S&P 500 fell 2.03 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,347.22.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 7.91 points,

less than 0.1 percent, to set another record at 20,619.77. The Nasdaq composite dipped 4.54 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,814.90.

THE QUOTE: “The future outlook is clouded by rising political uncertainties and waves of anti-globalization sentiments from the U.S. and Europe. As US reaches full employment and ap-

proaches closer to the Fed’s inflation target, a tighter Federal monetary policy is expected to lead to a stronger US dollar in the months ahead. This might worry investors,” says Margaret Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore.

SAMSUNG WOES: A South Korean court approved the arrest of a billionaire heir to Samsung

accused of bribery and other corruption scandal, a stunning development for the nation’s richest family.

Being arrested is Lee Jaeyong, 48, a vice chairman at Samsung Electronics and son of Samsung chair Lee Kun-hee. The news sent Samsung Electronics stock down by more than 1 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 10 cents

to $53.46 a barrel in New York. It rose 25 cents to settle at $53.36 per barrel Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 13 cents to $53.78 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell slightly to 113.42 yen from 113.61 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0672 from $1.0635.

IMF agrees terms for $5 billion loan to debt-ridden Mongolia ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — The Mongolian government and envoys from the International Monetary Fund said Sunday that they and other partners have agreed on terms for a more than $5 billion loan package to the north Asian country to help get its economy back on track.

The deal is subject to approval by the IMF’s executive board, which is expected to consider Mongolia’s request in March.

Under the preliminary agreement, the IMF would provide $440 million over three years. The Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Japan and South Korea are together expected to provide up to $3 billion, and the People’s Bank of China is expected to extend its 15 billion RMB ($2 billion) swap line with the Bank of Mongolia for at least another three years, the IMF said in a statement.

Finance Minister Choijilsuren Battogtokh said that the six-month negotiations had been tough, and that the government would be revising its 2017 budget before the IMF executive board considers whether to approve the loan.

He said the government proposed to bring in more money for the budget by increasing income, fuel and other taxes, and by raising the retirement age from 55 to 65 for women, and from 60 to 66 for men. Its proposals have to be approved by parliament during a session in March, which is likely because the ruling Mongolian People’s Party has a clear majority.

Battogtokh said that with the loan package, the government estimated growth would be “below zero per-

cent” in 2017, 1.8 percent in 2018 and 8.1 percent in 2019.

The economy of mineralrich Mongolia has been hit hard in recent years by a sharp decline in commodity prices and a collapse in foreign direct investment.

Mongolia’s national debt now stands at about $23 billion, or twice the annual economic output, and a $580 million payment to foreign bondholders is due March 21. Battogtokh said that the government, at the IMF’s suggestion, will refinance the $580 million bond with another similar commercial bond.

“We will offer the new bonds at a market-friendly rate,” the finance ministry said on its website.

The IMF statement said the loan agreement would mean Mongolia has to strengthen its banking system and adopt fiscal reforms to ensure that budget discipline is maintained.

Generally, terms required by the IMF as a condition for such lending prompt complaints in borrower countries that the conditions hurt the poor or undercut economic growth by reducing social spending or investment in public facilities.

Adding to Mongolia’s woes is an exceptionally cold winter for the second straight year, which the Red Cross warned last week was putting the livelihoods of more than 150,000 nomadic herders and family members at risk.

Dale Choi, an analyst with the Mongolia Metals and Mining research firm, said the agreement announced Sunday means investors can now make assumptions and investment decisions.

“It brings clarity, which investors have been waiting for,” he said.

Investment banker gets 3-year prison term over inside tips NEW YORK (AP) — An investment banker convicted of insider trading charges alleging he fed tips to his father was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison by a judge who said he betrayed the companies that employed him and his clients.

Sean Stewart, 35, chose “personal convenience, personal appearance and family benefits” over requirements that he protect secrets he learned as an executive in mergers and acquisitions

at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Perella Weinberg Partners LP, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said.

His “sense of entitlement” seemed to continue after his August conviction by a jury because he still appears to live beyond his means, she said.

Besides the prison term, the judge ordered Stewart, who lives in Manhattan, to spend a year in home detention following the prison sentence and to do 200 hours of community service.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that GEOFFREY MAURICE O’CONNELL of Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, P.O.Box EL-27620 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 13th day of February, 2017 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

MARKET REPORT FRIDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2017

t. 242.323.2330 | f. 242.323.2320 | www.bisxbahamas.com

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE 1,916.22 | CHG -0.02 | %CHG 0.00 | YTD -21.99 | YTD% -1.13 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.38 17.43 9.09 3.56 4.70 0.12 7.20 8.50 6.10 10.60 15.48 2.72 1.60 5.83 9.75 11.00 9.25 6.90 12.01 11.00

52WK LOW 2.70 17.43 8.19 3.50 1.77 0.12 3.80 8.15 5.50 7.72 11.00 2.18 1.31 5.80 6.78 8.56 6.12 6.35 11.92 10.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

900.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 106.00 100.00 106.00 105.00 105.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

1.00 105.50 100.00 100.00 105.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

SECURITY AML Foods Limited APD Limited Bahamas Property Fund Bahamas Waste Bank of Bahamas Benchmark Cable Bahamas CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank Colina Holdings Commonwealth Bank Commonwealth Brewery Consolidated Water BDRs Doctor's Hospital Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol ICD Utilities J. S. Johnson Premier Real Estate Cable Bahamas Series 6 Cable Bahamas Series 8 Cable Bahamas Series 9 Cable Bahamas Series 10 Colina Holdings Class A Commonwealth Bank Class E Commonwealth Bank Class J Commonwealth Bank Class K Commonwealth Bank Class L Commonwealth Bank Class M Commonwealth Bank Class N Fidelity Bank Class A Focol Class B

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

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00 100.00

SYMBOL AML APD BPF BWL BOB BBL CAB CIB CHL CBL CBB CWCB DHS FAM FBB FIN FCL ICD JSJ PRE CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA CBLE CBLJ CBLK CBLL CBLM CBLN FBBA FCLB

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 17 (Series A) + Fidelity Bank Note 18 (Series E) + Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB17 FBB18 FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-3Y BGS: 2015-1-3Y BGS: 2014-12-5Y BGS: 2015-1-5Y BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-3Y BGS: 2015-6-5Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-3Y BGS: 2015-10-5Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y

BAH29 BG0103 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

113.70 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.03 3.92 1.94 169.70 141.76 1.47 1.67 1.57 1.10 6.96 8.50 6.30 9.94 11.21 10.46

52WK LOW 1.67 3.04 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.41 1.61 1.52 1.03 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57

LAST CLOSE 4.38 15.85 9.09 3.53 1.77 0.12 4.50 8.50 5.83 10.48 11.93 2.17 1.55 5.83 9.75 10.95 9.25 6.90 12.01 10.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 100.00 105.20 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 4.38 15.85 9.09 3.53 1.77 0.12 4.50 8.50 5.83 10.48 11.93 2.14 1.55 5.83 9.75 10.95 9.25 6.90 12.01 10.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 100.00 100.00 100.11 100.00 100.00 100.00 10.00 1.01

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00

105.20 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund FG Financial Preferred Income Fund FG Financial Growth Fund FG Financial Diversified Fund FG Financial Global USD 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

VOLUME

470

1,500

VOLUME

NAV 2.03 3.92 1.94 168.44 141.76 1.47 1.64 1.56 1.04 6.96 8.50 6.30 9.80 11.13 9.63

EPS$ 0.029 1.002 -0.144 0.170 -0.130 0.000 -0.030 0.607 0.430 0.450 0.110 0.102 0.080 0.300 0.520 0.960 0.820 0.294 0.610 0.000

DIV$ 0.080 1.000 0.000 0.210 0.000 0.000 0.090 0.300 0.220 0.360 0.490 0.060 0.060 0.240 0.400 0.000 0.330 0.140 0.640 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

P/E 151.0 15.8 N/M 20.8 N/M N/M -150.0 14.0 13.6 23.3 108.5 21.0 19.4 19.4 18.8 11.4 11.3 23.5 19.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

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

INTEREST 7.00% 6.00% Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2017 31-May-2018 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 4.00% 4.00% 4.25% 4.25% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.00% 4.25% 4.50% 6.25% 3.50% 3.88% 4.25%

20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2017 30-Jul-2018 16-Dec-2019 30-Jul-2020 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2018 26-Jun-2020 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2018 15-Oct-2020 15-Oct-2022

YTD% 12 MTH% 4.30% 4.30% 3.82% 3.82% 2.73% 2.73% 3.95% 3.95% 6.77% 6.77% 0.40% 4.04% -1.76% 1.06% -0.34% 2.70% -0.95% 1.55% 4.35% 4.69% 4.13% 4.28% 4.22% 4.64% 6.19% 3.43% 2.77% 2.98% -3.66% -3.90%

NAV Date 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Dec-2016 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 31-Jan-2017 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016 30-Nov-2016

MARKET TERMS BISX ALL SHARE INDEX - 19 Dec 02 = 1,000.00 52wk-Hi - Highest closing price in last 52 weeks 52wk-Low - Lowest closing price in last 52 weeks Previous Close - Previous day's weighted price for daily volume Today's Close - Current day's weighted price for daily volume Change - Change in closing price from day to day Daily Vol. - Number of total shares traded today DIV $ - Dividends per share paid in the last 12 months P/E - Closing price divided by the last 12 month earnings

YIELD 1.83% 6.31% 0.00% 5.95% 0.00% 0.00% 2.00% 3.53% 3.77% 3.44% 4.11% 2.80% 3.87% 4.12% 4.10% 0.00% 3.57% 2.03% 5.33% 0.00%

YIELD - last 12 month dividends divided by closing price Bid $ - Buying price of Colina and Fidelity Ask $ - Selling price of Colina and fidelity Last Price - Last traded over-the-counter price Weekly Vol. - Trading volume of the prior week EPS $ - A company's reported earnings per share for the last 12 mths NAV - Net Asset Value N/M - Not Meaningful

TO TRADE CALL: CFAL 242-502-7010 | ROYALFIDELITY 242-356-7764 | FG CAPITAL MARKETS 242-396-4000 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, February 20, 2017, PAGE 11

Trump steps up security aide search, focuses on health care WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday was stepping up his search for a national security adviser, with several interviews on tap, and focusing on health care in talks with his health and budget chiefs, while his team pushed back against depictions of a young administration in disarray.

His chief of staff used appearances on the Sunday news shows to echo his boss’ complaints about media coverage of the White House and cited what he said were multiple accomplishments in the first few weeks of the Trump presidency.

“The truth is that we don’t have problems in the West Wing,” Reince Priebus told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Priebus also denied a report that Trump advisers were in touch with Russian intelligence advisers during the 2016 campaign, and said he had assurances from “the top levels of the intelligence community” that it was false.

After weeks of tumult in Washington, Trump returned to Florida and his private club for a third straight weekend as he tries to refocus. After a raucous campaign rally Saturday night, Trump and his wife, Melania, stopped by a fundraiser at his private Palm Beach club, put on by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. A White House of-

ficial confirmed his attendance, requesting anonymity to discuss the president’s schedule.

High on Trump’s to-do list is finding a replacement for ousted Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Scheduled to discuss the job with the president at Mar-a-Lago were his acting adviser, retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen.

Trump pushed out Flynn last Monday after revelations that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition. Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations.

Trump’s first choice to replace Flynn, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, turned down the offer.

Trump also was expected to discuss health care policy in a meeting Health Secretary Tom Price and Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House budget office.

Top House Republicans last week presented a rough sketch of a health overhaul to rank-and-file lawmakers that would void of Presi-

dent Barack Obama’s 2010 law and replace it with conservative policies. It features a revamped Medicaid program for the poor, tax breaks to help people pay doctors’ bills and federally subsidized state pools to assist those with costly medical conditions in buying insurance.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said Republicans would introduce legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act after Congress returns in late February, but he offered no specifics.

Also on Trump’s Sunday schedule: calls to the leaders of Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The day of presidential business follows a return on Saturday to campaign mode when Trump held a rally before thousands of supporters at an airplane hangar in Melbourne. He revived campaign promises to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, reduce regulations and create jobs — and continued his attacks on the media.

The rally was put on by Trump’s campaign, not the White House. Trump told reporters he was holding a campaign rally because “life is a campaign.”

Trump, who held a rally in the same spot in Florida in September, clearly relished being back in front of his supporters, welcoming the cheers and letting one supporter up on stage to offer praise for the president.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters on board Air Force One as he arrived to speak at his “Make America Great Again Rally” at Orlando-Melbourne International Airport in Melbourne, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. (AP Photo)

Iran dismisses new US pressure, calls for ‘mutual respect’ MUNICH (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister brushed aside new pressure from the United States on Sunday, declaring that his country is “unmoved by threats” but responds well to respect.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers, under which Tehran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, but hasn’t said what he plans to do about it.

His administration has said Iran was “on notice” over a recent ballistic missile test, and imposed new sanctions on more than two dozen Iranian companies and individuals.

“Iran doesn’t respond well to threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top diplomats and defense officials. “We don’t respond well to coercion.

We don’t respond well to sanctions, but we respond very well to mutual respect.

We respond very well to arrangements to reach mutually acceptable scenarios.”

“Iran is unmoved by threats,” he said.

“Everybody tested us for many years — all threats and coercions were imposed on us,” Zarif added.

He mocked “the concept of crippling sanctions,” which he said didn’t stop Iran acquiring thousands more centrifuges, used for enriching uranium, before talks with the U.S. on the nuclear agreement got underway.

Iran has always said it has no interest in nuclear

weapons. Asked how long it would take to make one if it did decide it wanted such weapons, Zarif replied: “We are not going to produce nuclear weapons, period. So it will take forever for Iran to produce nuclear weapons.”

Iran’s regional rivals aired a laundry list of grievances about Tehran’s behavior, pointing to the wars in Syria and Yemen among other issues.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, argued that the Iranians “stepped up the tempo of their mischief” during the negotiations on the nuclear deal and have continued to do so since then.

“I believe that Iran knows where the red lines are if the red lines are drawn clearly, and I believe that the world has to make it clear to the Iranians that there is certain behavior that will not be tolerated, and that there will be consequences,” Jubeir told the conference.

“And those consequences have to be in tune with the financial side.”

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted that the main challenges facing the region are “Iran, Iran and Iran.”

Asked what approach he seeks against Iran, he replied: “It’s a combination of economic pressure, very tough policy and of course to impose the resolutions of (the U.N.) Security Council, for example the ballistic missiles.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said that Iran has been working to try and build a nuclear weapon, and “if they say they haven’t, they’re lying.”

He also enjoyed reliving his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has lurched from crisis to crisis since the inauguration, including the botched rollout of his im-

migration order, struggles confirming his Cabinet picks and a near-constant stream of reports about strife within his administration.

Priebus would have none

of it.

“The fact of the matter is the level of accomplishment that he’s put forward so far in the first 30 days has been remarkable,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”