04142020 BUSINESS

business@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020

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PAUL MOSS

Financial services faces ‘catastrophic’ COVID-10 fall-out

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN financial services executive has warned the COVID-19 pandemic will be “very catastrophic” for the industry, adding: “No sector of our economy will be spared.”

Paul Moss, head of Dominion Management Services, warned that the global economic shutdown and associated stock market crash meant that The Bahamas’ high net worth clients were facing significant losses to their wealth and asset portfolios.

Describing the sector as being in “a holding pattern” due to the freeze on client activities, he urged The Bahamas to seize the opportunity provided by the global COVID-19 lockdown to adjust its business model and position itself as a lowtax - rather than a “no tax” - jurisdiction through the introduction of a single-digit corporate income tax.

Arguing that such a change could be phase in over a three-year period, Mr Moss said that announcing such a move now would give international clients and their advisers time to adjust and “signal to the world where we’re going” as a jurisdiction.

In the short-term, though, he conceded that the Bahamian financial services will not be immune from the COVID-19 fall-out due

SEE PAGE 6

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Moody’s: Bahamas to grow 2% in 2021

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

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HE deputy prime minister yesterday warned “there is no restart button” for fully relaunching a Bahamian economy that Moody’s is projecting will grow by two percent next year.

K Peter Turnquest told Tribune Business that the eventual post-COVID 19 reopening of the economy would have to occur via a “very well thought-out, detailed process” to guard against the possibility that the virus could re-ignite.

He acknowledged that the government will “have to add some fuel to the fire to ensure the engine goes”,

• Only if it and US get virus under control by June • Projection suggest 4-5 year COVID-19 work-out • DPM: No magic ‘restart button’ to open economy

K PETER TURNQUEST although he declined to provide a figure for just how much financial support it will have to provide to help jump-start both the private sector and consumer

demand once the COVID19 threat has passed.

Mr Turnquest spoke after Moody’s, in a “credit opinion” that accompanied its decision to place The Bahamas “under review” for potential downgrade to so-called “junk” status, forecast that this nation would recover some of its lost growth in 2021 - provided that both it and the US bring the virus under control within the next ten to 12 weeks.

“We forecast The Bahamas to register an eight percent contraction

SUPER Value’s chief yesterday blasted the “mischief maker” behind an e-mail falsely claiming the government seized $176,000 worth of masks from it, adding: “We need to fight the virus, not each other.”

Besides “categorically denying” the assertions in the widely-circulated e-mail, Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that Super Value actually donated 100,000 protective medical masks to the Ministry of Health to aid the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He revealed that Super Value was also seeking to “clear through diplomatic channels” another 189,000strong mask shipment that is currently in Florida, of which another 100,000 will be offered to the

in economic activity in 2020, followed by two percent growth in 2021,” the rating agency said. “The main assumptions underpinning our forecasts are at least a 35 percent annual reduction in tourism flows, itself driven by our expectation that both The Bahamas and the US (which accounts for just over 80 percent of all air arrivals) have successfully contained the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020.

SEE PAGE 4

Atlantis: ‘We cannot predict re-opening’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

ATLANTIS’ top executive has warned thousands of furloughed staff members that COVID-19’s uncertainties make it almost impossible “to predict” when the mega resort will re-open.

Audrey Oswell, the Paradise Island property’s president and managing director, told employees in a video message posted to its website that “no one has all the answers” or can accurately forecast when the pandemic will end.

Indicating that The Bahamas’ flagship resort will

• Top executive: ‘No one has all answers’ • Workers will have ‘to navigate changes’ • First financial assistance payments made

AUDREY OSWELL

likely be closed beyond the May 15 date previously announced, Ms Oswell also told the workforce to be prepared “to navigate changes” involving the implementation of rigorous health and sanitation measures in the run-up to Atlantis’ eventual re-opening.

The video, which was posted last week, also informed staff that they should receive the first relief payments from both Atlantis and the hotel industry’s

Super Value chief blasts fake ‘mask seize’ claim

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

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• Freely donated 100k masks to govt • Awaiting clearance on further 189k • Urges: ‘Fight the virus, not each other’

RUPERT ROBERTS government to ensure better protection for doctors and nurses.

“Dr Duane Sands and myself know the truth,” Mr Roberts said in response to the ‘fake news’ e-mail alleging that the government last Monday seized a container with $176,000 worth of protective face masks that had

been destined for Super Value’s employees. “We’ve both spoken to it.

“The facts are that about two weeks ago we were about to get in 120,000 medical masks, so I said to Dr Sands: ‘I have this shipment.

I’d like to keep 20,000 for myself, and offer the Ministry of Health 100,000’. I know most of his staff, most of his nurses, went through the supermarkets on their way to work and I couldn’t imagine them without masks on their job.”

Mr Roberts said Super Value had kept sufficient protective face masks for its own needs, adding: “The operations manager has 3,000 in his office, and we have... let’s say about

another 18,000 available to us. We’re in no danger with masks.

“We have another 189,000 in Florida that we’re trying to clear through diplomatic channels. There’s 100,000 of them that we will offer to the Ministry [of Health], 100,000 medical masks.” The Super Value chief voiced optimism that the Government would permit him to use the remainder for the supermarket chain, or permit their sale to banks, “affiliates” and other companies able to continue operating during the lockdown.

“If Dr Sands does not accept my offer, I will put 100,000 [masks] on the shelf

SEE PAGE 6

Health and Welfare Fund by this week at the latest.

And, pledging to always put the health and welfare of staff first, Ms Oswell promised that Atlantis will “emerge even stronger, with more courage, resilience and hope for the future” despite the uncertainties surrounding when it will re-open.

“As the global conditions surrounding COVID-19 continue to evolve, we

SEE PAGE 5

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JOHN ROLLE

Foreign reserves not behind curb on fund transfers

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Central Bank’s governor last night denied that money transfer businesses are being restricted from conducting international transactions to help preserve The Bahamas’ foreign currency reserves.

John Rolle, in an e-mailed answer to Tribune Business questions, said the operating mandate imposed on money transmission businesses in return for allowing them to open during the COVID-19 pandemic had more to do with ensuring social distancing protocols are enforced.

“This is not a Central Bank view or policy,” he replied, when asked by this newspaper whether the prohibition on international money transfers was designed to help safeguard the reserves. “The money transmission businesses’ (MTBs) operating arrangements are being guided by public health safety concerns to limit in-branch customer traffic.

“The Central Bank takes a holistic approach to managing access to foreign exchange markets.

Commercial banks are the

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PAGE 2, Tuesday, April 14, 2020

T

HE Bahamas is among the many small island developing states (SIDS) that have been impacted by the spread of COVID-19. Globally, the virus has been reported in 184 countries and territories, with a rising infection rate of more than 1.8m persons to-date. Leaders of some of the world’s most robust and developed economies have been brought to tears as hundreds of lives are lost every day. The Bahamian government has taken harsh but necessary measures to ensure the safety of its citizens and residents.

Unfortunately, nothing could have prepared the world for this pandemic.

Yet there are lessons to be learnt from COVID-19, and they will stick with us. The virus will continue to change the economic landscape for many countries, especially for SIDS. COVID-19 is a “restart button” for businesses and companies, forcing managers and owners back to the drawing board to take a closer look at procedures and processes that may no longer be relevant. National and business continuity planning should be placed at the forefront for promoting sustainable development.

More importantly, technology is no longer a luxury but more of a necessity. Reliance on efficient e-commerce platforms, data and storage infrastructure, reliable telecommunications services and secure interfaces has

THE TRIBUNE

DIGITAL BAHAMAS AND THE LESSONS FROM COVID-19

BY RODERICK A SIMMS II ADVOCATE FOR SUSTAINABLE FAMILY ISLAND GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT EMAIL: RASII@ME.COM increased since the global workforce is forced to either work or stay at home for an extended period of time.

It has taken a global crisis to reveal to some governments that their countries are digitally unprepared.

Being digitally unprepared does not solely mean that services are slow or unreliable. This speaks to the lack of technology innovation. In particular, the use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being seen in a new light when it comes to healthcare reform, distance learning and data analytics. It is time to take a closer look at how using emerging technologies to digitise The Bahamas will provide better protection for local businesses and services amid a crises. And we must strengthen the National Development Plan (NDP) for The Bahamas as it relates to technologydriven solutions that require imminent implementation.

NDP: Guiding the outcomes of Technology The start of 2020 marks the beginning of a decade for action. With a

global pandemic on our hands, thousands of acres of rain forest destroyed, millions of wildlife killed and resources becoming more strained, it is time for swift planning. The World Economic Forum has pointed out that the world is entering a new industrial revolution, and technology is running the show. From drones, automated vehicles, selfrecognition technologies, ubiquitous sensors and AI augmented functions, these concepts are presently reimagining how the global population operates, builds and creates value. Technology has proven its ability

and potential to create and change industries. Therefore, countries such as The Bahamas must follow and be involved in the development/deployment of this digital era so as not to be left behind. To achieve this there is a need to strengthen the current National Development Plan as it relates to the digital era, recognising this is a tool to produce measurable outcomes for The Bahamas.

The NDP addresses the relevance of technology for inclusive and sustainable development, highlighting its importance across key action lines set out to generate economic growth. This applies to the services workforce, information management systems, service delivery systems, social services, law enforcement, the environment and education reform.

With emerging technologies on the rise, there should be further consideration as to how these areas can be improved.

A key area for consideration is healthcare given COVID-19’s impact.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the healthcare landscape will totally change in the next ten years, driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

Analyses and research must be conducted to prepare the Bahamian healthcare industry as a result.

The ITU adds that AI will remove the burden from clinicians and overstretched

medical systems.

This is important for The Bahamas when considering the efficiency and productivity of Family Island clinics and workers. Using technology can help to reduce overhead costs and allow the Bahamian government to train medical professionals to be leaders in digital healthcare reform.

Back to the Drawing Board A recent McKinsey & Company report on COVID-19’s economic impact pointed out that large-scale quarantines, travel restrictions and social distancing measures will drive a sharp fall in consumer and business spending. The reality is that lower demand across the global economy will result in lower growth.

This assessment is what policymakers and leaders must consider when reviewing industry needs and business continuity efforts. This is especially important for The Bahamas where tourism, food security, imports and technology resources are heavily impacted by best practices and decisions by international bodies.

The McKinsey & Company study also detailed an immediate response plan for businesses directly and indirectly impacted

by COVID-19. The plan draws on the following: Protect employees; set up cross-functional response teams; test for stress; ensure liquidity and build a contingency plan; stabilise the supply chain; stay close to

customers; practice the plan; and demonstrate the purpose. Taking these actions will greatly help businesses to be more prepared for similar crises. Bahamian policymakers, business owners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civic bodies now have the opportunity to strengthen private and public sector collaboration to achieve measurable economic and social development.

Another important lesson from COVID-19 is the need for a shift in corporate culture within Bahamian-led businesses, organisations and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). According to Forbes, 50 percent of the workforce in the US will soon be remote. Across the Atlantic, Europe’s remote workers have grown from 7.7 percent to 9.8 percent of the total workforce in the last decade (WeWork, 2019). As a result of advancements in technology, employees and managers are able to save on business costs by having virtual meetings, responding via text/e-mails and completing small to major tasks and projects anywhere and at any time. This also creates, in some instances, a better work/life balance, which leads to a happy and more stress-free environment for employees.

While all workers may not be able to do everything from home, there are instances where emerging

SEE PAGE 3

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 14, 2020, PAGE 3

FIRST $60M TAX CREDIT APPROVALS THIS WEEK

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Finance’s top official says the first approvals for companies qualifying for the government’s $60m tax credit/deferral relief initiative should be issued this week.

Marlon Johnson, the acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that the application form and related link had “gone live” from last week Thursday with the Department of Inland Revenue (DIR) establishing a dedicated team to review and approve business submissions.

He voiced optimism that the initiative, which is effectively a payroll support programme intended to keep up to 10,000 workers off the National Insurance Board (NIB) lines, will provide medium-sized Bahamian businesses with sufficient “breathing room to keep going” during the nationwide shutdown and re-open on the other side.

“The Department of Inland Revenue has put together a dedicated team to review applications, and I’m sure they’ll have started to look at them over the weekend,” Mr Johnson said. “They will start to get the approvals out early this week. They have the

FOOD STORES BRACE FOR RESTOCKING ‘STAMPEDE’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN food stores are bracing for “a literal stampede” today as customers race to restock following the five-day Easter weekend lockdown.

Bradley Rolle, Centreville Food Market’s general manager, told Tribune Business that the government’s decision to extend food store opening hours until 10pm on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, and designate Thursday as a day for essential services workers to shop, had somewhat eased the long queues outside.

“We still had a rush,” he added. “I guess people just had to do what they had to do. It slowed down a bit after 3pm on Wednesday, and it was not as heavy as it was on Tuesday. But for the first part of that morning the traffic was heavy.

“Tuesday (today) is going to be a mess. I think all of the food stores have to get prepared for what will be a literal stampede for Tuesday. For those who would have shopped and gotten everything they needed to get they had to watch how they used their food portions, because over the five-day weekend they were looking at three meals a day.

MARLON JOHNSON information on the companies, and that process should be straightforward and we will do our best to make it so.

“The purpose of this is to give businesses some breathing room to get through this period. As we get past this shut down period and open up the economy, it will give them some room to open. Hopefully it provides some headroom for mediumsized businesses to keep going.”

While acknowledging that The Bahamas’ major sector, tourism, will likely be closed for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on global travel and major source markets in the US, Mr Johnson said there were companies within the economy’s domestic sector that stood to benefit from the initiative.

The full details of the tax “That is about 15 meals over those five days for each household. So that will tell you what is going to happen on Tuesday, as all of those meals need to be replaced today. It is going to be a revolving door and a stampede to start all over Tuesday.”

Expecting such conditions to persist for as long as the lockdown lasts, Mr Rolle added: “Thursday we came out to deal with the essential workers, police officers and the like, and then over the Easter weekend we did what the government asked us to do and that is to shut down and let us see if this coronavirus could flatten a bit, and then hope that life can get back to normal.

“That may not be now because we are looking at this continuing for another two months. Then, eventually, we may see a gradual return to life the way it was before.”

Atwell Ferguson, general manager of the Golden Gates supermarket, told Tribune Business he also expects a “big rush” to occur today in his store with persons trying to restock following the weekend lockdown. He said: “Last Tuesday was the worst, and on Wednesday it was still busy.

“But Tuesday was the worst because people weren’t taking any chances.

The last time the people were saying that they were going to shop the following day, and out of the clear blue he said that it would be cut off from Wednesday night. When he made his announcement for another shut down the people didn’t wait for any surprises so

NIB AWAITS ‘SEVERAL THOUSAND’ CLAIMANTS FROM SELF-EMPLOYED

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE National Insurance Board (NIB) expects a “few more thousand” selfemployed persons from outside the tourism industry to apply for unemployment benefits, its director says.

Dr Nicola VirgilRolle told Tribune Business that 842 persons had applied for this benefit immediately after its pre-Easter launch, taking the total number of selfemployed persons - tourism and non-tourism - seeking assistance to-date to 4,329.

“We are looking at all of the bus drivers and selfemployed persons, so we are looking at a few more thousand,” she said of those outside the tourism sector. “Last week we put on our Facebook page that we had about 842 additional persons that applied.

“We expect that the numbers will continue

to grow in terms of selfemployed persons. The first tranche dealt with tourism-related people, so we had vendors and jet ski operators, and this tranche deals with anybody who was impacted by the shutdown emergency orders.

“So we know that there are a great number of persons, but they should be persons who have either a business license and then there are bus drivers who should have their public service badge, so those are the two stipulations that they need in order to qualify.”

Dr Virgil-Rolle added that 84 percent of all claims to-date had been processed and adjudicated

by NIB, adding: “We are processing these things expeditiously. We have a senior team that have already given decisions in 84 percent of the cases we have, so we are moving through these things quite rapidly.”

credit/deferral initiative, which were released on the Department of Inland Revenue’s website, reveal that qualifying companies must commit to retaining at least 80 percent of their non-executive staff as at end-February 2020 through to October this year.

Some companies may consider such an eightmonth timeframe too long given the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 and the associated lockdown, and the combination of tax credits and deferrals can only be used to cover nonexecutive payroll.

Those firms applying must have a minimum $3m in annual sales and at least 25 employees, and be in “good standing” with VAT payments at end-February 2020. The same applies to all business licence fee payments prior to 2020, with this year excluded from the “good standing” calculation.

Banking information must be supplied as evidence to support non-management payroll costs that have to be broken down into the different employees categories, with proof of National Insurance Board (NB) contributions required.

The three-month initiative will provide qualifying firms with up to a maximum of $600,000 split equally between a combination of

tax credits and deferrals.

Those companies with outstanding business licence fee payments and VAT receipts will be able to withhold payment and, in return, receive a maximum of $200,000 per month.

Some $100,000, or 50 percent, will come in the form of a non-reimbursable tax credit. And the other $100,000 will be “deferred” until January 2021, when it will have to be repaid in a series of 12 monthly instalments throughout the year.

“If the payroll cost is greater than $200,000 in any given month within the qualifying period, the ATR (approved tax relief) provided will not exceed $200,000 for that month to a maximum of $600,00 over the qualifying period,” the Department of Inland Revenue said.

“If the payroll cost is less than $200,000 per month within the qualifying period, the approved tax relief will be equivalent to the payroll cost.” The tax relief offered will be first applied against any outstanding business licence fees, and any excess then applied to VAT that is due.

Should a business be current with its Business Licence, but owing VAT, then the full tax relief will be applied against the latter tax. “The taxpayer will conduct business in the usual

that is why Tuesday was chaotic.”

“For Tuesday (today) we expect another big, big rush.

Because everybody already ate up all of their food, and then they want to stock up to try to get what they can get before things run

out.... I expect a hard rush on Tuesday.”

The government allowed food stores and their wholesale suppliers to restock over the weekend to ensure that all outlets are fully supplied ahead of today’s anticipated rush by consumers.

manner and withhold VAT payable (output VAT less Input VAT) to the extent of the available credit,” the Department of Inland Revenue added.

“In rare cases where a taxpayer might find themselves in a receivable position, the amount so available will be utilised against future tax liability but will not be available as a cash refund.”

The Department of Inland Revenue promised to acknowledge receipt of all applications within 24 hours, and advise of both approvals and the amount of tax relief being provided within 48 hours of all supporting documents being provided.

But the private sector, while praising the tax credit/deferral initiative as a wonderful effort to assist companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, argued that the economy needed to be opened up to allow businesses to earn some revenue for it to be fully effective.

It also pointed out that the payroll-focused effort does not address other fixed costs and overheads that companies still have to meet, and pay VAT on, such as rent, utilities and bank debt.

DIGITAL BAHAMAS AND THE LESSONS FROM COVID-19 FROM PAGE TWO

telecommunications/ICTs can help to improve processes and cut down on time and costs.

Conclusion In closing, COVID-19 has taught the world to be better prepared and that planning is an essential part of survival in worst-case scenarios.

Learning through case studies and data has proven to be critical in such a time, and while resources and supply chains can become strained, planning allows governments to think for the long haul.

This is even more important for the Bahamian government to consider because all islands of The Bahamas should be interconnected.

The normal way of doing business has to change by adopting digital innovations in education, e-commerce, health and trade. By doing so, the reliance on one industry will decrease. While it is impossible to avoid the negative economic implications of a temporary shutdown, it is possible to be better prepared for the economic and social impact that follows thereafter.

NB: Read the NDP at www.vision2040bahamas. org

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PAGE 4, Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Pharmacies ‘hanging in’ on client demand

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net PHARMACIES said they were “hanging in there” and coping with the long customer lines that are likely to reappear today following the Easter weekend’s five-day COVID-19 lockdown.

Jorez Chisolm, head pharmacist at Your Friendly Pharmacy on West Bay Street, told Tribune Business: “We are able to handle it. There is an influx, though, I can say that. The only times when you will see something like this is during a natural disaster hurricanes and things like that.

“Then you get this amount of influx and panic, but we are able to handle it.

We can handle it, it is not overwhelming.”

Christen Carroll, head pharmacist at Centreville Pharmacy No.2, also told this newspaper: “There has been an increase in demand over the short period of

time. We are asking patients to wait in the car and call in their medication if they can.

“Most of the time people are doing that, they are either going to bring it and come back because we can’t let them wait for it because it is too short a period of time to fill everybody’s prescription. We are hanging in there.” Ms Carroll said she is telling customers they can come back the same day to have their prescriptions filled and pick them up..

Customer lines often wrapped around pharmacy buildings during the leadup to the five-day Easter weekend lockdown due to the combination of customer demand and social distancing protocols.

Deyar Knowles, head pharmacist at the Centreville Pharmacy No.1, said she has “definitely” been able to keep up with the demand. “It is only me one here. I don’t have any help, that is my only challenge,” she added. “That and limiting the amount of people in the store.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Moody’s: Bahamas to grow 2% in 2021 FROM PAGE ONE “In 2021, we expect the US economy to recover with growth of over two percent which, coupled with the fact that, unlike natural disasters, the coronavirus does not destroy installed capacity, should bring The Bahamas’ GDP growth to two percent. Medium-term growth prospects remain tied to the tourism sector’s performance and a pipeline of foreign direct investment-related infrastructure projects.”

While Moody’s forecast provides some hope that better economic times lie ahead for The Bahamas and its citizens, an awful lot still has to go right for its forecast to be achieved.

While there are some signs that this nation and the US can bring COVID-19 under control by its end-June 2020 target, this is by no means guaranteed.

And the rating agency’s two percent growth forecast for 2021 also shows that it will likely take some time for the Bahamian economy to recover the substantial ground it has lost in output, jobs and incomes due to the pandemic.

Moody’s projection that Bahamian GDP will contract by eight percent this year means that economic output, based on 2018 national accounts data from the Department of Statistics, will shrink by almost $1bn in current prices or $861m using the “real” measurement. The latter strips out the impact of inflation on GDP growth figures.

This means that Bahamian GDP will drop from 2018’s $12.424bn to around $11.431bn in current prices this year (2019 data is not yet available).

Should Moody’s two percent growth projection be met, Bahamian GDP in 2021

will reach around $11.66bn - a $235m increase upon this year’s outturn, but still $764m below 2018’s economic output.

Using “real” prices, Bahamian GDP falls from $10.763bn to $9.902bn.

Moody’s 2021 growth projection, of achieved, will increase real GDP by $197m to $10.099bn. Yet the latter figure is still some $664m short of 2018’s GDP output.

This suggests that it may take the Bahamian economy some four to five years to recover, and replace, what has been lost as a result of COVID-19 - and that assumes GDP growth that will not be interrupted by further pandemics or major natural disasters, such as a hurricane.

Moody’s, meanwhile, also forecast that The Bahamas’ direct government debt-toGDP ratio will keep rising to around 72-73 percent by the 2021-2022 fiscal year rather than stabilising at around 66 percent as it had predicted in Hurricane Dorian’s aftermath.

The rating agency added that the deficit for the current fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020, will expand beyond the government’s February projection of 5.3 percent to hit 5.5 percent of GDP. This would take the deficit from the revised $677.5m to just over $700m based on Tribune Business calculations.

And Moody’s also projected that the 2020-2021 fiscal deficit will strike 4.6 percent of GDP, a sum equivalent to 600.967m, as opposed to the post-Dorian forecast of 3.8 percent of GDP or some $498.9m.

That represents an increase of more than $100m in “red ink”, and many observers are likely to believe this gap will be much more given the widely-held view that the government may have to provide a nine-figure capital injection to get the Bahamian economy moving again.

“Since 2017, the government had been successful in its fiscal consolidation efforts, which brought the deficit down to an estimated 1.7 percent of GDP in 20182019 from 5.5 percent in 2016-2017,” Moody’s said.

“However, reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Dorian and the loss in revenue meant that targets were relaxed last year. As a result, we revised our expectations for debt to stabilise around 66 percent of GDP instead of 60 percent previously.

“The coronavirus crisis has led to both lower growth and a set of fiscal measures, ranging from unemployment insurance to tax relief, designed to buttress the economy. Both these developments will negatively impact fiscal and debt metrics,” Moody’s warned.

“The fiscal impact is likely to extend at least into the fiscal year that ends in June 2021. We have revised our forecasts accordingly and now expect a deficit of 5.5 percent of GDP in 20192020 and 4.6 percent in 2020-2021, but note that we will only have more clarity about the government’s expected policies once the 2020-2021 budget is tabled in May.” Mr Turnquest yesterday described that planning process for that upcoming budget as “trying to hit a moving target”, given that the impact and dynamics associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic were changing on an almost daily basis.

He added that the Ministry of Finance was “trying to get a read” on multiple potential outcomes, ranging from the best to worst, adjusting the government’s budget accordingly and attempting to “hit the target in the middle”.

“It’s not an easy science at the moment,” the deputy prime minister explained.

“We’re consulting widely with many stakeholders, and will hopefully come up with the best possible scenario given all the uncertainties.

“We’ve got all these moving balls we’re trying to put in order, and it’s not an easy thing. It’s a 50/50 chance we’ll get it right, and whichever way we go somebody is not going to be happy.”

Mr Turnquest said COVID-19, coupled with Hurricane Dorian’s impact, had reversed the “such good progress” that the Minnis administration had made on fiscal consolidation during its first two years in office.

“It’s unfortunate, but we don’t get to control the universe,” he added.

“Fortunately, we did put ourselves in a better position than we came to office, but not enough to put ourselves in the position we’d like to be in.”

The deputy prime minister added that Moody’s could increase The Bahamas’ borrowing costs on the international capital markets should it follow through with downgrading this nation’s sovereign creditworthiness from its present “investment grade” rating to so-called “junk” status.

However, pointing out that a downgrade had not occurred yet, Mr Turnquest argued that much depends on how long the COVID19 pandemic and associated lockdown - both in The Bahamas and internationally - last.

Acknowledging that the virus will “cause a problem” if it becomes a long-term issue, he added that the government was “far away at the moment” from needing to borrow to support The Bahamas’ foreign currency reserves.

Yet he cautioned: “We will continue to monitor these things. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that if the virus goes on for a long period of time there are other considerations to be made. At the moment we are OK.” Similarly, Mr Turnquest also warned that restarting the Bahamian economy once the lockdown has ended will not be as easy as flipping a switch or turning on a tap.

“There is no restart button,” he told Tribune Business.

“This is going to be a very thought-out, very detailed process that takes into account the virus and the need to ensure we don’t have a new surge or second wave.

The business structures and support that are necessary to ensure we have a successful relaunch for larger firms and SMEs - making sure the infrastructure is there, and has the kind of capital support it needs to provide the services and products needed to make the entire economy come back together - is essential.

“We recognise the government has to be a significant partner in the eventual relaunch of the economy,” Mr Turnquest added. “The private sector has an equal role to play, and hopefully we can come up with a strategy to ease the burden as much as possible and gradually come back into our full economy.

“We recognise that we’re going to have to add some fuel to the fire to ensure the engine goes. We have to plan for that, and plan for a major part of our economy [tourism] being offline for a while and what that means in terms of social costs and the rest of it.”

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 14, 2020, PAGE 5

Planning to cope with every crisis

BY DEREK SMITH SINCE the start of the COVID-19 pandemic I have had numerous conversations surrounding business continuity plans (BCPs). What became evident were apparent deficiencies surrounding scenarios other than cyber attacks and natural disasters.

It is critically important to distinguish between BCPs and disaster recovery plans. A BCP is simply a strategic management process aimed at minimising the social and economic fall-out in a company due to disruptions in normal business activities. On the other hand, a disaster recovery plan is one singular aspect of a BCP that primarily involves restoring essential systems and processes following a disaster.

If your company has no business continuity plan, or one that has not been recently updated, here are some key aspects needed to produce and implement a viable one.

Team roles and responsibilities Identify key staff at every level of your company. Unfortunately, it is too optimistic to imagine that during a crisis your firm can sustain all employees. However, plan based on pivotal roles and responsibilities. Your BCP team should include representatives from your company’s executive leadership, human resources, finance, information technology, legal, business and/ product lines and regulatory required positions.

Ensure that team leads are

identified, and are aware of the responsibilities for themselves and their teams. These teams should be involved in ongoing planning.

Risk Assessments (RA) and Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Pinpoint risks that are both inherent (automatic) and residual (after mitigating controls are implemented), then amplify them.

Forbes senior contributor, Chloe Demrovsky, in a recent article wrote: “You should think about how you can continue to operate if 35-40 percent of your workforce is out sick.” I must add that a BCP without both an RA and BIA is ultimately planning to fail during a crisis.

A company should simulate various threats to their business, such as man-made disasters; utility failures; cyber security attacks; natural disasters; intentional sabotage; and pandemics.

This allows you to identify deficiencies in both risk

mitigation strategies and core business functions, enabling you to design the most logical and realistic plan while keeping in mind the associated risks.

Identify objectives and set goals This may seem like a no-brainer, but identifying objectives and goal-setting without adequate components could be the deciding factor in whether your company pivots or perishes during a crisis.

One important component of this area is your BCP budget, and how long it can be sustained. Also, what are the milestones of your plan and how are they going to be tracked?

Crisis communication This aspect of a BCP is often taken for granted, but I would argue that it is equally as important as any other element of your plan. Your plan must have messages that are tailored to your various audiences, such as regulators, internal customers, external

customers, news media, suppliers, survivors impacted by the crisis, their families and others. Prescripted information should be used based on information gathered during your risk assessments and business impact analysis.

Communications skills will be paramount in identifying key persons internally or externally to lead a communication and information centre or team.

Plan implementation and testing After you have already set your goals, assessed risks and business impact, selected your key team members and developed your communications plan, you must implement prevention strategies, response strategies and recovery strategies. The creation of a BCP will not suffice unless it is tested.

Appreciating these fundamentally crucial steps will ensure your enterprise is prepared for a crisis. In crisis, your

leadership - together with the company’s management, communication and planning - will set the tone for employee loyalty, customer satisfaction, regulators and other authorities’ confidence in your firm and, inevitably, its survival through and after COVID-19 and other crises.

NB: Derek Smith Jr is the compliance officer at a law firm in The Bahamas, and is a former assistant vice-president, compliance and money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) at an international private bank. His professional career started at a ‘Big Four’ accounting firm and has spanned over 15 years, including business risk management, compliance, internal audit, external audit and other accounting services. He is also a CAMS member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

Atlantis: ‘We cannot predict re-opening’ FROM PAGE ONE realise that no one has all the answers or can precisely predict when this will end,” she said. “This situation makes it difficult to predict when we will be able to re-open.

“Once we know when the country’s borders will open, and it’s safe to welcome guests and colleagues, we will set a date and notify you.” Ms Oswell’s remarks reflect the ongoing uncertainty continuing to impact the Bahamian private sector, and not just the resort industry, over when the COVID-19 threat will be contained such that the economy can get back to business.

This appears to be some weeks away yet, and not just in The Bahamas but also the US and much of mainland Europe, too.

Many observers believe that tourism, especially that which is large resort and cruise ship-based, will be among the last sectors of the economy to recover due to a combination of healthrelated concerns and the toll COVID-19 has taken in this nation’s major source markets.

This means that the Bahamian tourism industry may not return to normality until the Thanksgiving/ Christmas season at earliest.

However, seeking to boost staff morale, Ms Oswell said she had “never seen us come together as a team the way we have over the last few weeks, doing everything we can to support each other, our guests and our community”.

She then added: “These moments will lay the

groundwork for our journey ahead. We will continue to build a new and different future together. I anticipate that we will have to navigate changes in the days and weeks forward as we prepare to resume operations, such as as comprehensive team member care and increased cleaning and sanitation protocols.”

Sensitising Atlantis employees to a post-COVID-19 environment where health will be the priority, Ms Oswell said resort operations will be adjusted according to guidance received from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ministry of Health and US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Acknowledging that Atlantis employees have “been through a tremendous amount of change these last few weeks, none of it easy”, she added: “As we look ahead, your safety and well-being remain our to priority and we will continue to make proactive decisions based on the available facts and science to ensure you feel genuinely supported and cared for in the best way we can while remaining fiscally responsible.

“You have our commitment; my commitment, that we will always make decisions with your care and safety first. Together we will get through this and emerge even stronger with more courage, resilience and hope for the future than ever before.”

Atlantis is thought to have close to 8,000 employees, although not all the workforce has been laid-off as a result of the temporary closure. Security guards;

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maintenance and engineering personnel; and animal handlers have all been kept on to maintain the resort and its attractions during the national COVID-19 lockdown period to ensure it will be ready for re-opening.

Ms Oswell also confirmed that the Paradise Island mega resort has put into

effect plans to pay staff up to 50 percent of their base salaries for the next 60 days.

Workers who are members of the hotel union’s bargaining unit are receiving an “ex-gratia” payment funded via the industry’s Health and Welfare trust fund, while all full-time, non-union team members are receiving a

weekly payment equivalent to 50 percent of their base pay.

The first National Insurance Board (NIB) payments are also scheduled to have been made, with staff at the Harborside timeshare complex due to receive their benefits before week’s end.

“During this time we have been overwhelmed with concerned loyal guests reaching out to inquire about the safety and well-being of you, our team members,” Ms Oswell said. “What an incredible testament to the memorable impressions and lasting friendships you have forged with our guests.”

PAGE 6, Tuesday, April 14, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Super Value chief blasts Financial services faces fake ‘mask seize’ claim ‘catastrophic’ COVID-10 fall-out FROM PAGE ONE and sell it to the public,” Mr Roberts added. “Hopefully we will get clearance on the 189,000 and offer some of them to the public.

“This negative e-mail writer is a mischief maker. I don’t know what party they belong to, but they don’t belong to the FNM, PLP or support Super Value.

They’re not fighting the virus with us. I hope there’s a lesson to everybody: Let’s fight the virus, not one another.

“Dr Sands didn’t call me.

He had no way of knowing we had the masks. I called him. Anything we can do in this crisis to help the Ministry of Health, the government, that’s my duty. Without this viral e-mail going out to the media, the public would have never known that was assisting the Ministry of Health in any way. Dr Sands was not going to tell them, and I wasn’t going to tell them.”

Mr Roberts, meanwhile, confirmed that plexi glass

screens to separate Super Value’s cashiers from customers will be installed in the supermarket chain’s 13 stores this week in an effort to provide more protection against COVID-19.

“We will have plastic masks for the cashiers as well as paper masks,” he added. “It’s kind of triple protection for the cashier.

They’re on the front-line and I salute those brave girls for standing up there in this crisis and serving the public. That’s equivalent to what the nurses are doing.”

FROM PAGE ONE to the pandemic’s impact on clients’ stock market and other investment holdings.

“The work we do is really based on jurisdictions around the world that are part of this global pandemic, and which are suffering as well,” Mr Moss told this newspaper. “Many of them are shut down. There’s not a lot of movement, and already we’re only doing occasional work for clients.

“That tells me that when things get back to normal

there’s going to be a drop-off.

This is very catastrophic as well for the financial services industry. There’s no doubt about that lack of client activity. The stock markets have crashed, and people that invest in them are going to cash out or crash out. That’s going to take a toll on the industry as well. The overall portfolio of Bahamian companies will take a hit.

“This [the pandemic] is catastrophic for the entire country. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. It doesn’t matter what sector you’re in. Even if we open at the end of the month it doesn’t mean other parts of the world will. It’s very disconcerting. It’s a terrible situation.”

COVID-19 has struck a Bahamian financial industry that was slowly being whittled away by a 20-year process of attrition sparked by international regulatory and tax initiatives. Given that private banking and wealth management fees are typically related to assets under management, which will likely have shrunk in recent weeks, most - if not all - Bahamian providers will now be facing reduced earnings.

Still, suggesting that The Bahamas cannot afford to pass up what he views as a chance to reform, Mr Moss added: “This may be a good opportunity for The Bahamas to be unwrapped, and look within and come out as a defined destination.

“We have an opportunity to look at what we want to be. It gives us an opportunity to reposition, look at what we have now, and see how we can change it. Even if we say the changes we will announce will only be implemented in three years’ time, at least that gives the world an opportunity to know where we’re going.

“Announce that the form of taxation is going to be corporate income tax. That gives people time to get comfortable with it so that we can implement within the next three years double tax agreements with countries around the world,” he continued.

“There’s no doubt the industry is going to take a hit, a significant hit, and we need to reposition ourselves for what it looks like when it comes out. We have to reposition the industry for taxation and mitigate the losses we have now. I think that corporate tax rate would be under ten percent, and nothing more than seven percent. I believe five percent is good rate to start at.”

Mr Moss added that that Bahamian financial services industry was “in a holding pattern”, and said: “There’s nothing much we can do, and the clients are not in any position because of the shut down taking place across the globe right now.

“There’s no aspect of the economy in this country that will not be affected by this.

The question is how long this will be sustained.”

Foreign reserves not behind curb on fund transfers

workers sending remittances back home as well as receiving monies from friends and families. “These are the people that, at this point in time, need it most,” the source added. “They have no way of taking care of their livelihoods.”

The sector has been permitted to open outlets with their own entrance from 9am to 1pm for the conduct of domestic transactions only. With no replenishing cash inflows from tourism and other foreign exchange earnings, the Central Bank’s reserves, standing at $2.03bn at end-February 2020, were projected to decline by $900m by yearend 2020 - a prediction made before the total tourism shutdown.

Meanwhile, Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) last night unveiled its own three-month payment deferral plan to July 1, 2020, for customers who catch COVID-19, are quarantined because of it or are laid off.

For each of the three tiers of affected customers, the account must be in the applicant’s name, and the account number and the National Insurance number must be provided along with either proof of diagnosis, proof of mandated quarantine or proof of layoff.

Whitney Heastie, BPL’s chief executive, said: “As Bahamians continue to cope with the unprecedented challenges of this virus, we at BPL are committed to assisting our customers as best we can through the difficulties ahead.

“We have created this relief programme in line with the government’s desire and our wish to ensure that customers are able to meet their obligations without sacrificing their own security and sense of safety.”

FROM PAGE ONE conduits for foreign exchange passing through our financial system, including the supplies flowing through MTBs. The flexibility given to commercial banks, which has not changed, determines the access that all persons and businesses enjoy to foreign exchange.”

However, several sources in the money transmission industry have voiced suspicions to Tribune Business that the restriction on international transactions has more to do with helping to buttress the foreign currency reserves than public health/social distancing concerns.

One, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Government is trying to discourage international transfers because of the balance of payments. They have not announced that, but that’s their position.

They have made it very difficult for us. We have a mandate not to open our doors for international persons.”

The source contrasted the approach to money transmission businesses with that for commercial banks, whose clients are still able to access the funds they need for international transactions whenever they need them.

Money transfer businesses, by contrast, tend to deal with smaller clients and sums, including foreign

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 14, 2020, PAGE 7

Airlines wait as Treasury applies strings to payroll aid

By DAVID KOENIG Associated Press THE Treasury Department and leading airlines continued negotiating on Monday over terms of coronavirus-relief payments, with Treasury sticking to a proposal that could give the government an ownership stake in the nation’s leading carriers.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said agreements with the airlines over terms of the $25bn in payroll assistance could come soon.

“I think you will see very quickly decisions coming out. I’m very pleased with the discussions,” Mnuchin said at a White House briefing.

The Treasury Department payments were supposed to begin a week ago. The major holdup in recent days was Treasury’s insistence that 30% of the aid for larger airlines would be in the form of loans that must be repaid and with the government getting warrants equal to 10% of the loan amount, according to two officials familiar with the matter.

The amount of each airline’s stock that the government could get would depend on several factors including 2019 labour costs and recent stock market value.

Raymond James airline analyst Savanthi Syth estimated that if the government exercises the warrants, it could wind up with 3% of American Airlines, 2% of United Airlines, and 1% each of Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines. Those four carriers control more than 80% of the US air travel market.

The airlines have fought Treasury’s proposal. They thought they had a better deal last month: Congress agreed to give passenger airlines $25bn in cash grants to cover payroll costs

for six months, through September.

But Mnuchin spelled out Treasury’s proposal to CEOs of the six largest airlines on Friday. That surprised the airlines.

“We believe the law indicated that the (direct aid) funding was to be only in grants — which is considerably more effective for our employees — and not a combination of grants and loans,” a spokeswoman for the trade group Airlines for America said in a statement. “This federal relief is critical to getting our employees paid and preventing furloughs right now, especially as our country is experiencing historically high unemployment claims.”

As days passed after Treasury’s deadline to begin making payments, airline labor union officials grew more worried. They urged Treasury to start distributing the grants, which were due to be paid out beginning April 6, ten days after President Donald Trump signed a $2.2tn coronavirus-relief measure that included help for the airlines. Leaders of 11 unions pressed Mnuchin on the matter in a letter, writing that if the grants are delayed any longer, workers will lose their jobs “and our aviation industry will collapse”.

“This is not free money to the airlines, it’s money that is intended to keep people on the job and their paychecks going,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in an interview. “The pace of this is seriously concerning. There are smaller carriers that are not going to make payroll this week without that money.”

Mnuchin has said that taxpayers must be compensated for helping the airlines. That approach might help the Trump administration deflect criticism that aid to the airlines is a bailout.

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

(242) 323-2330

WEDNESDAY, 8 APRIL 2020

(242) 323-2320

ALL SHARE INDEX: CLOSE: 2,149.85 | CHG: -3.18 | %CHG: -0.15 | YTD: -81.75 | YTD%: -3.66 BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 4.45 22.65 7.00 6.70 2.60 2.00 5.47 12.77 6.17 4.50 10.60 3.64 5.10 10.88 8.15 16.99 9.40 4.24 15.21

52WK LOW 3.35 20.91 5.50 5.39 2.09 0.67 2.00 10.21 5.60 3.75 6.01 2.53 1.80 8.00 6.63 13.04 6.98 3.14 13.85

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 Emera Incorporated Famguard Fidelity Bank Finco Focol J. S. Johnson

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

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00

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

CAB6 CAB8 CAB9 CAB10 CHLA FBBA FCLB

PREFERENCE SHARES

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

CORPORATE DEBT - (percentage pricing) 52WK HI 100.00

52WK LOW 100.00

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

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

SECURITY Fidelity Bank Note 22 (Series B) +

SYMBOL FBB22

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) 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 BG0203 BG0105 BG0205 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0303 BG0305 BG0307 BG0330 BG0403 BG0405 BG0407

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing)

LAST CLOSE 3.55 17.43 6.00 6.68 2.10 1.62 3.00 11.26 6.00 4.07 6.01 2.85 4.90 9.56 8.15 14.15 8.97 4.23 15.20

CLOSE 3.55 17.43 6.00 6.68 2.10 1.62 2.99 11.26 6.00 4.07 6.01 3.00 4.90 9.75 8.15 14.00 8.97 4.20 15.20

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.15 0.00 0.19 0.00 -0.15 0.00 -0.03 0.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00

CHANGE 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

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

LAST SALE 100.00 107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

VOLUME

210 1,000

1,500 1,000 4,500

VOLUME

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

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

P/E 14.9 18.7 N/M 18.1 N/M N/M -6.8 15.6 13.4 22.1 42.9 29.4 10.5 15.1 11.2 17.2 9.6 20.7 24.1

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

0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

YIELD 4.79% 7.23% 0.00% 3.89% 0.00% 1.23% 0.00% 6.39% 3.67% 2.95% 0.00% 14.47% 1.22% 3.36% 2.94% 3.86% 2.23% 2.86% 4.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

INTEREST Prime + 1.75%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022

6.95% 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 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% 0.37% 3.81% 0.24% 4.38% 0.23% 2.75% 5.76% 5.76% 12.81% 12.81% 0.58% 4.04% -1.09% 5.26% 0.22% 4.45% 2.29% 9.61% -0.32% 10.20% -1.58% 15.37% 0.88% 5.22% -4.91% 10.77% 1.89% 6.75% -1.95% 0.38% N/A N/A 10.80% 2.60% 10.40% -4.00%

NAV Date 31-Jan-2020 31-Jan-2020 31-Jan-2020 31-Dec-2019 31-Dec-2019 31-Jan-2020 31-Jan-2020 31-Jan-2020 31-Jan-2020 29-Feb-2020 29-Feb-2020 29-Feb-2020 29-Feb-2020 29-Feb-2020 29-Feb-2020

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.30 4.38 2.09 195.13 166.73 1.67 1.83 1.76 1.23 8.34 10.26 7.00 12.15 12.58 10.81 10.00 8.98 11.79

52WK LOW 1.67 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.67 1.83 1.76 1.23 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 Preferred Income Fund Leno Growth Fund Leno Diversified Fund Leno 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 Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

NAV 2.30 4.38 2.09 195.13 166.73 1.67 1.83 1.76 1.23 8.31 10.07 7.00 11.42 12.58 10.52 N/A 8.98 11.40

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 - 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 | COLONIAL 242-502-7525 | LENO 242-396-3225 | BENCHMARK 242-326-7333

30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019 30-Sep-2019

BODY AND MIND

Local pastor prayers PENILE IMPLANThas LEAVES ‘PERMANENT answered thanksFACE to SMILE’ ON PASTOR’S bionic manhood

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

By JEFFARAH GIBSON SINCE undergoing the Tribune Features Writer first bionic penile implant jgibson@tribunemedia.net surgery in The Bahamas, a local pastor’s life has been PHILLIP*, a member completely turned around clergy, spent –of notthe onlylocal has his manhood thousand of dollars been restored, but also and his years trying toand achieve an self-confidence his joy erection, all to no avail. in life.

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Tribune But about after his a and lot his of Health research, Phillip came wife’s now vibrant and freacross Dr Greggory Pinto quent love making. at the Urology Care BahaPastor Philip*, whose real mas here in Nassau. It was identity has been concealed Dr Pinto who was finally to protect his privacy, able to solve Phillip’s probspent thousands of dollars lem through the first bionic and many years trying to penile implant surgery to be achieve an erection, all to performed in the country. no avail. Impotence drugs, The surgery took place on a penile pump, and injecDecember 28 and marked tions did nothing to help the commencement of a with his dilemma. new partnership between But after a lot of research, Boston Scientific and UrolPhilip came across Dr ogy Care Bahamas to offer Greggory Pinto at Urology a new facet of world-class Care Bahamas in Nassau. medical tourism at DocIt was Dr Pinto who was tors Hospital: cutting edge finally able to solve Philip’s penile implant procedures. problem through the first “I think a lot of people bionic penile implant surhave the misconception gery to be performed in the that this is for old men who country. have lived their lives and I The surgery took place am just trying to give them on December 28, 2019, a second life. But this is for and marked the start of a men who are married and new between have partnership despair in their lives Boston Scientific and because a medical Urolillness ogy Care Bahamas to offer has been robbing them of atheir new erections,” facet of world-class Dr Pinto medical tourism at Doctold Tribune Health. torsPhillip Hospital: cutting edge considers the penile implant procedures. penile implant an answer to It’sprayers. now been three his months since of the “The experience ED

life-changing surgery. So far, things have been going extremely well for him and his wife. He said they are both reaching new levels of pleasure he didn’t know existed.

“Dr Pinto reassured me that I would be the stud of lifegreatest of depression. my dreamsMy anderecmy tile dysfunction was as Ia wife’s wildest fantasies. result of radical was getting zero prostatecerections tomy surgery,” the pastor for many years before the explained. implant surgery, but now penile myAwife lovesprosthesis to tease surme gerycall is an in severe and me option her young marcases man. of erectile dysfuncathon I have been able to attain heights of pleasure tion when all other options that I truly never thought of treatment have been possible.

I am 110 percent exhausted. satisfied livefrom my Men and whoI now suffer life with a permanent smile. diabetes, hypertension and “My wife has disease, been overcardiovascular as joyed well as and those completely with sickle satisfied by often our love cell disease, have making.

The love of making is high incidences erectile completely dysfunction.natural feeling andThe the implant allowspenile us to advanced be spontaneous and advenprosthesis is a highly effecturous.

The with size of my male tive device a very high member is larger than has rate of satisfaction foritboth ever been inand my the entire life,” the patient patient’s he told Tribune partner.

The Health. implantable A penile prosthesis surdevice consists of two inflatgery an option in severe able is cylinders placed within cases of erectile the shaft of thedysfunction penis, and when other options theseallcylinders are have conbeen exhausted. nected to a fluid reservoir Men who suffer implanted in the groinfrom with diabetes, hypertension and a small, easily palpable acticardiovascular disease, as vating device within the well as sac. those with sickle scrotal cellHaving disease, often a studiedhavethe high incidence of erectile nature of the surgery and dysfunction. its success rate, Phillip came advanced toThe believe this route penile would prosthesis is to be a finally offer asaid remedy to his highly effectivecomplaint. device with long-standing a very high rate ofand satisfac“I am married, based tion for both the patient and on numerous conversations the withpatient’s my wife,partner.

I guess The you implantable device consists can say she had mixed emotions (about the surgery).

She was a little apprehensive, but at the same time a little excited, because while the fear was real, the surgery could return a

of two inflatable cylinders placed within the shaft of the penis, and these cylinders are connected to a fluid reservoir implanted in the groin with a small, easily palpable activating device within the scrotal sac.

“The device itself has significant part ofofmy thebody intibecome a part macytruly in our love life,” he and undetectable in said.daily life, but when the my With hope his always heart, moment arises,in I can Phillip left occasion his manhood in rise to the for as the hands of Dr IPinto, who long as I want. am truly blessed. handled Iithave with had careabsoand lutely caution.no discomfort and zero regrets. wife looks “There is My no such thing at and remarks as me a simple surgerythat in she my can’t that I evenone had that the mind,tellespecially penile involvesimplant generalsurgery,” anaessaid Philip. thesia.

However, I had the Philip confidence struggled in with utmost the achieving erections after medical abilities and expeundergoing a radical rience of Dr Pinto; prothat tectorate several provided asurgery level of comfort years ago. procedure Ever since would then, that the things were never be successful,” he the said.same.

He“Iteven struggled is essential to with note depression due his consistthat my faith in Jesus Christ, ent inability God, to become the Almighty has proerect in greatest those intimate vided the level of moments withthe his success wife. of comfort for “The penile implant outhas the surgery.

A positive given me placed a newinlease on come was His care life, it has offilled me that and the hands the surwith joywould and fulfillment,” geons be guided he by said. wasthe in the midst proof a Him “Iand healing very chapter in my life cess dark would also be guided prior the bionic penile by thetosame.” implant, as I had essence Following the in successful been robbed of my procedure, Phillip has manexpehood self-confidence. riencedandsome slight pain, Ibut was ablefeels to blessed physihe not said he cally express love with to once again be ablemy to wife and that tragedy had experience erections. me“From depressed feeling all and indications hopeless. and the reports from the “I am now new man surgeons, the asurgery was and I feel incredible a success.

Now wehappiwait ness every single day.

I now for the healing process to have greater sexual be completed and prowess for the bionic penis to be deployed (for active duty),” said Phillip.

Dr Pinto added: “The device works immediately.

Even for the first 24 hours

BAHAMAS’ FIRST PENILE IMPLANT SURGERY DEEMED A SUCCESS

DR Greggory Pinto with the highly advanced AMS 700 inflatable penile prosthesis.

DR Greggory Pinto with the highly advanced AMS 700 inflatable penile prosthesis. than even in the best days a natural erection and pro- multiple times. I have and by providing and length the patient’s wemy leave the Ipatient with a vides of youth. am thankful full ofrigidity when curvature had no complaints at all necessary full rigidity penis by and up toa 25 percent. full the erection, so these are inflated, for kindness and selfnatural, flac- the regarding the bionic penile penetration.

Careappearance Bahamas for mendedication who haveurologist not had Dr an cidUrology less feel and implant,” said Philip.

“I would conservatively was recently the erection for many it when Greggory Pinto hasyears, shown deflated. named The AMS Bahamian men who are about erectile 50,000 regional by estimate improves their self-esteem.” me in providing this rebirth 700 bionicreferral penis iscentre currently strugglingthatwith have erecBoston for AMS implants were first the forPenile my life,” he said. onlyScientific penile implant on Bahamian dysfunction,menPhilip said, dysfunction. not 700 market penile prosthesis place- tile Penile implants were first the that can increase no longer have It to may because developed in 1973.

Today, as severe to require a developed in 1973.

Today, the girth and length be thanks to advances in the ment procedures.

Boston Scientific’s AMS 700 both Boston Scientific’s 700 of Boston the patient’s penisisbyconup penile medicalprosthesis, field therebut is now it is aa Scientific inflatable penile AMS prostheinflatable peniletechnically prosthe- to 25 percent, according to common permanent solution. occurrence,” said sidered a world-renowned sis is the most sis is the most can only regret not medicalScientific. innovator. Their Dr“IPinto. advanced peniletechnically implant Boston advanced penile implant current “The penile implant has knowing about thetiepenile “Bahamian men their bionic penile available worldwide. available worldwide. implant surgery several and self-worth implantcompletely is seen as areliable revo- self-esteem The AMS 700 penile been The AMS 700 penis penile– and durable, and it always based years ago that Ierectile could on sotheir lutionary advancement implant – or bionic implant – ormost bionic penis in – provides an iron rod have avoided having years and when they don’t in the metreatment of power, is also the popular is also the most popular in erection.

I decide dysfuncwhen I have of despair no any, itrelated affects totheir severe erectile Boston Scientific’s extensive Boston Scientific’sdevices, extensive become social erections,” said.basically life he They tion that androd to Peyronie’s line of inflatable as want line of inflatable sensations • Name been deadhas inside. disease – The extreme curva- live their lives it perfectly mimics adevices, natural flaccid. as – according to medical during love making are changed to preserve the erection and provides full ture of the erect penis. But this procedure will experts it perfectly mimics and ofI can pastor’s anonymity lives from darkThe use the orgasm bionic take their rigidity -when inflated, and intact a natural, flaccid feel and penile implant in men ness to light and make them (erectile dysfunction) appearance when deflated. with Peyronie’s disease rise again...better than they leaves a man emotionally The AMS 700 bionic penis can ensure the develop- have ever have.” debilitated. This physical/ is currently the only penile ment of a healthy, happy, emotional impairment robs * The name was changed implant on the market that fully satisfying sexual life a man of his self worth and

By CARA HUNT three or more non-communicato protect the patient’s manhood that can lead to a can increase both the girth by correcting the penile cmbrennen@tribunemedia.net ble diseases. That means if one of us contracts COVID-19 and S THE impact of he has diabetes, hypertension or COVID-19 continheart disease that person could IT is absolutely essentially that 5. Keep a distance of least six ues to be felt across all those affected by some non- feet from others when in public. very likely die. the world, people communicable disease and those “It is important to understand 6 Eat healthy meals, which are asking what they can do to 60 years over adhere to these life includes a variety of fruit and that COVID-19 attacks the reshelp fight off the virus. piratorycausing system.less It heads for your saving steps: vegetables. unique method. Threading By KENYA ingrown hairs Some studies have shown, for throat and lungs, this makes it Here are the ten steps you can 7.

Keep physical active and get MORTIMER-McKENZIE can be done on all areas (hair is removed in its natuexample, that Vitamin D might follow to stay healthy. fordirection oxygen to your adequate rest. of the face. It can lastdifficult up ral of get hairtogrowth) play a part in helping to boost system and you are unable 1. Take your medication and 8. Quit smoking and stay away to four weeks on an aver• It’sifless painful your system in a bid to follow medical advice.

AREimmune you still shaving to receive sufficient oxygen from anyone who is smoking. age.

Threading offers • Softer and smoother off depilatory the virus. creams 2. Secure at least one month 9. Avoid using coping strategies your body’s ability to manage orfend using anti-aging benefits because skin (sugaring exfoliates the A report from facial Children’s supply of your medication or that involve alcohol or drugs. conditions as asthma, to remove unwanted there is no heat applied skin bysuch only removing dead 10. Talk to others about how you Health non-profit longer if possible. hypertension and heart and bodyDefense hair? If -so,a you to the delicate skin in the skin cells and not disease live skin 3. Wear a mask if you are are feeling. chaired

by Robert F Kennedy Jr will decrease.

This means your need to read on; you will under eye area. However, cells).

“Maintaining a healthy lifestyle - suggested Vitamin body is unable to fight learn of two that unique meth-D does coughing or sneezing or in public. it is important that you • Can remove very short 4. Wash your hands with soap can boast your immunity and help play roleremoval. in fending off viruses, back and this could ods of ahair visit a seasoned threading hairs although studies have mostly and water for at least 20 seconds you not become seriously affected death.”

Bahamians professionalMANY for the best • mean Sugaring reduces and or ill,” said Dr Duane Sands. been carried out on previous or use an alcohol-based sanitiser.

He also Shaving experience. have pre-existing diminishes hair noted growththat virus casesisdue the most COVID-19 mental health is Shaving stilltothe conditions with makes your hair appear • Sugar paste is water soloutbreak being so will make difference. equal paste as important popular method of new. remov- thickerthat almost half the uble (sugar because of theablunt Body sugaring left on the Maintaining healthy conditions - which unfortunately hypertension This is nation and be easily encouraged ing Two hair. Irish Using studies a razorlast to week suf- skin can angle of removing the hair.a an already ancient cleaned and kidney and also suggested Vitamin D could an essential com- is almost half the population.

Bahamians to mainshave is quick, simple and fering from Why lifestyle is it will thatbe shavEgyptian method of chronic hair off with warm water). chronic disEYEBROW threading help you47 achieve those of perfect brows. lungremoval.

“As can a nation, per cent play a role,However, with researchers ponent fighting inexpensive. it ing clogs your to pores?

It is COVID-19, Manyconditions. view it as • tain It is close a cost contact effective are at a higher population fromhair highandease suggesting takebest 20 tobecause 50 said Sands with family friends doesn’t meanadults it is the theDrhair is said onlyin the hairminisexposesour your skin to suffers coarser monitor the superior method of hair method of hairand removal risk.

26 per cent of leave micrograms of Vitamin try’satlatest conference on blood albeit a distance, method; it comes with itsD each removed the press surface, these chemicals andpressure can the andhow long you these removal. There are many • It isatsafe to use onand deliAlso in risk categous of diabetes. day. Shaving removes the leavingthe pandemic. their days with rouflaws. hair trapped in the skin if its sensitive.

There creams on your skin. reasons why you should try fillcate areas of the body ries are those with asthma, “My fellow literatureangles also and points hair out follicles.

As of This yesterday the tines and structure which would hairThe at different over morning, a is no guarantee either that Bahamians, The sugaring: the morbidly make the days of quarantine less continuesThreading to rank sickle cell disease, youfrom should takecaushigh doses had the recorded 47 hair caseswillBahamas just the not surface, period country of time gives skin all be removed.

• It’s all natural obese, those who are immuno- stressful. So there you have it, most obese nations of the Vitamin D without consulting and eight deaths - someUnfortunately, of whom among ing potential for painful a discoloured appearance. this the method This is inan ancient There is nowith chance of it’s more than just hair such• as persons the region of the Indian Americas and ofcomprised your doctor. had pre-existing conditions withit’smental health ingrown hairs. Shaving also of removing hair and method remov- getting burned (the paste Patients is removal, skin care.

HIV/AIDS, those with cancer on Planet Earth.”

There are more questions than which may have had an impact. challenges were urged to concauses discoloration over Hair removal creams shaving may be the best ing hair, using 100and percent hot, just warm) those onnever medicines such as tinue taking their medication that thread those to remove answers so far - but Minister Dr Sands out the for He time in individuals with Depilatory creamspointed are method men’s explained facial cotton • It’s sanitary (bacteria • Kenya Mortimeror chemotherapy.

60 or older and those with steroids It of Health Dr Duane Sands not has much higherdifferent danger from patientshair, face if aged and to McKenzie reach out isfor darker skin tones. because removing hair unwanted facial hair. don’t live in large amounts anassistance anti-aging “Two of five Bahamians have conditions such as diabetes, highlighted you can take already suffer chronic they need It is a mythsteps that shaving shavingthey in have the sense that from below the hair follicle is also one of the safest of sugar. This is also should the skin careit. specialist at makes your hair grow back only surface hair is being can create other issues for methods of removing facial reason sugar was used the Baha Retreat Antithicker. It is true that the removed.

Depilatory men’s beards. It would be hair. Eyebrow thread- during the Civil War to kill Aging Spa. Visit www. hair bulb becomes larger. creams have harsh chemi- best to choose a depilatory ing can help you achieve infections). baharetreat.com or e-mail However, shaving only cals and removing your cream that works best for perfect brows due to its • There is less breakage, kenya@baharetreat.com.

TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY HEALTHY AND FIGHT COVID-19

A ANCIENT METHODS OF HAIR REMOVAL THE TEN STEPS TO GOOD HEALTH

PAGE 10 TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Gene mutations can wpredispose advancesBahamian in men to prostate cancer state treatments B8WOMAN

0

THE TRIBUNE

THE UROLOGY DOCTOR IS IN...

Dr Greggory Pinto

Ultrasound imaging does not generally show the location of prostate cancer lesions. The ultrasound guidance allows for the anatomical directed biopsy of the prostate. Ultrasound guided prostate biopsies can miss prostate cancer altogether or biopsy low grade prostate cancer and miss higher grade prostate cancer. It is estimated that 25% of ultrasound guided prostate biopsies under stage or fail to detect prostate cancer that is present. Urologists can now use MRI prostate images in real time with ultrasound guidance and specifically biopsy suspicious prostate lesions and thus provide highly accurate prostate cancer detection. MRI prostate imaging has led to a considerable reduction world-wide in unnecessary prostate biopsies, whereby biopsies are not performed if the MRI has not shown prostate cancer suspected lesions.

PARP (Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase) inhibitors for prostate cancer are an important advancement in prostate cancer research and treatment in 2019. PARP is a substance that blocks an enzyme in cells. In prostate cancer treatment PARP may aid in keeping cancer cells from repairing their damaged DNA, leading these prostate cancer cells to die, as a part of targeted prostate cancer treatment. PARP inhibitor treatment has an important role in BRCA gene mutation related prostate cancer. Research continues with great THE BRCA1 gene - future whose promise structure cancer.

for the use of PARP inhibitors in may determine their lifetime risk treating prostate cancer. of prostate cancer and be even The development of immuno- more diligent in early prostate therapy and future vaccines for cancer diagnosis. Targeted more prostate cancer is currently being intense prostate cancer screening investigated and has shown great for Bahamian men with BRCA potential. One type of prostate gene 1 or 2 mutations will help cancer treatment vaccine called prevent prostate cancer deaths Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) has by enabling earlier detection in FDA approval for the manage- this high-risk group for prostate ment of advanced metastatic cancer. prostate cancer patients with few Doctors Hospital has availsymptoms. Provenge helps the able to residents of the Bahamas immune system to target prostate the state-of-the-art 3T MRI magcancer cells. netic resonance imaging, that is An important development in an important advancement in the prostate cancer on the horizon diagnosis, surveillance and manis a simple urine test introduced agement of prostate cancer locally. in 2019, that makes use of urine Prostate cancer is a very treatsamples taken at home. The PUR able disease but yet hundreds of (Prostate Urine Risk) test has Bahamian men are diagnosed been pioneered to detect aggres- every year at an incurable stage sive prostate cancer and predict and far too many die unnecessarwhich patients will require pros- ily from this disease. tate cancer treatment within the From the age of 40 years old, next five years. The PUR test has have a PSA (prostate specific the advantage of men being able antigen) blood test every year. to provide urine samples at home Early detection is the key to the without the need for an uncom- cure of prostate cancer. fortable rectal exam. The PUR test looks at gene expression in • Dr Greggory Pinto is a Bahaurine samples and provides criti- mian urologist who has trained in cal information as to whether South Africa, Germany, France prostate cancer if detected, is low and India. He is a member of the risk or an aggressive form. The European Association of UroloPUR test research continues and gists. Dr Pinto can be reached at it will hopefully be part of future Urology Care Bahamas at the prostate cancer diagnosis.

Surgical Suite, Centreville MediGenetic testing for BRCA gene cal Centre, Collins Avenue and mutations are available locally Sixth Terrace. Call 326 1929, welcome@urologycareso that men, particularly with e-mail a strong family history of pros- bahamas.com, or visit www. cancer breast istate pictured - andand BRCA2 genescancer, are both urologycarebahamas.com. common in The Bahamas, and can play a part in both breast cancer and prostate

WHAT does prostate cancer have in common with breast multiple clinical trials has shown cancer? that MRI can be Themultiparametric answer is the BRCA 1 and invaluable tool in theBRCA diagno-1 2angene mutations.

The sis, staging active and 2 genesand were firstsurveillance discovered prostate cancer. Pre prostate inof1994. biopsy of MRI for has been a BRCAuse stands BReast significant game changer in the CAncer associated gene. Women detection and stratifying of proswith the inherited BRCA 1 or tate cancer.

MRImutations prostate cancer BRCA 2 gene are at imagingrisk canofwith high sensitivity higher developing breast and specificity cancer, ovariandetermine cancer, which colon/ patients require prostate bioprectal cancer and pancreatic sies and the imaging of the MRI cancer in their prostate allowslifetimes. cognitive or real This BRCA 1 and 2 gene time image directed biopsies of mutations faultslesions. aren’t Trajust suspicious or prostate an increased cancercancer risk has for ditionally, prostate women. been diagnosed using biopsy neeMendirected can also BRCA dles intoinherit the prostate gene which puts them glandmutations, with ultrasound guidance. at risk for not just breast cancer, colon/rectal cancer, melanomas and pancreatic cancer, but also with 8.6-fold increased risk prostate cancer. of developing prostate cancer African ancestry is one of the prostate cancer.

Every human, men and women in a lifetime and the BRCA 1 greatest risk factors for developmutation 3.9 appear fold ing prostate cancer. have BRCA 1 and BRCAyour 2 genes. knees gene to the lower related cracks can in the risk walls of at developing BRCA genes do not cause breast back.

Yourincreased chiropractor any level. And Men feet with the BRCA 2 gene cancer. mutation are eight times more cancer or prostate cancer any prostate canordetermine the cause of that aren’t properly aligned Men BRCA 2 gene likely other cancers. your discomfort andwith rec-thecan contribute to stress and to be diagnosed with prosmutation are also eight times tate cancer and at a younger age, In fact, BRCA genes play a roleproper ommend treatment. pressure at the hip joint. likely breast 61 years in preventing breast cancer and more If traumatic injury suchto develop Your feet also help to old age versus an average cancer before the ageyouof against 80 age of 64 years old for men withas falling on the hip, a protect heelBRCA 2 gene has an important carcancer. accidentthan etc. has beenwithout strike this shock.gene Everyout time men the BRCA 2 gene mutation. role in preventing prostate ruled out, mutation. and the pain the heel of your foot hits The BRCA 2 gene mutation can These genes help repair DNA seemslead to lessenItor away the a shockalso wave is go estimated thatground, one in eight double the risk of developing breaks that could potentially completely when will you’re travels upcancer througha your develop breast more aggressive form of prosto cancer formation; they are women feet,lifetime. you body, all the way totate your their Approximately cancer. tumor suppressor genes. resting or offinyour maythese have a postural The healthier andthe Bahamian population, 55 to 65imbalpercenthead. of women with In In certain individuals, ance, a footthe problem and/ more stable your BRCA 1 gene mutation will body thereisis a disproportionately high BRCA tumor suppressor genes or afuncleg length inequality the more likely shock of BRCA 1 and BRCA develop breast cancer by the agethis number have mutations and do not that could be the cause of is either dissipated or mutations in both men htion gravity and heel strike 2 gene properly in their important of 70 years old. your hip pain. BRCA 1 geneabsorbed safely.

But if yourwomen and unfortunately ock if in it suppressing is good health mutations can and role or preventing The feet are the foun- feet are not in their corhcancer good formation. posture ensuralso lead to a more aggressive this results in large numbers of dation of your body; they rectly functioning position a When stable frame.

But if form of breast cancer. women being diagnosed in the a BRCA 2 support gene iseverything above at all times, more of this u mutated, have slight An estimated one in 300 CauBahamas with an aggressive form it ispostural not effective at balances and/or mis- them, including the hips. shock is allowed to move repairing broken DNA and help- casian American men have the of breast cancer at an earlier age gnment, those forces can Feet function something through the body and care to ensure that you BRCA 2ofgene mutation.

Some and Bahamian ing to prevent prostate benefit men from being properdiaghip, the basement a weaken other joints includdually cause a varietyboth of like studies have determined of cancer, breast cancer certainif the kneeaggressive and foot forms alignment. house; basement ing the hips. that nosed with nful conditions which and the incidence of BRCA 2 mutaprostate cancer at earlier ages other cancers.

You have nothing to lose doesn’t support the weight There is no time like the y affect not only your menchiropractic is than menbutwithout BRCA cell in our bodyof contains that painthe in your hip. 2 the floors tions aboveinit,African stress American present to start s, Every but anything from gene mutation.

DNA and this DNA is continually approximately one in 100.

Those of Ashkenazi Jewish A pioneering gene-targeted damaged by various factors.

The cells in our body undergo ancestry have a one in 40 drug that has been licenced for a daily cycle of DNA damage and incidence of BRCA 2 gene breast and ovarian cancer treatment, has promising benefits for repair. The repair mechanisms are mutations.

It is estimated that one in men with prostate cancer and the controlled by genes such as the six men of African ancestry BRCA 2 gene mutations. The BRCA 1 and 2 genes.

BRCA 2 genes play a far will develop prostate cancer in drug olaparib has shown to have more important role in prevent- their lifetime. Men of African an 80 percent positive treatment ing prostate cancer in men than or Caribbean ancestry in the response for BRCA 2 gene mutathe BRCA 1 genes. The BRCA United Kingdom have a one in tion men with prostate cancer.

The drug Olaparib targets 2 gene mutation is associated five lifetime risk of developing

WITH HIP PAIN

cancer cells that aren’t able to repair their damaged DNA due to BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutations.

Phase 3 trials of this promising drug are ongoing and gene targeted prostate cancer treatment may play an important role in prostate cancer management in the near future.

The BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutation is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern from a mother or a father.

Each child of a parent with the BRCA gene mutation has a 50 % (1 in 2) chance of inheriting the gene mutation.

Men having either a BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutation does not necessarily mean that they will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime; it just increases the risk when compared to men without the gene mutation.

BRCA 1 and 2 gene • Dr Susan Donald can mutation tests are available be reached at Life Chiro- locally.

Some the available tests look practicofCentre, 9B Village specifically harmful BRCA 1 Road. Call at 393-2774. or BRCA 2 gene mutations that have already been identified in another member of the family.

Bahamian men with a strong family history of breast and or prostate cancer should be very diligent in obtaining annual prostate cancer screening in the form of a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests every year starting at the age of 40. Men with known BRCA 2 or 1 gene mutations

or a strong family history of first degree relatives being diagnosed before the age of 50 with prostate cancer should start prostate cancer screening at the age of 35.

Bahamian men should also consider genetic testing for BRCA 1 and 2 gene mutations so that they are made aware of their increased risk for developing prostate cancer in their lifetime. Men are also at risk of developing breast cancer.

The good news: the prostate cancer specific survival rate for early detected, low-risk organ confined prostate cancer at 10 years is approximately 99 percent.

Prostate cancer is a very treatable disease, with an excellent potential cure rate, when diagnosed early.

Early detection for prostate cancer offers excellent cure rates.

Seek comprehensive, confidential and compassionate care for prostate cancer screening and management.

EAR, OU CLASSES FOR MOMS-TO-BE GO ONLINE DURING QUARANTINE

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Reporter acadet@tribunemedia.net

• Dr Greggory Pinto is a board certified Bahamian urologist and laparoscopic surgeon. He has trained in Germany, South Africa and France, and is a member of the European Association of Urology. He can be contacted at The Surgical Suite, Centreville Medical Centre, #68 Collins Avenue/Sixth Terrace; telephone: 326-1929.

is an emotional time, future generations. The and being pregnant team caters to the during a pandemic unique and ever only makes the emochanging needs WITH the ongoing tional burden that of a mother, spequarantine due to the much heavier. cifically during COVID-19 pandemic, the “This certainly the pregnancy team at Prenatal Pamper- is not what any and post-partum ing debated whether they mother, especially periods. should cancel their planned first-time mothThey have been Spring classes. But Brenika ers, envisioned the providing perinaSmith, a certified childbirth journey would be tal spa services for educator, and her team like. So many milethree years now ultimately agreed: “Babies stones have been and proud to be are still coming, and babies taken away from trusted by moms don’t get cancelled.” them due to social and doctors alike, So Prenatal COACH Pampering, distancing, for offering treatments HEALTH also known as “A Mother’s example a baby that are therapeuSpa”, decided to make its shower. I wanted tic and relaxing. At classes available online. to provide access home services are that if youofare the reallyvirtual serious you Topics to childbirth also provided for wouldn’t wait until the new year classes include: COVID-19 classes so expectwomen who to start working a new you. precautions and onchanges ing moms can still actively while at are on bed guide to They say setting New Year’s to thealso maternity hospital participate in some part of home is to reduce the level CHILDBIRTH educa-the rest for a make informedtruly deciworking on becoming failure and that you should give can stay on track together. of fear and uncertainty that resolutions is a complete waste of system; coping techniques their journey and increase portion tor Brenika Smith of match version of yourself. up on setting goals and working will cover: time. can lead to We chronic stress, sions that best for early and active labour; their chances of a satisfying of their Prenatal Pamperand is an exciting time and I pregThis towards them.

It might just mean can • cause Goal-setting action values plan I wholeheartedly which healthand their stages of labour, anddisagree when with birth memory,” she said. ing is now sharing am grateful that I get to share nancy, you believe can try another way to in development. both of the these simply underbecause you“I that both mom and priorities.” to go to hospital; firmly that problems helpful tips for with you so that we all can be in or who get it done.

• Progress tracking and Prenatal Pamand you alone determine when baby. standing birth hormones every mom benefits from expecting mothers a better place at the end of 2020. may find This being the first month of the monitoring. you are ready to make the change.

She added: “I want all pering is located plus anatomy and physiolan informed pregnancy and in online classes.

You deserve to be happy andit difficult year, I am going to be sharing in • Building your support system.

So if this is the time of year that in the Advanced ogy; communication and birth, and that every family parents to feel confident, youCentre deserve to get everything you deptha with youhealthy my top strategies topics are essential you decided is best for you, then Family Medicine supported These and three powerful decision-making skills; deserves safe, to leave their let’s get to it! developingI ahad system will navigate to creating structure willSpawant. let’s getsupport, to it. and that Medi on So Shirley as they theirthe path labour and breast- birth to experience. to that homes shortly notalternative only keep you with enable you to and be successful.

Now basics. if you are anything like Street. The Ms Smith said after giving birth. through pregnancy feeding find an way on to track Ethan your goals all year, but that about this is it thatwas you can me you extremely have set imporNew Year’s created• You to can sup-contact“I’m birth.

The best goalpart of each class It was provide the information inensure a Quant Lamaze internaethan@elite-wellnesssoluyou of smash them. Iand will be using then take accurate these same principles. resolutions in the to past and probport, inform,at celebrate is to offer essential, tant for Ms Smith create this time quarantine tional certified childbirth Instagram(LCCE at @ ) and a forpractices. my personal Andinformation apply them toand otherpamper areas tions.com ablynew failed sticking to them. women, or all on educator andjourunbiased this virtual platform for It’s socialexamples distancing ethanquant.

OK, that doesn’t mean you areThe a overall ney, past and present, so that we of your life to ensure that you are moms-to-be, as pregnancy goal for moms that moms can use as a working towards stronger certified massage therapist

ETHAN QUANT

specialising in pregnancy and post-partum body work.

I was raised in a family of predominantly women.

My grandmother birthed five girls who later became mothers and raised children of their own.

So besides my professional encounters with women, in my personal life I have witnessed the positive impact women have in the household and community when they are properly supported and nurtured,” said Ms Smith.

So far, the feedback from expecting mothers about the virtual classes has been so positive that Ms Smith said they are considering keeping them going even once things go back to normal.

“This something we hope to continue, even after the lockdown is lifted.

Although the preference is still in-person classes, I feel the online platform is perfect for moms on the Family Islands that may not have access to a local childbirth educator,” she said.

LIFE LINES – ATHINGS MINDONECHANGER THE SECRET IS TAKING DAY AT A TIME

THE TRIBUNE

TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2020, PAGE 11

THE THIS current year that is restrictions almost done imposed on filled our with movements are has been many changes frustrating but although they areone working for me, and or two andwere are more for our We thanprotection. a little challengcaning all atagree on that. the time, they The havebest now mostly potenthing to doturned right out nowtoishave to accept tially positive outcomes as I look these circumstances, challenging forward. as they may be.

I don’t reviewnot myjust year All Usually of us are vulnerable at the Year’s to this virustraditional but to anyNew infections stage, butwhich wait until or diseases showmyupbirthday from in February to take stock the time to time. The only way to of stop negatives and positives before the drawing spread isa to do what we have line under them and been asked - self-isolating, sanitisvisualising what I would like ing to andmake distancing arecoming in a happenifinwethe public space. This means me, you months. and everyone, of inusa totally have This year isnone ending special powers which magidifferent way thanmight I originally callyanticipated act as a shield to from protect us. it but far feeling is an ending I am imbued with Doctors and – nurses are not an uplifting of the spirit as well as exempt from getting COVID19; gratitude and postheya deep may sense be a of relative, friend or itivity that at the neighbour, weI have need arrived to protect place am supposed to for be emothem as Ithey try to do us. tionally intellectually.

Quite They can’t and help you if they are a surprise to me, I take quarantined.

We although need toassettle a moment to really think about down and adopt a “take one it, there are several people day who at ahave time” attitude. To calmmental our contributed to this anxiety, let’s bydeal withme theto here shake-up causing think anddifferently now, not and what may orsome mayof re-assess not my happen tomorrow thoughts or the day less productive and after.

The safety measures we work habits. are asked to take are based on

Life lines

Victoria Sarne “Sometimes we all need a Life-line and sometimes all we need is a Life-line” scientific/medical evidence. It is reliably predictable that if we do We all need help of some sort not regulate in this way, from time toourselves time, even helpers more people fallbeen ill blessed and the need help andwill I have virus keepold circulating for an with will friends, and relatively extended as long can new, whoperiod supported me as in it varifind us. It’s before not picky ous hosts ways - -that’s sometimes I choosing its victims. doesn’t even recognised that It I needed their assistance andorsometimes matter who we are where we live.

of there us like our lib-my despite that, life, whenafter he was released are inforthis because of just None by being andhaving being who professional some well. Even an situation independent erties or feeling as ifprompting he wasfrom neither bitter nor angry. self-starter the selfishness or showed thoughtlessness they are.curtailed An invisible conneca friend, I somelike me, he we runs are under arrest. Wewhat skeptically We are inenlisted no waytheinhelp such dire of we a few who awrongly tion throughhouse and between me that all need push of assumed in this a democratic societyof a and unfair circumstances he sort thatfrom our time actions only othhave conseallexpect beings on planet earth and life coach to help me focus on as some to time, that should able do whata specific was; most of usfor have forgetusstuck and in affect we all we need each be other toto thrive, outcome the food, book drink, erwise quences we tend to old no-one friends and strangers surprise, surprise, and If thought we want, when wealike. wantSomeand howand other necessities of discovlife and habits are else. ever wepatterns. needed aItlesson to times that sense connectedness I still had lessons learnin was helpful and all very we want, evenofwhen we have noeredcomfortably under ato roof, our incredibly show us that we are connected, toparticular somethingdestination larger runs very or– a normal necessary, slightly humbling refreshing discover in myself has proin mind surroundings.

The lesson like to it or not, COVID19 strongly in me but atwe’d other times That in itself was a new energy enthusiasm not lethal, anything specific like to do.experience. is that although he was physically vided and a nasty, sometimes gets overlay ofandmessage – thatof no matter his how only for my work but my life in Wecovered need towith havethe reassurance incapable changing particudemonstration.

Person to person, day-to-day and business think we have In my previous column I councertainty busyness that freedom of choicemuch larwecircumstance ormastered, location he general. did community to community, and then it is timeWe, to stop, reflect is allow alwayshis another wrote about and this - and is always ours. among otherstherenot mind layer to betoimpristry to confidence country worldwide and re-direct my thinking. reveal and another perspective to kind of help for emotional, perall over the world, are currently oned, no matter how unjust the now we have to live with that.

After several false starts at help us find the answers that we sonal or professional reasons, unable to do this as voluntary selfpunishment.

He trained himself to We have far more hope than attempting to write a novel (which seek. with the right coach, is a valuable isolation has not beenupadhered patient, summoning up courage, Mandela hadI initially have invariably ended being to Sobe this is a thank you to David tool for changingmust lives,have which by everyone.

It’s aafter natural reac-Holis, tenacity to enable becauserecommend. we do know that even ditched in frustration two or who isand veryendurance generous with can personally Skeption chapters, for us to we arehis him survive his long ordeal one nothire be over as three as feel I hadasnoif clear timetooffering a 30-minute tical nothough more –this aftermay all, we prisoners in Iour own the homes. day at free a time.

His story(He was one as we would like, it will idea of where wanted char-ButWhatsApp consultation. trainersquickly at the gym for our bodies, the key word is “feel”.

Instead that should been called eventually be over acters or the story to go next) out ofis currently livinghave in Greece).

I so ait makes even more sense ifto we are of“feel” the blue, the one I was our always his gentle as hegave qui- it that get ourpatient. minds in shape to we givethink us rationwe must employ brainslikedtragedy, yetmanner he never The more meant to write presented itself in etly description, but probingly askedthink me all possible lives. is asked of us and and think. didn’t of itour as bestally, do what my If head I am happily right lost. questions to direct my up by • Victoria is anas entrewe and make thenow effort, we canthe time He refused to give accept Sarne each day it comes, the two-thirds of attitude the way and through it attention to what really wanted preneursafer andwe writer.

She headed control our feel more cultivating theI ability to overcome are. Think - one day at a and know exactly where if it is going and helped by menot define a teamtime to establish shelter for comfortable because none of usto achieve his circumstances, succumb- and youa will get through it.

- are a very satisfying feeling. Good I intended to get to that That’s abused women and Sarne childrenis inan entreactually incarcerated, the onlyhowing to emotional reactions.

• Victoria orprison bad, read unread when pubHe then guidedpower me through and was its writer. first chairbarsor I see are the ones in ourpoint. where personal lies, in Canada our preneur and She headed lished, the sense of achievement very specific steps to identify woman. You can reach her at heads.

There was a recent graphic brains.

So let’s use them. a team to establish a shelter for will be knowing that I accom- and concentrate my thoughts on victoria.conversations@gmail. on Facebook of goal.

Nelson Mandelathe practical Our scenario abused women and children in plished my creative and logicaldoesn’t efforts even com, visit www.lifelineswritingwith the step caption of hisit out veryinrealI needed remotely resemble his my - forservice.com, a Canada and467-1178. was its first chairThe next of getting to make to adjust or call time served in jail.

27 years! startway we ofaggravated YouHolis can can reach the public domain requires a dif-Youbrain’s processing this and probLife woman. coach David be her at all know storyalthough and thePR injus-where lemnecessary ourselves by not embracing ferent skill the set and abandoning old reachedvictoria.conversations@gmail. via WhatsApp at + 33 6 ticepublicity done to him by locking thethat restrictions were com, and is another parthim of uphabits no longerwe serve me asked 73 07 80 66.visit www.lifelineswritingserin isolation at Robben Island, yet

to accept for our own good. We

vice.com or call 467-1178.

THE APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE TO GIVE BARBIE A MAKEOVER

THE WEATHER REPORT SALT LAKE CITY Associated Press

Nadkarni joined a team astronaut in 1965. of female scientists advising “Barbie allows girls to try Mattel as it made the line of on new roles through stoWHEN Nalini Nadkarni dolls that includes a marine rytelling by showing them 5-Dwas ay aForecast TODAY TONIGHT WEDNESDAY SATURDAY kid, she’d run home biologist, THURSDAY astrophysicist, FRIDAY they can be anything and, from school, climb into one photojournalist, conserva- through our partnership of the eight maple trees in tionist and entomologist. with National Geographic, her parents’ backyard and Sales began in the girls can now imagine themspend an afternoon there summer. As a thank-you, selves as an astrophysicist, ORLANDO Partly sunny, warm Mainly clear Partly sunny,Mattel warm Sunshine, warm and sunny,marine warm Sunshine, humid and with an apple and a book. sent Nadkarni aMostly polar biologist and and humid and humid humid and humid warm High: 93° F/34° C That time in the treetops one-of-a-kind doll with tree- more,” said Lisaremaining McKnight, Low: 74° F/23° C High: climbing 86° High: 86° manger High: 86° set the tone for the rest of gear and86° full dark High: general of Barbie High: 85° Low: 75° Low: 76° 74° her life: She’s now a forest hair woven Low: with strands of Low: Dolls74° for Mattel. Low: 74° AccuWeather RealFeel AccuWeather RealFeel AccuWeather RealFeel RealFeel AccuWeather RealFeel ecologist at theTAMPA University white thatAccuWeather made the doll AccuWeather It’s RealFeel not known, though, 94°-80° F 78° F 93°-81° F 95°-82° F 95°-80° F 94° F High: 89° F/32° C of Utah who’s dedicated resemble the scientist. how career Barbies might The exclusiveholds AccuWeather RealFeelcreated Temperature islook an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure Low: 76° F/24° C ECOLOGIST Nalini Nadkarni a Barbie to like and elevation on the human body—everything that affects howFor warm Nadkarni, or cold a person feels. the high and the lowaspirations. for the day. her career to studying rain her when she’s climbing into the theTemperatures compa- reflectaffect kids’ A treetops to study the rainforest forest canopies.

N canopy.

Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP ny’s investment in the dolls 2014 study by Oregon State She’s also always looking reflects a broader culturalalmanac University found that girls for new ways to get people to re-fashion the iconic W SheE scoured thrift stores shift toward recognisingStatistics are for Nassau through p.m. yesterday who played with 2the dolls ABACO interested in science, from dolls as a scientist-explorer and women in science,N math andTemperature told researchers they could S eBay for Barbie dolls 82° F/28° C that could spark High ...................................................

86° F/30° fashion made with nature in rubber boots rather than and enlisted help from vol-High:technology do fewer jobs than boys —C Low .................................................... 77° F/25° C E Low: 76° F/24° C W 8-16 knots imagery to science lectures high heels. if they played with aC unteer seamstresses. She an appreciation for scienceNormaleven high .......................................

81° F/27° low ........................................

69° F/20° C at the state prison.

Barbie. called the creation “Treetop even among kids Swho don’tNormaldoctor “Lots of girls, and some WEST PALM BEACH Last year’s high ................................. 88° F/31° C “I’ve tried for years little boys, love Barbie,” end up entering the field. Last year’sThe study didn’t 73° examHigh: 91° F/33° C and began selling Barbie” low ...................................

F/23° C 7-14 knots Low: 78° F/26°at C cost on her website. and years to bring the sci- Nadkarni said. “It’s almost Mattel said in a state-Precipitation ine the girls’ reasoning, but them p.m. yesterday .................................

0.00” ence I do and understand aspirational, speculated that Last year, Mattel began ment that the purpose ofAs of 2researchers they want to FT. LAUDERDALE FREEPORT to date ................................................. 2.69” to people outside of aca- be Barbie.”

High: 89° F/32° C Barbie dolls for the last 60Year Barbie might be an inherN High: 86° F/30° C working with National GeoNormal year to date ..................................... 5.30” F/25° C 15 years Low: F/24° C demia,” sheE said. years has been to “inspire ently sexualised doll, said graphic to create a 76° new line ThatLow: was77°about W Her childhood memories ago. Nadkarni said Bar- of scientist Barbies. Nad- the limitless potential in associate professor Aurora S particularly intermade her bie-maker Mattel MIAMI wasn’t karni has a longstanding every girl,” pointing out Sherman, who worked on ELEUTHERAthe paper.

Forecasts and graphics provided by ested7-14 inknots reaching children. interested in the idea that Barbie was portrayed then, High: 90° F/32° Crelationship with National High: 81° F/27° C AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020 NASSAU F/26° C Geographic, so when the After her own 6-year- so she decided Low: in other science and to 79° redo Low:math76° F/24° C Putting the same doll in High: 85° F/29° C long before old daughter asked for a dolls herself, using gear she non-profit reached out for based careers a professional outfit likely Low: 75° F/24° C Barbie, Nadkarni decided collected. the new line, including as an won’t do much to change help, she quickly agreed.

N KEY WEST CAT ISLAND E W ®

High: 88° F/31° C Low: 82° F/28° C

High: 81° F/27° C Low: 75° F/24° C

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ANDROS

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

TM

Apr. 14

E

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7-14 knots

perceptions about what women can do, she said.

But it might help to use it as a starting point for conuV inDex toDay versations about women in science and math.

“Its really going to depend on how that doll is experienced, and what The higher AccuWeather Index number, the adults are thedoing toUVdrive need for eye and skin protection. home greater thatthemessage,” she said. tiDes For assaugives Barbie’s iconnstatus the doll cultural High sway, Ht.(ft.) and Low Ht.(ft.) theToday new 1:40 dolls have the a.m.

2.8 8:15 a.m. 0.2 potential to thep.m. 0.2 2:10 normalise p.m.

2.1 8:16 idea of women in2.6science Wednesday 2:43 a.m.

9:20 a.m. 0.3 and engineering, 3:16 p.m. said 2.1 Kris 9:22 p.m. 0.4 Macomber, a sociology pro-a.m. 0.4 Thursday 3:47 a.m.

2.5 10:21 4:20 p.m.

2.1 10:27 p.m. 0.4 fessor at Meredith College in Raleigh, North 4:45 a.m. Carolina.

2.5 11:15 a.m. 0.3 Friday p.m.have 2.2 been 11:25 p.m. 0.4 Barbie 5:17 sales increasing as a.m. the becomes Saturday 5:37 2.5 12:01 p.m. 0.3 6:05different p.m.

2.3 body --------available in Sunday and 6:22 a.m.

2.5 12:15 shapes careers, buta.m. 0.3 6:47so p.m.much 2.5 a12:42 there’s only toyp.m. 0.2 a.m.

2.5 1:00 a.m. 0.2 canMonday do to7:03 change broader 7:26 p.m.

2.6 1:18 p.m. 0.1 attitudes about what professions chosen by girls as theysgrow up, m she said. un anD oon “Barbie does not hold all 6:48 a.m. Moonrise 1:38 a.m. theSunrise power to change cul- 12:27 Sunset 7:32 p.m. Moonset p.m. ture,” Macomber said. “But Last First New Full it does contribute.”

Apr. 22

Apr. 30

May 7

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 81° F/27° C Low: 75° F/24° C

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

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High: 85° F/29° C Low: 77° F/25° C

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LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

7-14 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 83° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

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

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS

tonight’s lows.

RAGGED ISLAND High: 82° F/28° C Low: 78° F/26° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 86° F/30° C Low: 78° F/26° C

N

N E

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High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

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8-16 knots

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

Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday: Today: Wednesday:

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

WAVES 3-6 Feet 3-5 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 3-5 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 1-2 Feet 3-6 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 Feet 4-8 Feet 4-7 Feet 1-2 Feet 1-3 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 2-4 Feet 1-3 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 74° F 82° F 82° F 73° F 74° F 80° F 80° F 78° F 78° F 82° F 84° F 81° F 82° F 80° F 80° F 80° F 79° F 79° F 79° F 79° F 80° F 80° F 80° F 79° F 79° F