05302022 BUSINESS

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MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

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Gov’t owed $261m taxes over last two fiscal years

‘Swinging for the fences’ as tax breaks hit $486m

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Government is owed more than $261m in “outstanding arrears” that were due for payment from three key revenue streams within the 21-month period to end-March 2022, it has been revealed.

Information culled from the Department of Inland Revenue’s (DIR) systems, and disclosed with the 2022-2023 Budget communication, show that some $95.1m which become due for payment during the 2020-2021 fiscal year from VAT, Business Licence fees and real property taxes was uncollected as at May 2022 when the Budget was prepared.

The $95.1m was broken down into $16.874m in VAT arrears; some $8.867m in past due Business Licence fees; and $69.36m in uncollected real property tax. The main contributor to the real property tax delinquency was identified as commercial properties, mainly those owned by businesses or subject to “mixed use”, which accounted for $38.022m or

• ‘Arrears’ due from VAT, property tax, Business Licence • Top official: We’re going ‘to ensure every $1 collected’ • All major revenue sources in compliance crackdown 54.8 percent - more than half - of the sum outstanding.

Vacant property generated another $22.87m in real property tax arrears, just under one-third of the total amount, while residential and owner-occupied properties were identified as responsible for $2.179m and $6.288m of the 2020-2021 arrears, respectively. These arrears stem from a period that coincided with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These sums were shown to have increased further in the nine months

between July 2021 and March 2022, which represents the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. Some $63.381m in outstanding VAT payments were said to be due, along with $20.355m in Business Licence fees and $82.481m in real property taxes.

However, given that the present fiscal year has yet to close those amounts are likely to reduce. In particular, given that end-March was the deadline for Business Licence fee

SEE PAGE 3

All truss-ed out on Budget’s tax cuts

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN contractor yesterday warned that the Government’s decision to eliminate 20 percent duty on imported roof trusses will “put us out of business” in a segment that has kept his overall operation afloat.

Vernon Wells, principal of Grand Bahama-based Reef Construction, told Tribune Business that its Roof Truss Manufacturing Company subsidiary had kept the business going amid “the dire straits” that Freeport’s construction industry has suffered in recent years due to a lack of major investment projects.

However, he was stunned when he received Customs’ list of products set to receive import tariff slashes in the 2022-2023 Budget, and realised roof trusses were one of the targeted products. Mr Wells told this newspaper that eliminating the existing 20 percent duty, and cutting it to zero, will remove the price advantage and competitiveness he enjoys over foreign imports, placing his business and the jobs of its Bahamian staff in jeopardy.

“I looked at it last night and this morning, and couldn’t believe it,” he said of the Customs flyer, which has also been seen by Tribune Business. “The tariffs

SEE PAGE 7

‘Game changer’: Out Islands to retain to 25% of revenue

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net FAMILY Island economies will ultimately retain a minimum 25 percent of real property taxes and Road Traffic fees generated on their specific islands through legislation that was yesterday described as a potential “game changer”.

Amendments to the Public Finance Management Act reveal that the Davis administration’s plan to create a Family Island Development Trust Fund, which will initially hold at least 10 percent of the revenues generated on these islands by these two revenue streams, are

KEN HUTTON more extensive than the Prime Minister allowed for in his 2022-2023 Budget communication.

The reforms make clear that the revenues generated by each island will remain on that specific

SEE PAGE 8

THE Government is “doing a bit of swinging for the fences” in its future revenue projections, a governance reformer believes, amid indications $486m in tax concessions were granted during the first nine months of the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

Matt Aubry, the Organisation for Responsible Governance’s (ORG) executive director, told Tribune Business that forecasts of a $1bn revenue increase during the three Budget cycles to 2024-2025 were “a bit optimistic” given The Bahamas current fiscal and economic status as well as historical performance.

Speaking after Moody’s last week voiced misgivings over whether The Bahamas will hit its revenue, spending and growth targets as set in the 2022-2023 Budget, he added that it was critical for the country to “mitigate the risks” identified by the credit rating agency.

MATT AUBRY “I think each of those are notable,” Mr Aubry told this newspaper of Moody’s concerns, adding of the revenue projections: “I think the Government is doing a bit of swinging for the fences with this...... I do think that’s a bit optimistic from where we’re at to get there.

“Coming from an external perception, It’s important to consider that, but the question is what are the things we need to be working on to mitigate some of these

SEE PAGE 6

PAGE 2, Monday, May 30, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Law’s ‘inflexibility’ forces $251m extra borrowing

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net THE Ministry of Finance’s top official yesterday hit out at the “inflexibility” of the Government’s own financial management laws for forcing it to seek parliamentary approval to borrow an extra $251.4m.

Simon Wilson, the financial secretary, told the weekly media briefing given by the Prime Minister’s Office that the Public Financial Management Act as presently written prevents the Government from reallocating the $208m-plus revenue surplus it expects to earn this 2021-2022 fiscal year to settling unpaid bills.

He explained that the Act limits such “reallocations” to 3 percent, or around $60m. While this means the Davis administration will likely only use 75 percent of the sum it is seeking approval to borrow, he added that the restrictions imposed by the Act prevent the Government from using the resources it has available to pay-off these debts.

“The Public Financial Management Act does not allow the Government to put in place or use contingencies,” Mr Wilson said.

“The Act is very inflexible.

We have the resources to make the payment but don’t have the authority. We have $200m available that we can use to make the payments, but unfortunately we don’t have the authority.”

The Davis administration has already signalled its intention to bring reforms to the Public Financial Management Act and other financial-related laws to Parliament during the

SIMON WILSON 2022 second half. Besides the supplemental Budget’s borrowing resolution, Mr Wilson said the only other way the Government can pay-off the arrears is via the reallocation of monies from one ministry or department to another.

“The only way we can make payments according to the Act is through a mechanism called reallocation. Reallocation means I can move money from one ministry to the next ministry to make a payment.

The Act limits reallocation to 3 percent, so roughly $60m,” he explained. “Even though we have the benefit of improved revenue flows we’re constrained in how we can spend that money, hence the need for a supplementary Budget.”

This latest supplemental Budget will be the second one presented to Parliament in the eight-and-a-half months since the Davis administration took office following the September 16, 2021, general election. The first one was designed to reflect, as best it could, the new government’s policy priorities and adjustments to changed circumstances such as the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

“The way the supplementary Budget is presented, we have to ask for the full borrowing authority. Even though 25 percent of the supplementary Budget has already been paid through reallocations, we have to ask for the full authority, the full borrowing amount,” Mr Wilson explained. “So the total amount that has been requested is probably not going to be the amount needed. We asked for $240m for the supplementary and we already paid around $60m through reallocation.”

Prime Minister Philip Davis QC, unveiling the 2022-2023 Budget in the House of Assembly, said that an additional $251.4m in borrowing will raise this year’s fiscal deficit to $758.6m - a sum equivalent to 6 percent of Bahamian gross domestic product (GDP).

“We still have a number of inherited arrears which we believe it is important to liquidate,” he added. “In this regard, we will be seeking parliamentary approval for a supplementary Budget for additional recurrent expenditure of $216.928m and capital expenditure of $34.49m “These balances are owed to hard-working women and men, who have given their time, energy and resources to contribute to the development of this nation, and months later still haven’t been paid. This harmful practice cannot be allowed to continue.... Just as our recently-established Credit Bureau encourages citizens to make timely payments, so too must we in government be timely in paying our bills.”

SEE PAGE 9

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 30, 2022, PAGE 3

Gov’t seeks ‘happy medium’ for domestic poultry farmers

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net AN Abaco poultry farm believes the Government’s Budget is trying to strike a “happy medium” for stimulating the sector with plans to lower electricity costs designed to offset duty reductions on rival imports.

Lance Pinder, Abaco Big Bird Poultry’s operations manager, told Tribune Business he had been in talks with the Government for several weeks about lowering the cost of electricity for domestic poultry producers.

This comes after the Prime Minister, in last week’s Budget communication, pledged to assist local chicken farmers by reducing

their energy inputs. “Local production of chicken is less than 5 percent of total consumption, but we want and need to expand local production of all agriculture products,” Philip Davis QC said.

“In this regard, the Government will provide support to local poultry producers by assisting in lowering the cost of electricity, one of the primary inputs in organised poultry production.” However, the need to immediately respond to the cost of living crisis facing many Bahamians as a result of importing surging global inflation also pushed the Davis administration to slash multiple food import tariffs.

Chicken parts, including leg quarters, wings and drumsticks, were among those targeted for the reductions, with their tariff rates

being cut by two-thirds from 30 percent to just 10 percent. Senator Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, last week suggested this will be among the food-related tariff cuts that has the greatest impact for consumers, but it also has the effect of making imported chicken more price competitive versus domestic rivals.

Such a move thus appears counter-productive to efforts to increase local poultry production. However, Mr Pinder took it in stride, saying: “Obviously they are concerned with food costs, and I’m also being hit with increased costs. Electricity is a way that they thought they could help me if I had any negative impacts from a lower duty rate because they are looking right now at trying to help people

because things are tough. So we tried to work it out.”

Calling this a “completely different approach” from any other government’s attempts to assist the poultry industry, Mr Pinder added: “I was shocked in a good way because no one has ever even entertained anything like that in the past about the big costs in poultry production.

“We always talked about the high cost of electricity, with all of the refrigeration and ice and things that’s needed for running a processing plant, but I think we came to a good common ground that they were very concerned with the impacts of food inflation and how it has impacted our business.”

Besides the inflationary pressures, Abaco Big Bird is still trying to restore its processing plant to full capacity

GOV’T OWED $261M TAXES OVER LAST TWO FISCAL YEARS FROM PAGE ONE payments, that $20m-plus figure is likely to be lowered as late-paying companies make good on what is owed to the Department of Inland Revenue and Public Treasury. Real property tax and VAT payments will also continue to come in.

On real property tax, commercial and mixed use properties again led the way during the first nine months of the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

They were again responsible for $44.368m, or over half, of the total arrears while vacant land accounted for $25.183m. Residential and owner-occupied properties were responsible for $4.31m and $8.63m of the 2021-2022 arrears, respectively.

The Budget documents described the revenue arrears as representing “outstanding balances as of May 2022. Arrears are reported by fiscal year, based on the period in which the tax liability originated. All outstanding balances are included, starting from one day past due”. The figures, they added, included surcharges, penalties, fines, fees and interest due on outstanding tax principal.

The revenue arrears have been disclosed for the first time due to the Minnis administration’s passage of the Public Finance Management Act, which stipulates a host of detailed reporting requirements that must be included in the Budget including a “statement of all tax arrears for the previous financial year and the current year”.

The $261m-plus figure thus joins past arrears, including the $600m in outstanding real property tax said by the Auditor General to be outstanding at the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year, in highlighting the substantial revenues due to the Government on an annual basis but which it fails to collect.

These sums would make a significant dent in the Government’s annual ninefigure deficits, which it hopes to convert to a surplus by the 2024-2025 fiscal year, while also slashing the rate of growth in the present $10.5bn national debt. The details will also strengthen the hand of those arguing that the Government should focus on collecting all existing taxes due and owing before it considers any new or increased levies Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, yesterday told Tribune Business the Government’s aim is to “as much as possible ensure every dollar is collected” via a series of legislative reforms accompanying the Budge and which are designed to stiffen compliance,

enforcement and revenue administration across all major tax and income streams.

He explained that “improved compliance” is behind reforms to the Business Licence Act that will require all Bahamasbased companies obligated to pay the fee to calculate the due payment based on the 12-month calendar - not on their 12-month financial year, given that these do not always end on December 31.

“It is very hard, very hard for the tax system to track the multiple tax years for multiple types of businesses,” Mr Wilson said.

“There’s no country in the world where businesses can pick their tax year.” The Business Licence (Amendment) Bill 2022’s clause 17 thus “seeks to provide transitional provisions for persons who were on a financial year other than the calendar year”.

The Bills provides three separate transition itineraries for Business Licence reporting, filing and payment depending on whether the company’s year-end is April 1, July 1 or September 1. Those who fall on the latter two dates will have until year-end 2022 to bring their filings and payments into line with the calendar year-end, while those whose financial year ends on April 1 will have until year-end 2023.

Mr Wilson added: “It shouldn’t impact cash flow by changing the tax year.”

He said the Government was also committed to the “ease of doing business” by introducing, within the same Bill, the option for companies to pay their Business Licence fees in quarterly installments at end-March, end-June, end-September and endDecember once they obtain approval to do so.

The new Bill is also giving Bahamian companies the option to estimate “tax in a particular year” based on their turnover from the previous 12-month period.

Should the actual tax due exceed the estimated liability, then the business must pay the difference to the Government by March 31 of the following year. But, if the estimated tax paid is more than what is actually owed, the company will be given a credit towards future Business Licence fee payments.

The Government, though, has also moved to “harmonise the assessment and enforcement regime” for the Business Licence with that of VAT. For companies who are persistently noncompliant, either failing to apply for or renew a licence or not paying tax when it comes due, the Bill gives the revenue authorities the ability to apply for a Supreme Court order to temporarily

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close an offender’s business premises. Repeated noncompliance is defined as offences committed within a year of each other.

Meanwhile, Mr Wilson said the creation of socalled “VAT withholding agents” under the VAT (Amendment) Bill 2022 was designed to target “the high degree of non-compliance” among vendors who provide the Government with goods and services.

Withholding agents can retain the VAT payable on the purchase of a good or service, either in whole or in part, rather than pay it to the supplier of these products.

They then remit the VAT directly to the Government themselves, rather than allowing the supplier to be responsible for this.

Mr Wilson said the Davis administration’s strategy is for the Government’s own ministries, departments and agencies to be named as VAT withholding agents so they can retain and pass the tax on to the Department of Inland Revenue themselves, rather than leave this to noncompliant suppliers.

Noting that other countries who levy VAT also employ “withholding agents”, with the strategy having “proven to be very effective”, the financial secretary added: “There’s a high degree of non-compliance among government vendors. The idea behind that is we’re trying to impact non-compliance among government vendors....

“We do it now informally.

We have credit agreements with suppliers where we hold the VAT. It’s formalising what we have in place now.” Mr Wilson said the portion of VAT withheld could vary from, say, 10

percent to 50 percent, with suppliers issued a credit note to cover this. Asked about the impact to VAT revenues, he replied: “It’s going to be material, but there are no estimates. The withholding agents will be the Government agencies.”

Boosting VAT administration and enforcement, the Bill also aims to close a loophole by stipulating that the 10 percent levy is due on vacation rentals that are not offered via a formal online marketplace such as Airbnb.

However, while foreigners must register for VAT regardless, Bahamians will

following Hurricane Dorian’s devastation in 2019.

“We’re still trying to regrow and expand as well, and they want us to continue to do that,” he added.

“On our business right now, I don’t think reducing the duties on poultry products will have a big impact particularly. They did mention about it being temporary, possibly. So once people get up and get going, and if we get someone that wants to invest in the industry, maybe they’ll revisit it.

If you want to get where you’ve got 70 percent of the market supplied locally, you can’t have a 10 percent duty rate anyway.”

Mr Pinder continued: “I think these electricity offsets can be a good thing and, if not, the Government is open to trying to work with us.

This is all about food, and

food prices and food security, so you don’t want to run the last guy in town out of business.

“But, you know, with leg quarters, too, these guys are buying leg quarters for 20 cents a pound, sometimes 30 cents a pound, so really a 30 percent tariff is nothing when you add that on to those kind of prices. It’s just a couple of cents. So it’s still way below the production cost. A 30 percent tariff is no protection against leg quarter dumping.

“If you really want to use the tariffs to protect people from leg quarter dumping, you need a 150 percent tariff, which some places in the Caribbean have where they have those bound rates, when they hit a certain quota or the rate on the leg quarters goes sky high.”

only have to do so if annual income exceeds the $100,000 registration threshold.

Approvals granted to foreign real estate purchasers under the International Persons Landholding Act or Exchange Control Act will also be “rescinded” if the VAT due on their acquisition is not paid within 18 months, although this will be reinstated once the sum due is paid.

The Bill also requires that, from October 1, 2022, any conveyances and other real estate-related documents presented for stamping and recording at the Registry of Records must contain their real property tax assessment number. All outstanding real property taxes must be

paid before these documents are stamped. And, to further ensure all VAT owed is collected, the Bill bars unstamped documents from being used in court proceedings unless outstanding tax is paid.

The VAT Bill also empowers the authorities to take action against anyone they “reasonably suspect” of leaving, or who is about to leave, The Bahamas in an effort to evade due taxes.

They will be able to issue a demand for payment “without delay” even if the due date has not arrived, and “direct that money, goods and chattels.. be seized or garnished”.

PAGE 4, Monday, May 30, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

FAMILY ISLAND COMPANIES STRUGGLE WITH PRICE RISES

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Mr Adderley said he and his sales team have just decided to raise their prices by at least 10 percent, but added that “this is a work in progress and it is a fluid situation”.

Maxine Miller, owner/ operator of Seaview Takeaway in Eleuthera, said: “I’m trying my best to deal with the high prices. I get my wholesale from BFS (Bahamas Food Services), and things like lettuce have gone up tremendously, but I guess it is better than buying one at a time from one of the local stores on the island.”

She has so far held the line on increasing her costs, but admitted she “may not

be able to maintain this much longer”.

Another Eleuthera businessman, speaking on condition of anonymity, added: “I feel like these prices are too high.” Their average plate of food has gone up by 50 percent in price, they added.

“I used to sell a conch snack for $10 a year ago, and now I have to sell it for $15, but I told my customers and they don’t mind if I go up a dollar or two on a plate because they go to the shops themselves and they see the price of things in the store,” the businessman said.

AML: 8,000 sign-up for shopper loyalty move

“We’re always trying to find ways to ensure that our customers have the best experience, but also to drive value. So we’re right there with our customers because we’re consumers as well, and we understand that rising costs are affecting everybody with inflation.”

Under the URP system, for every dollar a customer spends they receive one point. One hundred points are equivalent to a cashable dollar. Customers will be able to see their points balance with every receipt of purchase, which Ms Bastian says makes things “trackable”.

She added: “We’re actually going to be introducing an app where you can actually have it on your phone and you will be able to track your points in real time.”

Customers can sign up at any Solomon’s Fresh Market location, with points also redeemable at any store. AML Foods plans to extend the URP promotion via a further ten phases that will involve introducing bonus points, plus points for customer birthdays and special life events.

FAMILY Island businesses yesterday said they are struggling to contain prices as they grapple with soaring inflationary pressures impacting the entire world.

Valderine Adderley, owner/operator of Adderley’s Motel in Andros, told Tribune Business she is trying her best to “price her goods by what she gets from the wholesalers”.

She has decided to “not to go up on prices” as a result of the cost of living crisis

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net AML Foods says more than 8,000 consumers have already signed up for its latest loyalty initiative that has been launched to help Bahamians combat soaring inflation.

buffeting The Bahamas and wider world.

“I know my iceberg lettuce went up but it came back down, and I buy them for $4 a head. I don’t buy Romaine lettuce,” she said.

“For my can sodas I sell them for $1, but I know the bottle sodas went up. too.

Not every time things go up means you have to go up.

“So I’m managing these high prices myself because I am catering to a minimum wage group of people.

When you go to price things you can’t put the price so high on regular things that people buy every day like spaghetti and tuna fish.

That’s what the poor people eat every day.”

Renea Bastian, the Solomon’s and Cost Right operator’s vice-president of marketing and communications, said the Ultimate Rewards Programme (URP) will be rolled out at all the BISX-listed food retail and franchise provider’s Nassau, Freeport and Exuma locations.

Ms Adderley spoke after a Cat Island entrepreneur last week voiced “shock” when she discovered a local grocery store was selling lettuce for $15. Nikita ShielRolle, proprietor of the Cat Island Mermaid and Ocean Soul Farm, told the Cat Island Business Outlook conference: “The other day I was really shocked when I went into the grocery store and lettuce was $15. It was regular Romaine lettuce. This is where the realities are striking. We are dealing with food insecurity. How do we develop food sovereignty?”

Nathaniel Adderley, owner/operator of Nathan’s Lodge in Kemp’s Bay,

“Every time our customers shop they will receive one point for every dollar they spend. We recognise how difficult it is right now with inflation, and how food costs are rising, and we’re always looking for ways for our customers to save,” she said.

The Ultimate Rewards Programme has been

Andros, yesterday added: “Prices have always been high and now they are just higher. We continue to rely on the weekly mailboat.

Thank God they have been overlapping on a week from time to time, but we’re managing the best we can to keep a week’s supply of fresh vegetables on hand.”

Given that The Bahamas imports virtually all it consumes, merchants and wholesale suppliers have little choice but to pass on external inflation and price rises driven by overheating and supply chain shortages in the developed economies following the COVID-19 pandemic.

designed as AML Foods’ alternative to rival Super Value’s Quality Food Stamps, as the former seeks to drive more long-term shoppers to its stores.

Ms Bastian said more than 8,000 shoppers had registered in the first three days. “It has been well received, and we’re happy about that,” she added. “We have actually

announced that, for the first 2,000 customers signing up, we would have given them a $5 sign-up bonus, but because it was so well received and appreciated by our customers and we’ve now extended that to 4,000. So [the first] 4,000 customers that sign up will be getting a $5 bonus,” she added.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 30, 2022, PAGE 5

THE FED’S LATEST CONUNDRUM

By RICARDO EVANGELISTA OVER the last six months, inflation fears have focused the attention of policymakers, economic agents and investors. Central banks have tilted towards a more hawkish stance, while headline-grabbing rises in the cost of living came to dominate the media narrative. In the markets, dynamics shifted dramatically. Risk appetite evaporated, stocks tumbled and bonds were sold.

The return of the old foe, inflation, was - with hindsight - perhaps helped by the mismanagement of central banks and governments. For too long the phenomena was classified as transitory, an idea that fitted in well with policies at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which were intended to provide stimulus and prevent what would otherwise have been a cataclysmic global economic depression.

However, when doctors prescribe medicine, they should do so carefully so as to prevent unforeseen consequences

and undesired side effects. Another common medical challenge is the management of withdrawal symptoms, as patients experience pain and discomfort once doses are reduced and eventually withdrawn.

It now appears that the prescription of stimulus measures aimed at mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic may have over-shot its aim, both in scope and duration, contributing to an escalation in consumer prices on a scale not seen since the 1970s.

As a result, the actions required to control the spike in inflation, including a tapering of stimulus and monetary tightening, are themselves becoming the cause of a new problem: Lower economic growth.

After months of obsessing over inflation and the need to control it, policymakers started to realise that not only have consumer

prices continued to rise but GDP growth is fizzling out, with some countries, such as the UK, recording a contraction during the 2022 first quarter. Against a backdrop dominated by the war in Ukraine, which exacerbated the rise in prices, especially in agricultural commodities and energy, and the return of COVID-related lockdowns in China disrupting the global logistics required for the supply of vital industrial components and consumer goods, the withdrawal of stimulus has so far failed to halt the escalation in prices.

Equally, or perhaps even more concerning, are the growing signs of a decrease in economic activity as confidence dwindles among businesses and families.

The months ahead will be crucial. Disappointing corporate earnings reports, released over the past weeks, has triggered

FEDERAL RESERVE BUILDING IN WASHINGTON alarm bells. In the US, the sharp drop in the results of retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart points to a slowdown in economic activity - an ominous sign of harder times ahead.

The stakes are high.

Careful management of policies aimed at controlling inflation will be required to avoid a global recession. The publication

of the latest Federal Reserve’s FOMC (Federal Open Markets Committee) minutes revealed such worries among some of the American central bank’s policymakers, who believe that the upcoming slowdown in growth should itself have a calming effect on prices.

Most analysts now expect a pause to follow the two

0.5 percentage point interest rate hikes already planned for June and July.

A break for assessment is indeed advisable, because how the Federal Reserve deals with this latest conundrum will determine the economic outlook for the next couple of years.

Site visits to pave way for MICAL renewable roll-out AN Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) team has this weekend aided technical assessments designed to pave the way for the roll-out of renewable energy across the southern Bahamas.

The on-site visits were led by members of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) for

Photos:Ulric Woodside/BIS

LEGAL NOTICE

N O T I C E EXXONMOBIL CHEMICAL THAILAND (SRIRACHA) LIMITED N O T I C E IS HEREBY GIVEN as follows: (a) EXXONMOBIL CHEMICAL THAILAND (SRIRACHA) LIMITED is in dissolution under the provisions of the International Business Companies Act 2000. (b) The dissolution of the said Company commenced on the 25th day of May, 2022 when its Articles of Dissolution were submitted to and registered by the Registrar General. (c) The Liquidator of the said Company is Wendi J. Powell, of 22777 Springwoods Village Parkway, Spring, Texas 77389, U.S.A.2 Dated the 30th day of May, A.D., 2022 HARRY B. SANDS, LOBOSKY MANAGEMENT CO. LTD. Registered Agent for the above-named Company LEGAL NOTICE

N O T I C E EXXONMOBIL CHEMICAL THAILAND (SRIRACHA) LIMITED Creditors having debts or claims against the above-named Company are required to send particulars thereof to the undersigned c/o P.O. Box N-624, Nassau, Bahamas on or before 20th day of June, A.D., 2022. In default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made by the Liquidator.

Dated the 30th day of May, A.D., 2022.

Wendi J. Powell Liquidator 22777 Springwoods Village Parkway Spring, Texas 77389 U.S.A.

the IDB-funded Reconstruction with resilience in the energy sector in The Bahamas (RRESBP) programme, which is being overseen by the Ministry of Finance.

The assessment also comes after Prime Minister Philip Davis QC told last week’s local

government leadership workshop that the technical review will examine the potential installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Inagua, Acklins, Crooked Island, Mayaguana and Long Cay (MICAL) to assist energy and economic development.

He added: “This transformative initiative is contained in my government’s economic plan and Blueprint to provide renewable and solar energy for the country, thereby reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuel by 30 percent by 2030.”

PAGE 6, Monday, May 30, 2022

‘SWINGING FOR THE FENCES’ AS TAX BREAKS HIT $486M FROM PAGE ONE risks. How do we manage our debt? How do we make sure execution is more in line than it has been in the past, and that the Government does a good job in revenue retention and finding revenue?

“It cannot be that those numbers are there, and we see how we get there. It has to be ingrained in the foundation of this Budget, and how this government moves forward.” Describing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) take on The Bahamas’ position as “solid”, Mr Aubry said the country has had difficulty in meeting fiscal and Budget targets in the past, and added that “I don’t think we can push this down the line” in terms of extra revenue measures.

The Davis administration is projecting a $1bn revenue increase over the next

three fiscal years, growing its income from $2.455bn in this year’s Budget to $3.539bn in 2024-2025. Yet it unveiled no new and/or increased tax measures in Wednesday’s Budget, and is instead seemingly relying on improved economic growth and better tax compliance, enforcement and administration to get there.

The post-COVID reopening and recovery is expected to generate a $537m yearover-year increase in revenue during 2021-2022 compared to the prior year’s $1.909bn. A further $346.5m increase is projected in the upcoming 2022-2023 fiscal year, meaning that recurrent revenue will expand by 28.6 percent by fiscal-yearend 2022 and 14.1 percent in 2023.

Besides the revenue surge, the Davis administration is relying on curbed recurrent (fixed cost) spending of just under $3bn to

curb the deficit beyond the upcoming 2022-2023 Budget year and, by 20242025, convert this ‘red ink’ into a near-$279m fiscal surplus. The Government is forecasting that recurrent expenditure will peak at $2.997bn in 2022-2023 before declining to $2.952bn in 2023-2024 and then to $2.918bn in 2024-2025.

This was picked up by Moody’s, which warned of multiple “risks” to the Government’s fiscal consolidation projections due to the absence of any tax increases in the just-unveiled Budget.

It also asserted that spending restraints will “weigh on economic growth”.

The Opposition last night seized on the rating agency’s assessment, with Kwasi Thompson, ex-minister of state for finance and now east Grand Bahama MP, saying its verdict was “very worrisome”. He told Tribune Business: “We

THE TRIBUNE share their concerns. Upon what basis have they [the Government] increased the VAT revenue projections by $500m? We share Moody’s concerns that real tax reform has not been addressed.

“They do not believe the fiscal targets will be met, and given this government’s record of over-spending the deficit will be further increased. Their concerns were only made worse with the total lack of a debt management strategy in the Budget communication. This only confirms the Opposition’s concerns.”

Moody’s had asserted that “over-optimistic revenue projections” in the absence of a wider tax base and difficulties in controlling government spending “in line with targets” represent real threats to bringing the $10.5bn national debt under control.

And the rating agency suggested that the Government may have under-estimated its debt servicing (interest) costs, even if the average debt cost does not change, due to a combination of rising global rates as developed countries move to fight inflation and “the increase in risk premium” for The Bahamas’ sovereign debt as shown by the deep discounts/high yields which international investors are demanding.

Meanwhile, documents accompanying the 20222023 Budget appear to show that the Government had granted some $485.565m in tax breaks, incentives, waivers and exemptions for the first nine months of the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

This amounted to close to half, or 50 percent, or the $1.02bn in such relief that was planned for the full 12 months to end-June 2021.

The largest “tax relief, remissions and other waivers” line item was for Excise Tax and duty exemptions on Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) fuel import bill and that incurred by other “licensed entities”, which were projected to total $250.889m for the 20202021 fiscal full year. The second highest was for The Bahamas’ biggest industry, the resort sector, with more than $162m in tax waivers forecast under the Hotels Encouragement Act. While the tax breaks were not broken down by company or developer, there was a line item for the high-end Albany project in southwestern New Providence. One set of data projected it was set to receive $48.735m in Excise Tax and duty exemptions during the 2020-2021 fullyear, and another pegged this number at $13.857m.

Added together, the two figures bring the total tax waiver received by the

development to more than $62m.

Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, yesterday suggested that the two sets of “tax relief” data was likely due to the fact that, while more recent concessions are captured by Customs’ online portal, Click2Clear, others were recorded on a cash basis prior to the system’s introduction and the two have never been reconciled.

“That’s one of the challenges for Customs,” he explained. “If an exemption was started previously, cash stays cash. If it started under Click2Clear, it stays in Click2Clear. You have exemptions over multiple years, so if it starts in cash it stays in cash. Because of issues with cash, the data doesn’t follow over to Click2Clear.”

The amount of tax concessions granted by the Government as disclosed for the first time due to the Minnis administration’s passage of the Public Finance Management Act, which mandates by law that they be revealed with the Budget. The Government must now provide a “statement of tax relief and exemptions granted or planned, and the amount of tax relief and exemptions for the current financial year and forecasted for the next financial year”.

THE TRIBUNE

ALL TRUSS-ED OUT ON BUDGET’S TAX CUTS

FROM PAGE ONE

for imported roof trusses were 45 percent, and they dropped it to 20 percent in 2020. Now the tariffs have it free.”

Mr Wells said the existing duty rate is vital to enabling his business, and that of other local roof truss manufacturers, to offset the “cost of shipping” involved in importing parts to The Bahamas that can be manufactured into a finished product. Such costs, he added, typically run to $4,000-$4,500 for a 40-foot container.

“We were able to run a decent business and we have a lot of customers to deal with,” he told this newspaper. “We’ve done quite a lot in Eleuthera in the last year-and-a-half. We feel that if we do something like this, they’d [the Government] at least make us aware of this and talk to us about the way forward.

“I just think it’s kind of an oversight. It will obviously put us out of business.

This is a concern. I’m not going after the Government for a bad decision. At this point I’m concerned what this will do to local Bahamians. This, of course, will affect our company of nearly 30 years to possible closure. We have at least 12-15 trained employees along with costly equipment that is essential for this type of operation.

I had asked Government over the years and, more recently, in 2020 to look into how to protect our Industry, of which there are three in Freeport and a few in Nassau. We currently supply Grand Bahama, Nassau, Abaco and Exuma with customdesigned roof trusses and will not be able to compete against imported trusses.

The 20 percent is a breakeven rate for us because of the shipping cost for import [parts],” Mr Wells added.

“I had also thought the Government would have at least asked us for some input as to how this may affect the local businesses

before implementing this portion of the new rates.

There is also the use of local shipping for the transport of trusses to the other islands for our customers, and keeping most of the funds otherwise derived from the cost of imported trusses in the Bahamian economy.

“The funds are otherwise shipped out of the country when we’re using at least 50 percent of the cost of trusses to pay for labour and electricity to run the business.” Mr Wells said that if his company and two other Grand Bahama-based roof truss manufacturers, as well as a similar number in Nassau, were forced to close because of the tariff elimination it would not just be their operations impacted but multiple companies including inter-island shipping providers.

Noting that it cost between $5,000-$6,000 to ship two containers of finished trusses to Nassau or Abaco, he added: “Everybody is affected in a small

way that makes up a piece of the pie. They dropped the tariff from 45 percent to 20 percent after Dorian.

I can understand that as there were some areas you couldn’t get ships into during normal times.

“It [roof truss manufacturing] was just something.

In our business, we have the construction company, but we’ve not been able to do any work for the last year as there’s no business available. The trusses were the thing that was keeping us rolling at the moment. If that goes, I guess it’s time to move out of the construction business as well.

All the construction work is in Nassau and Abaco.

Monday, May 30, 2022, PAGE 7

Freeport is in dire straits as far as that’s concerned.

“We lost everything in Dorian and couldn’t get insurance because we became grandfathered into the flood zone at the back of the airport,” Mr Wells continued. “I can’t get flood coverage, I can only get fire and theft. We had to replace all the equipment we had. We had to replace the electric saw, and that cost $200,000.

“We had that brought in just after Dorian, and replaced all the motors on the conveyors. We put $450,000 back into that.

It’s quite an operation. We haven’t been able to tidy up the place since Dorian. We got back into operation as

quickly as we could. We’ve been working with new equipment and have not been able to slow down.

We’ve been busy ever since. We’ve been doing the best we can to service everyone.”

The roof truss import tariff cut again highlights the dilemma involved in protecting Bahamian producers, and ensuring the survival of a local manufacturing base against cheaper-priced imports that enjoy greater economies of scale and cheaper production costs, while balancing this with consumer choice and ensuring they get the best possible price.

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PAGE 8, Monday, May 30, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

‘GAME CHANGER’: OUT ISLANDS TO RETAIN TO 25% OF REVENUE FROM PAGE ONE island “to defray expenses and fund expenditures of that Family Island”. This means that revenues generated on Abaco will remain on Abaco to finance muchneeded infrastructure development and other community needs, with the same happening on Exuma, Eleuthera and all other Family Islands.

The Bill amending the legislation also makes clear that the 10 percent retention percentage is just the start, and only a minimum.

While it will begin at that threshold in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the percentage of real property taxes and Road Traffic fees retained by each Family Island will increase by law to a minimum 17 percent in 2023-2024, and then to 25 percent in 2024-2025 while remaining at that benchmark in all subsequent years.

Ken Hutton, Abaco’s Chamber of Commerce president, upon being informed of the

increasing threshold told Tribune Business: “That’s very encouraging. If that’s true it could be a game changer for the island.

That’s excellent news. I’m certainly not poo-pooing the idea. I want to see the devil in the details, and a lot of it will come down to management of the fund and who’s in charge of that.

“But it’s fantastic news and very forward-thinking.

It’s time for that kind of thinking. As long as there is the intent for the Abaco community to have a significant, if not overwhelming say, in the use of those funds I think it’s a fabulous idea. I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s great news from the sound of it.”

Given its population size and number of second homeowners, even postDorian, Abaco should be the largest contributor of revenues to the Government’s proposed Family Island Development Trust given that Bahamian-owned properties are exempt from

paying real property tax in the Out Islands.

The second largest contributors will be Exuma and Eleuthera, themselves with significant economies and second homeowner populations. However, revenue generated on more remote and less populated southern islands such as Rum Cay, Acklins, Crooked Island and Mayaguana will be less plentiful and those locations will still require major central government infrastructure spend.

The Davis administration’s strategy appears to be to ensure some tax revenues stay in the Family Island communities in which they are generated for their own betterment, rather than depositing all into the Consolidated Fund. It remains to be seen whether these Family Islands enjoy more local governance as opposed to being dictated to by Nassau, and have more say over local affairs and how the funds are spent.

Thomas Sands, the Eleuthera Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business: “In principal this is a great idea and timely given the poor state of infrastructure. It will be important to understand more detail as to how this will work against an evaluation of real data or historic and projected numbers. How will projects be defined and prioritised, and where? Is this a general fund, and where and how will it be administered/” Prime Minister Philip Davis, in unveiling the 2022-2023 Budget, said: “We have allocated 10 percent of overall revenue collected in the Family Islands from property tax and road traffic fees to the creation of a Family Island Development Trust Fund in the amount of $200m.

This fund will facilitate the Government in making immediate and significant investment in Family Island infrastructure. This fund would be a sub-fund of the

National Infrastructure Fund.

“We also propose to leverage the aviation-related revenue to create a fund for aviation infrastructure, which would be another sub-fund of the National Infrastructure Fund. This, combined with the Family Island Development Trust, will accelerate the reconstruction of Family Island airports. It will also end the practice of Family Island infrastructure improvements being made a lesser

priority than infrastructure improvements in New Providence.

“It is important to note, however, Madam Speaker, that this does not mean that we will exclude Family Island projects from future capital budgets of the Ministry of Public Works. Far from it. It just means that the Family Islands will have their own dedicated fund to ensure that they keep pace with national development.”

Share your news The Tribune wants to hear from people who are making news in their neighbourhoods. Perhaps you are raising funds for a good cause, campaigning for improvements in the area or have won an award. If so, call us on 322-1986 and share your story.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 30, 2022, PAGE 9

LAW’S ‘INFLEXIBILITY’ FORCES $251M EXTRA BORROWING FROM PAGE TWO Apart from the $45m owed to the Water & Sewerage Corporation, this $251.4m also includes some $56.7m owed in insurance premium payments for public servants. Mr Wilson revealed that the latter liability “popped up four weeks ago” as the insurance agreement was “not completely in place” prior to that time.

The Government has also chosen the final remaining month of the 2021-2022 fiscal year as the time to raise $30m for completing the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium, while another $19m represents outstanding payments owed to Doctor’s Hospital for COVID-19 emergency support.

Breaking down how the borrowed sum will be employed further, Mr Davis said $6.4m will cover outstanding rent payments; another $6m will finance outstanding legal claims owed by the Government; and $4m will be dedicated to the restoration and refurbishment of public clinics.

Mr Wilson, meanwhile, also yesterday pointed to the minor primary surplus that the Government expects to generate this year as a sign that it will no longer be borrowing to service interest payments on its existing debt. The Budget forecasts estimate a 0.2 percent surplus for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, and a 2.9 percent surplus in 20232024, for an indicator that measures how much revenue exceeds spending when

debt servicing costs are stripped out of the latter.

“The second point, which is equally important, is that when we look at he upcoming Budget and the forward years there is a measure called the primary deficit, which in essence is the amount that we borrow to pay interest charges. If you are borrowing to pay interest, your debt is growing at a much faster rate,” Mr Wilson said.

“Next year the primary deficit will be approximately zero percent in the upcoming Budget forecast and, in the following year, it is forecast to be 2 percent positive, which means that the trajectory for our debt is moving in a positive way at a much faster rate than anticipated because of the economic expansion.”

Explaining why the Government had not released its 2021-2022 third quarter “fiscal snapshot”, and public sector debt bulletin, by April 30 as required by law, Mr Wilson said the Government’s financial reporting systems were simply inadequate for meeting that deadline.

“I can tell you one of the challenges that we have is the Public Financial Management Act speaks to a timetable of reports. A timetable which, if you

understand the system that we operate under, can’t be met if you are serious about doing it properly. That is the challenge,” he added.

“As we revise the Public Financial Managementr Act we will try to remove the rigidity with respect to that, because the systems that we have, our main system is 30 years-old and, for us to close accounts, requires a lot of work and that’s a challenge. So we have to try and adjust

that, and it is a lot of work trying to keep pace with all of these various reports because the systems are out-dated, unfortunately.”

TO ADVERTISE TODAY IN THE TRIBUNE CALL @ 502-2394

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, May 30, 2022, PAGE 11

WAR SURGES NORWAY’S OIL, GAS PROFIT. NOW, IT’S URGED TO HELP

By MARK LEWIS Associated Press STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Europe’s frantic search for alternatives to Russian energy has dramatically increased the demand — and price — for Norway’s oil and gas.

As the money pours in, Europe’s second-biggest natural gas supplier is fending off accusations that it’s profiting from the war in Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who is looking to the Scandinavian country to replace some of the gas Poland used to get from Russia, said Norway’s “gigantic” oil and gas profits are “indirectly preying on the war.”

He urged Norway to use that windfall to support the hardest-hit countries, mainly Ukraine.

The comments last week touched a nerve, even as some Norwegians wonder whether they’re doing enough to combat Russia’s war by increasing economic aid to Ukraine and helping neighboring countries end their dependence on Russian energy to power

industry, generate electricity and fuel vehicles.

Taxes on the windfall profits of oil and gas companies have been common in Europe to help people cope with soaring energy bills, now exacerbated by the war. Spain and Italy both approved them, while the United Kingdom’s government plans to introduce one. Morawiecki is asking Norway to go further by sending oil and profits to other nations.

Norway, one of Europe’s richest countries, committed 1.09% of its national income to overseas development — one of the highest percentages worldwide — including more than $200 million in aid to Ukraine. With oil and gas coffers bulging, some would like to see even more money earmarked to ease the effects of the war — and not skimmed from the funding for agencies that support people elsewhere.

“Norway has made dramatic cuts into most of the U.N. institutions and support for human rights projects in order to finance the cost of receiving Ukrainian refugees,” said Berit Lindeman, policy

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that DEMICO KEMP of Bamboo Town, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 30th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTENT TO CHANGE NAME BY DEED POLL

The Public is hereby advised that I, OMONIQUE NATHALIA MARY LOCKHART of Blue Hill Heights, Mastic Drive, P.O. Box N-9970, Nassau, Bahamas, intend to change my name to OMONIQUE NATHALIA MARY CULMER. If there are any objections to this change of name by Deed Poll, you may write such objections to the Deputy Chief Passport Officer, P.O. Box N-742, Nassau, Bahamas no later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that BRUNO HILTON WILLIAMS of P.O. Box SB-51842, Driggs Hill, South Andros, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 23th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that DELICIEU JOSEPH of Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 23th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that KELLY DORCELY of Skyline Drive, Palmetto Point, Eleuthera, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 30th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE VALHALL oil field off the North Sea, Aug. 15, 2017.

Europe’s frantic search for alternatives to Russian natural gas has dramatically increased the demand — and price — for Norway’s oil and gas. As the money pours in, Europe’s second-biggest natural gas supplier is fending off accusations that it’s profiting from the war in Ukraine.

Photo:Haekon Mosvold Larsen/AP

director of human rights group the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

She helped organize a protest Wednesday outside Parliament in Oslo, criticizing government priorities and saying the Polish remarks had “some merits.”

“It looks really ugly when we know the incomes have skyrocketed this year,” Lindeman said.

Oil and gas prices were already high amid an energy crunch and have spiked because of the war.

Natural gas is trading at three to four times what it was at the same time last year. International benchmark Brent crude oil burst through $100 a barrel after

the invasion three months ago and has rarely dipped below since.

Norwegian energy giant Equinor, which is majority owned by the state, earned four times more in the first quarter compared with the same period last year.

The bounty led the government to revise its forecast of income from petroleum activities to 933 billion Norwegian kroner ($97 billion) this year — more than three times what it earned in 2021. The vast bulk will be funneled into Norway’s massive sovereign wealth fund — the world’s largest — to support the nation when oil runs dry. The government

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that CHENET JOSEPH of Faith Avenue, Dundas Town, Abaco, Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 30th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

isn’t considering diverting it elsewhere.

Norway has “contributed substantial support to Ukraine since the first week of the war, and we are preparing to do more,” State Secretary Eivind Vad Petersson said by email.

He said the country has sent financial support, weapons and over 2 billion kroner in humanitarian aid “independently of oil and gas prices.”

European countries, meanwhile, have helped inflate Norwegian energy prices by scrambling to diversify their supply away from Russia. They have been accused of helping fund the war by continuing

to pay for Russian fossil fuels.

That energy reliance “provides Russia with a tool to intimidate and to use against us, and that has been clearly demonstrated now,” NATO SecretaryGeneral Jens Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, told the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Russia has halted natural gas to Finland, Poland and Bulgaria for refusing a demand to pay in rubles.

The 27-nation European Union is aiming to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas by two-thirds by year’s end through conservation, renewable development and alternative supplies.

Europe is pleading with Norway, along with countries like Qatar and Algeria, for help with the shortfall.

Norway delivers 20% to 25% of Europe’s natural gas, vs. Russia’s 40% before the war.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that BLUE OLIVIER MERTZ of Scotland Cay, Abaco, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 30th day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

FRIDAY, 27 MAY 2022

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 6.70 53.00 2.05 2.90 2.60 6.10 10.05 3.50 9.02 3.10 8.00 16.60 2.65 10.25 11.25 10.85 15.20 4.00 11.00 16.50

52WK LOW 4.75 32.12 1.49 2.20 1.30 5.75 6.96 2.82 4.25 2.27 5.94 9.75 1.99 6.50 10.02 9.01 13.10 3.50 8.00 15.50

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

PREFERENCE SHARES 1.00

1.00

1000.00 1000.00

1000.00 1000.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

1.00 10.00 1.00

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

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

52WK LOW 100.00 100.00

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

CLOSE

CHANGE

%CHANGE

YTD

YTD%

2416.81

-31.00

-1.27

188.57

8.46

SYMBOL AML APD BBL BFH BOB BPF BWL CAB CBB CBL CHL CIB CWCB DHS EMAB FAM FBB FCL FIN JSJ BFHP CAB6 CAB9 CHLA FBBA FCLB SYMBOL FBB22 BFHB

BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STOCK - (percentage pricing) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 101.03 100.71 100.53 100.43 100.34 100.23 100.00 100.00 100.98 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.97 100.26 100.28 100.43 100.04 100.00 89.62 89.00 90.24 90.73

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.52 4.69 2.22 207.86 212.41 1.73 1.83 1.82 1.05 9.37 11.83 7.54 16.64 12.84 10.77 10.00 10.43 14.89

52WK LOW 2.11 3.30 1.68 164.74 116.70 1.68 1.73 1.75 0.99 6.41 7.62 5.66 8.65 10.54 9.57 9.88 8.45 11.20

Bahamas Note 6.95 (2029) BGS: 2014-12-7Y BGS: 2015-1-7Y BGS: 2014-12-30Y BGS: 2015-1-30Y BGS: 2015-6-7Y BGS: 2015-6-30Y BGS: 2015-10-7Y BGRS FX BGR141230 BGRS FL BGRS68023 BGRS FL BGRS70022 BGRS FL BGRS75022 BGRS FL BGRS81037 BGRS FL BGRS88028 BGRS FX BGR129249 BGRS FX BGR131249 BGRS FX BGR132249 BGRS FX BGR136150

BAH29 BG0107 BG0207 BG0130 BG0230 BG0307 BG0330 BG0407 BSBGR1412307 BSBGRS680232 BSBGRS700220 BSBGRS750225 BSBGRS810375 BSBGRS880287 BSBGR1292493 BSBGR1312499 BSBGR1322498 BSBGR1361504

LAST CLOSE 5.35 39.95 2.04 2.31 2.25 6.10 9.75 3.30 7.52 2.81 8.00 16.60 2.68 10.25 12.25 10.85 15.20 3.98 10.00 15.50 1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 101.20 100.26 100.53 100.54 100.34 100.00 89.62 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 5.35 39.95 2.04 2.31 2.25 6.10 9.75 3.35 7.52 2.81 8.00 16.00 2.75 10.25 12.17 10.85 15.20 3.98 10.00 15.50 1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00

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

VOLUME

100 1,000

1,022

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 101.20 100.26 100.53 100.54 100.34 100.00 89.62 100.00 100.00 100.00

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

FUND CFAL Bond Fund CFAL Balanced Fund CFAL Money Market Fund CFAL Global Bond Fund CFAL Global Equity Fund Leno Financial Conservative Fund Leno Financial Aggressive Fund Leno Financial Balanced Fund Leno Financial Global Bond Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Secured Balanced Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Targeted Equity Fund RF Bahamas Opportunities Fund - Prime Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Equities Sub Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - High Yield Income Fund RF Bahamas International Investment Fund Limited - Alternative Strategies Fund Colonial Bahamas Fund Class D Colonial Bahamas Fund Class E Colonial Bahamas Fund Class F

MARKET TERMS

CHANGE 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 (0.60) 0.07 0.00 (0.08) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

(242) 323‐2330 (242) 323‐2320 EPS$ 0.239 0.932 0.000 0.140 0.070 1.760 0.369 -0.438 0.140 0.184 0.449 0.722 0.102 0.467 0.646 0.728 0.816 0.203 0.939 0.631 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

VOLUME

200

NAV 2.52 4.69 2.21 197.44 202.39 1.73 1.82 1.82 0.99 9.37 11.79 7.54 15.94 12.47 10.74 N/A 10.43 14.89

DIV$ 0.170 1.260 0.020 0.080 0.000 0.000 0.260 0.000 0.000 0.120 0.220 0.720 0.434 0.060 0.328 0.240 0.540 0.120 0.200 0.610 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

INTEREST Prime + 1.75% 6.25% 6.95% 4.50% 4.50% 6.25% 6.25% 4.50% 6.25% 4.25% 5.35% 4.62% 4.50% 4.43% 4.87% 4.33% 5.55% 5.60% 5.65% 5.69% YTD% 12 MTH% 0.99% 4.22% 0.36% 5.78% 0.67% 2.74% -2.97% -2.35% -4.72% 6.04% 0.83% 2.82% -0.18% 3.72% 0.76% 3.55% -3.55% -3.85% -0.02% 10.36% -0.33% 18.23% 0.22% 3.05% -3.89% 14.76% -1.04% -2.57% 0.81% 4.20% N/A N/A 3.00% 25.60% 7.90% 48.70%

P/E 22.4 42.9 N/M 16.5 N/M N/M 26.4 -7.6 53.7 15.3 17.8 22.2 27.0 21.9 18.8 14.9 18.6 19.6 10.6 24.6 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

YIELD 3.18% 3.15% 0.98% 3.46% 0.00% 0.00% 2.67% 0.00% 0.00% 4.27% 2.75% 4.50% 15.78% 0.59% 2.70% 2.21% 3.55% 3.02% 2.00% 3.94% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 6.25% 7.00% 6.50%

MATURITY 19-Oct-2022 30-Sep-2025 20-Nov-2029 15-Dec-2021 30-Jul-2022 15-Dec-2044 30-Jul-2045 26-Jun-2022 26-Jun-2045 15-Oct-2022 17-Nov-2030 21-Jul-2023 29-Jul-2022 7-Sep-2022 26-Jul-2037 26-Jul-2028 15-Apr-2049 15-Jul-2049 15-Oct-2049 21-Apr-2050

NAV Date 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 25-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Mar-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Jan-2022 31-Mar-2021 31-Mar-2021 31-Mar-2021

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

PAGE 14, Monday, May 30, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

BAHAMIAN AIRLINE IN FLORIDA LAUNCH A BAHAMIAN-owned and operated airline on Thursday has established itself as an international alternative after last Thursday making its first-ever flight between Nassau and Fort Lauderdale.

Western Air’s 50-seater Embraer ERJ145 jet took off from Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) at 11am that morning en route to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, marking a further milestone in the airline’s 21-year history.

Dr Kenneth Romer, the Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation’s deputy director-general and acting director of aviation, officials and media welcomed the first passengers during the inaugural ceremony at terminal one, concourse C. Among the passengers who travelled on the first flight

Development Bank appoints youngest-ever top executive

was Anne-Marie Davis, the Prime Minister’s wife. Disembarking passengers were greeted by Junkanoo, complete with cowbells, the beat of goatskin drums, and whistles.

Western Air will operate daily jet service on its new international route into Fort Lauderdale, providing an incentive of no change or cancellation fees, with all tickets being valid up to six months.

In the coming weeks, the carrier is expected to expand its service from Freeport into Fort Lauderdale as well.

Headquartered at the San Andros International Airport, Western Air was founded in 2001 by captain and flight instructor, Rex Rolle, and his wife, Shandice Rolle. Their daughter, Sherrexcia “Rexxy” Rolle, is the vice-president of operations.

THE BAHAMAS Development Bank (BDB) has named Nicholas Higgs as its managing director with effect from July 4. At 31, he is the youngest-ever person to hold this post.

The BDB, in a statement, said Mr Higgs has experience in development finance, research and capital raising. He previously led the research department, and assisted in corporate advisory, at CFAL (the former Colina Financial Advisors). In partnership with Fidelity Bank (Bahamas), he spearheaded the raising of $60m for Aliv, the mobile operator.

Most recently, Mr funding over the Higgs was director SBDC’s first three and chief operating years. officer for the Access After graduatAccelerator Small ing from Saint Business Development Centre Augustine’s College (SBDC), where he (SAC) in 2008, Mr led its business develHiggs completed a opment department. degree in finance and NICHOLAS This unit focused business analysis with HIGGS on ensuring micro, small and mediuma minor in philososized enterprises phy from LeMoyne (MSMEs) were achieving their College. He is also a chartered business development goals, and improved their access to capital. financial analyst (CFA) and has More than1,900 entrepreneurs successfully passed the Series 7 received a combined $60m in examination.

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 88° F/31° C Low: 72° F/22° C

TAMPA

uV inDex toDay

TONIGHT

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Mostly cloudy; a shower, t‑storm

Cloudy with a shower and t‑storm

Staying cloudy; a shower, t‑storm

Clouds and sun with a thunderstorm

Clouds and sun with a stray t‑storm

An afternoon thunder‑ storm

High: 84°

Low: 75°

High: 83° Low: 73°

High: 83° Low: 74°

High: 85° Low: 75°

High: 86° Low: 76°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

91° F

78° F

88°-80° F

93°-79° F

95°-79° F

96°-79° F

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 74° F/23° C

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

N

almanac

E

W

ABACO

S

N

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 76° F/24° C

7‑14 knots

S

High: 86° F/30° C Low: 75° F/24° C

7‑14 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 75° F/24° C

N E S

E

W

WEST PALM BEACH

W

| Go to AccuWeather.com

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 73° F/23° C

MIAMI

High: 86° F/30° C Low: 75° F/24° C

7‑14 knots

Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 81° F/27° C Low .................................................... 73° F/23° C Normal high ....................................... 85° F/30° C Normal low ........................................ 72° F/22° C Last year’s high ................................. 88° F/31° C Last year’s low ................................... 72° F/22° C Precipitation As of 2 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.01” Year to date ............................................... 14.41” Normal year to date ..................................... 8.32”

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 75° F/24° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 77° F/25° C

N

KEY WEST

High: 85° F/29° C Low: 78° F/26° C

High

E

W

8‑16 knots

S

10‑20 knots

Low

Ht.(ft.)

8:31 a.m.

8:55 p.m.

2.2 2.9

2:46 a.m. 0.0 2:32 p.m. ‑0.1

Tuesday

9:10 a.m.

9:33 p.m.

2.2 2.9

3:26 a.m.

3:09 p.m.

0.1 0.0

Wednesday 9:49 a.m.

10:12 p.m.

2.1 2.8

4:05 a.m.

3:47 p.m.

0.1 0.1

Thursday

10:29 a.m.

10:51 p.m.

2.1 2.8

4:45 a.m.

4:26 p.m.

0.2 0.2

Friday

11:11 a.m.

11:32 p.m.

2.0 2.7

5:25 a.m.

5:06 p.m.

0.3 0.4

Saturday

11:55 a.m. ‑‑‑‑‑

2.0 ‑‑‑‑‑

6:07 a.m.

5:50 p.m.

0.4 0.5

Sunday

12:15 a.m.

12:43 p.m.

2.6 2.0

6:51 a.m.

6:39 p.m.

0.5 0.6

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

6:20 a.m. Moonrise 7:55 p.m. Moonset

6:19 a.m.

8:21 p.m.

New

First

Full

Last

May 30

Jun. 7

Jun. 14

Jun. 20

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 78° F/26° C

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 78° F/26° C

N

High: 82° F/28° C Low: 75° F/24° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map H

Ht.(ft.)

Today

High: 83° F/28° C Low: 78° F/26° C

N

S

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

tiDes For nassau

CAT ISLAND

E

W

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

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 79° F/26° C

8‑16 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 85° F/29° C Low: 79° F/26° C

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS

are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

RAGGED ISLAND High: 84° F/29° C Low: 79° F/26° C

High: 84° F/29° C Low: 80° F/27° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 86° F/30° C Low: 79° F/26° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

12‑25 knots

10‑20 knots

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

Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday: Today: Tuesday:

WINDS SE at 7‑14 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots SE at 8‑16 Knots E at 7‑14 Knots ESE at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 10‑20 Knots E at 4‑8 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots SE at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots E at 12‑25 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots SE at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 8‑16 Knots

WAVES 1‑3 Feet 1‑3 Feet 1‑2 Feet 0‑1 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑3 Feet 1‑3 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet 3‑5 Feet 3‑5 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑2 Feet 2‑3 Feet 2‑3 Feet 2‑4 Feet 2‑4 Feet

VISIBILITY 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 10 Miles 5 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 5 Miles

WATER TEMPS. 81° F 81° F 85° F 84° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 83° F 83° F 82° F 82° F 82° F 82° F 81° F 81° F 80° F 80° F 82° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 81° F 81° F