06072022 BUSINESS

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TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022

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‘Stay tuned’ for share offering, says Doctors

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DOCTORS Hospital says investors will “hear from us in the next quarter” on plans to finance its multi-million dollar Bahamian healthcare expansion via an equity share offering.

Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s chief financial officer, told Tribune Business the amount of capital it is seeking to raise as well as the nature of the offering were still being determined in discussions with its financial adviser, RF Bank & Trust.

Suggesting it was likely to be “a more common equity raise”, he explained that market demand was likely to dictate whether Doctors Hospital seeks new investors, embarks on a rights offering to existing shareholders, or employs a combination of the two.

Speaking as construction work on Doctors Hospital’s $20m-$24m Grand Bahama hospital, located at Freeport’s former First Commercial Centre, began last week, Mr Deveaux told this newspaper that the company’s “very aggressive expansion plan” will take it wherever there is “critical mass and it is economically viable” to establish

DOCTORS HOSPITAL

• Investors will gain details in 2022 Q3 • Equity raise ‘very much part of plans’ • Work starts on $20-$24m GB hospital

VAT boost from $2bn real estate purchases

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MORE than $2bn in real estate sales were brought forward for stamping and the payment of taxes during the first 11 months of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, it has been revealed.

Shunda Strachan, the Department of Inland Revenue’s (DIR) acting controller, gave an insight into the Bahamian real estate market’s strength - and how it helped fill the void in the Government’s income created by tourism’s COVID shutSHUNDA STRACHAN down by disclosing that almost 31 percent of VAT revenues collected by her agency between July 1 last year and endMay 2022 originate from property deals.

Speaking at the weekly briefing held by the Prime Minister’s Office, she said some $220m of the $712m in VAT revenues

SEE PAGE 6

private healthcare facilities in The Bahamas.

“We are still planning to have a share offering to fund our strategic growth more broadly, which already includes the Grand Bahama hospital,” he affirmed. “We have actually finalised an engagement with RF Bank & Trust to manage and co-ordinate that.

We are putting together the overall schedule for that.

“We’ve seen a significant amount of interest from the market in buying into the future growth mandate of

SEE PAGE 7

Gov’t set to ‘pursue’ Qatar on Bahamas aviation hub

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government will “continue to pursue” Qatar Airways to establish an aviation hub in The Bahamas that can service Latin America and the wider Western Hemisphere, the deputy prime minister has pledged.

Chester Cooper, also minister of tourism, investments and aviation, in a pre-recorded video interview said the mission he led to Qatar and Saudi Arabia had paved the

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INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (IDB)

IDB’s taxpayer boost for $385m Gov’t bond issue • Lender’s $200m guarantee gets top credit rating • To limit debt service costs on big chunk of raise

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS will this week seek to limit the debt servicing burden for taxpayers via an InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) guarantee that will underwrite most of its $385m foreign currency bond issue.

Moody’s, the credit rating agency, has given an ‘Aaa’ designation - the highest possible - to one of the two sovereign bond

series that the Government will issue this week because some $200m is being underwritten by the IDB in return for this country’s “blue economy” reforms.

The guarantee, combined with Moody’s high credit rating for The Bahamas’ ‘series A’ bonds, should ensure that the Government is able to borrow the necessary foreign currency at a much lower interest rate than if

SEE PAGE 4

way for The Bahamas to exploit further investment and economic opportunities in that Middle Eastern region.

Disclosing that The Bahamas is close to establishing full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, he argued that “there is an opportunity to till the soil further” through more visits to the region and direct contacts between its private sector and their Bahamian counterparts.

While the relationships and contacts established by Mr Cooper

SEE PAGE 11

Revenue chief: ‘No choice’ in pursuing $800m arrears

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government’s top revenue official has admitted that the failure of successive administrations to enforce compliance with the law has resulted in the $800m “astronomical arrears” over real property tax.

Shunda Strachan, the Department of Inland Revenue’s (DIR) acting controller, also conceded at the weekly briefing by the Prime Minister’s Office that the depth of The Bahamas’ fiscal crisis now meant the authorities “don’t have a choice” but to start applying collection measures that have existed

SEE PAGE 3

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‘CAN’T BE LEFT BEHIND’ IN COMPETITIVE WORLD

THE TRIBUNE

By RODERICK SIMMS II Advocate for Sustainable Family Island growth and development E-mail: RASII@ME.com

T

he global pandemic has presented us with many

opportunities and lessons for creating a society that is more sustainable and better prepared. But one thing COVID-19 has taken away from us is the time we cannot recover to replace the student learning gap we now face. Prior to the pandemic, The Bahamas’ national exam average was ‘D-’. While this is only one measure of academic performance, it is still important. It is thought that the combination of a prolonged lack of face-to-face learning, and the impediments associated with virtual learning, will have adverse effects on the student population in The Bahamas. In this segment, we will explore the impact of COVID-19 protocols on our education system and students.

A design that does not fit From kindergarten to high school, students in The Bahamas entered a new experience of virtual learning and hybrid face-to-face models between 2020 to the present. The past two years have been a rollercoaster for parents, teachers and students alike in having to adjust to a new learning environment. Virtual learning had both its advantages and disadvantages for the purposes of surviving a pandemic. It was a good solution to help protect students from a new virus that continues to cause death around the world.

But virtual learning is not a sustainable experience since we were grossly unprepared (both students and teachers) to adapt to this new model.

In addition, not everyone’s virtual learning experience is the same since due to the various socio-economic factors that can dictate one’s living conditions. Therefore, we took on a model that was not fit for the education system we have designed.

A report from McKinsey & Company (June 2020) says: “The US education system was not built to deal with extended shutdowns like those imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teachers, administrators and parents have worked hard to keep learning alive.

Nevertheless, these efforts are not likely to provide the quality of education that is delivered in the classroom.” This finding from the research giant is important because it is proof that most education systems were simply not designed for the protocols imposed by governments.

We understand that when COVID-19 struck, a lot was unknown. Therefore, it was not so unusual to keep schools closed as we figured out the next steps.

But we may have prolonged this to a detrimental extent.

Since July 2020, countries were already making moves to return children to school, transitioning from hybrid learning back to full classrooms. Singapore prioritised graduating students, so they could return to prepare for national exams, and opened schools earlier on with social distancing practices in place. Argentina implemented a dual system that combined online and in-person learning. According to research from the United Nations’ children’s agency, UNESCO, on hybrid learning, Argentina looked at four specific courses to return to fulltime learning: The first and second grades, because that is when literacy begins; the last year of primary school (sixth or seventh grade); and the last year of secondary school (fifth or sixth year) due to the jump to the next level. Brazil developed a mobile app to ensure students received their learning material. This makes sense since most households have one or more mobile phones.

In addition, the Brazilian

government partnered with telecommunications operators to ensure free access to the app and billing of Internet consumption to the government, not the user.

The examples above provide evidence that while no system is perfect, there was a lot being done to ensure virtual and hybrid learning was effective and, at some point, transition back to inperson learning.

Adding to the problem COVID or no COVID, the world continues to advance in the way we learn and how we are taught. This means we should be preparing and equipping future generations to be competitive. To do so, we must produce more critical thinkers from our education system. Our current curriculum should be revisited and focus on closely connected areas of study: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Since every student may not be good at theory and tests, these four areas still allow for pre-vocational skills to develop. With new information and communication technologies (ICTs), more companies will begin to require analysis of data to remain in business at a sustainable rate. The skills required to do so necessitate an early start with our student learning population.

Until we can produce measurable outcomes regarding change in our education system, we are only adding to the problem of being left behind. The pandemic has done nothing but worsen an existing problem. During the onset of the pandemic, the Ministry of Education’s research and planning section initially identified 8,000 students who were inactive on the virtual learning platform.

While this number has significantly reduced in recent months, it shows there is a lot of work to do to close the learning gap for that student population. As mentioned, various socio-economic factors can dictate one’s living conditions. Not everyone has access to the Internet to participate in virtual learning at home. Some homes may even lack other utilities, such as electricity and running water. Also, there may be a lack of supervision at home for younger students because some parents are not able to afford childcare while at work. Therefore, we need to account for these oddities that cannot be fixed overnight.

Opportunity to change The social and economic development of The Bahamas depends on the restructuring and advancement of our education system to enhance both the private and public sector. The pandemic has exposed gaps in our education infrastructure, and this crisis should be the impetus for us to improve technologies and networks relating to this.

The pandemic should also encourage us to increase the use of technology, because this helped to ease the disruptions coming out of COVID-19 in our social and work life. Our reliance on these digital technologies led us to be innovative by using skills sets in the maths, science and technology fields. We should harness this talent and take it seriously. We relied on Bahamians to step up and use their skills in programming, digital assets, e-commerce, policy and risk mitigation. So why not give other Bahamians an opportunity to do the same in the near term and future? This can be done, beginning in our primary schools, and

SEE PAGE 5

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, PAGE 3

REVENUE CHIEF: ‘NO CHOICE’ IN PURSUING $800M ARREARS FROM PAGE ONE for decades but have been little used.

“Truthfully it wasn’t something we actively did in the past,” she said of enforcement tools, “and hence we have astronomical arrears. We want persons to know now we don’t have any choice. We have to engage the tools in the legislation. That’s why I said we want you to be mindful the Department does have things today to go after arrears.... We really didn’t do much, but it’s just a different time now.”

Ms Strachan’s admission will come as no surprise to informed observers as the Government’s failure to enforce the real property tax laws has fostered a culture of non-compliance, with many taxpayers viewing payment as an option - not an obligation - safe in the belief that there would be no consequence for failing to hand over what was due.

The DIR chief, though, used last Thursday’s briefing to deliver the message that a new day has arrived and previous practices will no longer be tolerated. Besides the ability to garnish wages, bank accounts and rents, Ms Strachan said the Real Property Tax Act’s section

25 is being expanded via reforms set to take effect from July 1 that will give the Government the “power of sale” over all non-owner occupied properties where there are arrears.

Previously this applied only to foreign-owned property that was not owner-occupied, but this is now being expanded to include Bahamians. “Our message to the public is, if you have significant arrears and your property is mortgaged, go talk to your lender, your mortgagee.

Between the two of you, they will be able to assist, I’m sure” Ms Strachan added.

“I’m saying that because the Department of Inland Revenue is not able to extend long payment plans any longer. We are in collection mode.” Pointing to previous tax amnesties offered to real property tax delinquents, she said: “All of that is done now and we’re in full collection mode.”

The Department of Inland Revenue chief also warned real property tax deadbeats whose assets are not mortgaged to a lender that in “another two weeks” their accounts will be handed to private collection agencies to pursue, which

will result in them incurring additional fees.

The debt and fiscal deficit blow-out produced by COVID-19, which worsened an already-dire situation, has left The Bahamas grappling with a $10.5bn national debt that is still growing while the latter is projected to remain above $500m in the upcoming 2022-2023 fiscal year.

Ms Strachan, meanwhile, also conceded that the Government is cutting commercial real property tax rates in response to the pushback it received over triple-digit percentage increases in private sector tax bills following the recent New Providencewide assessment by Tyler Technologies.

That reassessment will now be extended to the Family Islands starting this summer, and the DIR chief said: “Commercial rates will decrease for the reason, again, that we heard the cry of the commercial community so as a result of them doing a lot of lobbying I think the rates presented for the commercial properties, you’ll see a decrease there.”

For many the commercial property tax rate will be halved, falling from 2 percent to 1 percent on

buildings valued between $500,000 and $2m, while those worth more than that sum will enjoy a 1.5 percent rate.

The Government contracted Tyler Technologies to conduct an island-wide mapping exercise of New Providence that ensured all properties are captured on the real property tax roll.

This, and the subsequent revaluations, are a first step in what the Government views as a wide-ranging exercise that will lead to all taxable property owners paying their fair share.

The valuation process employed by Tyler and the Department of Inland Revenue was a “bulk” assessment that used algorithms to calculate the worth of properties in a particular neighborhood or subdivision based on their

dimensions/size and which category - owner-occupied, residential, commercial, undeveloped land etc - they fell into.

This has resulted in triple-digit increases for some taxpayers, with the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) saying its members had reported increases of between 100 percent to 435 percent compared to 2021 billings.

However, many of the objections have likely come from high-end residential and commercial property owners, given that real property tax and its rates are structured such that the burden is heavier for more expensive real estate.

A significant portion of complaints will also stem from owners

whose properties have not been valued for years, sometimes for decades, meaning that the Tyler Technologies revaluation will have resulted in a seemingly-huge tax hike even though it may have only brought the bill to the correct level. The Act calls for a revaluation to be conducted every five years, which Ms Strachan admitted has not been done, leaving the Government in non-compliance with the law.

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PAGE 4, Tuesday, June 7, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

IDB’S TAXPAYER BOOST FOR $385M GOV’T BOND ISSUE FROM PAGE ONE

it had to approach investors directly on the open market.

One well-placed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the IDB guarantee will enable the Davis administration to potentially cut interest rates (debt servicing costs) associated with the borrowing by up to four percentage points.

The multilateral lender’s involvement eases repayment risks considerably for investors, and they suggested The Bahamas could obtain an interest rate of 5.5-6 percent as opposed to 9-10 percent without the guarantee.

This, in turn, minimises the debt servicing burden associated with the two bond series for Bahamian taxpayers who are already faced with a collective $588m in interest payments to the Government’s lenders/creditors in the upcoming 2022-2023 Budget. While the savings will likely appear minimal in comparison to the latter figure, every little helps, and managing debt service (interest) costs is one of the Davis administration’s key objectives.

Moody’s, in a “rating action” issued on Friday, said the $385m debt capital raise is being divided into two so-called ‘series’ under the same borrowing envelope. Besides the series A bond, which will be underwritten by the IDB, The Bahamas will also issue a ‘series B’ Eurobond that will not be guaranteed.

The rating agency has thus assigned a ‘Ba3’ rating to the series B Eurobond, the same non-investment

grade status as The Bahamas’ overall creditworthiness, given that there is no IDB guarantee for this portion of the debt. However, contacts suggested that - when combined with the 2 percent rate the IDB tie-up will secure - the overall interest cost will come in at around 5.5-6 percent.

Neither Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, nor Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, could be reached for comment on the upcoming bond offering before press time last night. However, Moody’s confirmed in its assessment: “Moody’s has assigned a rating of ‘Aaa’ to the backed senior unsecured proposed bond issuance (series A bond) by the Government of The Bahamas.

“The bond is enhanced by a $200m credit guarantee provided by the Inter-American Development Bank for scheduled debt service payments.

The IDB’s issuer rating is ‘Aaa’ with a stable outlook.

The assigned ‘Aaa’ rating is based solely upon the unconditional and irrevocable guarantee of scheduled principal and interest payments provided by the IDB. “Separately, the Government of The Bahamas will issue an additional Eurobond without guarantee (series B bond) under the same bond indenture as the bonds issued with the IDB guarantee. Moody’s

has assigned a ‘Ba3’ rating to series B bonds in line with The Bahamas’ issuer rating.”

Separately, reports by Latin America Finance last night said the total amount sought by The Bahamas is $385m and due to come to market this week. Moody’s, meanwhile, providing further rationale for its analysis and assigned credit ratings, said the IDB guarantee and its “residual” effect on the series B bonds was insufficient to justify a higher credit rating on the Eurobond debt.

“The Government of The Bahamas plans a bond issuance, which includes a guarantee for one of the issued series. There will be a dual-tranche issuance under a single bond indenture, the proceeds of which will be used for general budgetary purposes, including the refinancing, repurchase or retirement of existing indebtedness, and to finance general development in The Bahamas,” Moody’s added.

“The ‘Aaa’ rating on the series A bonds reflects the credit strengths of the guarantee provided by the IDB, and Moody’s view that the terms of the guarantee meet our criteria for credit substitution. The guarantee expresses an unconditional and irrevocable commitment to pay due and unpaid scheduled principal and interest on a timely basis.

“A key element of achieving credit substitution

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is timely payment under a guarantee. The guarantee payment is triggered by a demand notice made by the indenture trustee, which will occur at least 12 days prior to the scheduled payment date. The IDB will need to make a corresponding payment no later than 11 days after receiving such demand notice from the indenture trustee. Moody’s considers this timeframe appropriate to ensure timely payment,” the rating agency said.

“The series B bond potentially benefits from the guarantee on the series A bond to the extent there is any residual portion of the guarantee after all payments are made on the series A bond. However, in Moody’s view, the potential value of this ‘guarantee residual’ is insufficient to support any uplift for the series B bonds above The Bahamas’ issuer rating.”

The IDB guarantee was left in place by the former Minnis administration, which had planned to use it to support a $700m foreign currency bond issue had it been re-elected to office. It was included in the former administration’s borrowing plan, and has been inherited by the Davis government which is now putting it to good use - albeit for a

much-reduced amount - as it seeks to meet more of its financing needs in Bahamian dollars.

One contact, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the imminent $385m issue: “I know they [the Government] have been working on a bond offering for some time. I understand that they are partnering with the IDB to guarantee a portion of what will go into the bond.

“My suspicion is that they’re trying to manage the interest rate. If you can cover it with a ‘blue bond’ with the IDB, you can get rates that are fairly low. If you go for something outside that, the rates will be fairly high. This will give you lower interest rates than if you did it on your own. If you did it on your own, they would start at 9-10 percent. With the IDB, it will be 2 percent.

“I imagine the combined rate [from the two series] will be 5-6 percent. That would be my guess. The net effect will be good, a lower interest rate, and that will help all of us because it’s less taxpayer dollars to pay back.” The Bahamas’ already-issued debt continues to trade at a significant discount compared to face

value, while interest yields remain in the double digits.

The Government’s $825m foreign currency bond, some $600m of which was placed at 8.95 percent at the height of the COVID pandemic, yesterday closed at 77.51 - an almost 22.5 percent discount to face value - on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The yield demanded by investors stood at 13.3672 percent.

As for the $300m bond priced at 6.95 percent, which was the last issued before the pandemic, it is trading at a 24.48 percent discount to face value with yields standing at 12.3703 percent. The source added: “If it’s a blue bond, you have to be doing some kind of debt-for-nature type of swap where you agree to preserve some portion of the sea.

“This type of deal helps you to bring down your rate. You get concessionary funding for preserving nature. But it’s going to be interesting to see what the combined targets are to meet the Government’s financing needs. They have financing needs for next year, with the $564m deficit, and whatever the deficit for this year is. The financing gap is still substantial.”

THE TRIBUNE

Food security

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, PAGE 5

the combination of poor weather affecting harvests in the Americas, Africa and Asia; rising production prices; and scarcity of fertiliser cast a threatening shadow over food security for hundreds of millions.

Before the war, Ukraine was known as the world’s breadbasket. So its inability to export is nothing short of catastrophic, considering that even before the conflict started the situation in the global food market was already stressed.

It is estimated by the United Nations (UN) that, before Moscow’s troops crossed the border, 276m

people around the world were already facing food shortages. Considering that, out of these 276m, approximately 130m receive regular supplies delivered by the UN, and that at least 50 percent of this food comes from either Russia or Ukraine, it is likely that - if nothing changes - mass starvation across some of the world’s poorest regions will soon be making headlines.

Attempts to export cereals from Ukraine by road have so far proved insufficient, barely reaching 20 percent of the volumes usually achieved by sea.

The opening of the port of Odesa to maritime traffic plays a crucial role in resolving this situation. As the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme recently said to the Financial Times, failure to open the port will

amount to a declaration of war on global food security.

Besides the tragedy it represents for the poorest in developing nations around the world, which on its own should be enough to trigger urgent action, the undermining of food security also presents significant geopolitical risks. As food costs escalate, and the less fortunate get priced out of the market, social instability is growing in places as far apart as Sri Lanka, Peru and Indonesia. There are already enough challenges to be dealt with, so the last thing our embattled world order needs is the outbreak of new conflicts. Let us hope that, if basic human compassion is not enough to shift positions, a rational analysis of the potential wider consequences will lead to urgently needed action.

‘CAN’T BE LEFT BEHIND’ IN COMPETITIVE WORLD

this, the plan also calls for improving and implementing technology into the learning process.

have different needs because they are shifting to digital transformation strategies to survive the next 10 to 20 years. As a result, the human capital skills bank has changed and requires more analytical, innovative and problem-solving skills. Therefore, we need to prepare our learning population to be more competitive against the world.

We simply do not want to be left behind.

By RICARDO EVANGELISTA

T

he shockwaves caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to reverberate, transcending the nations directly involved and the wider European region. The impact has been profound and felt globally, both in the political and economic spheres.

Western leaders have been busy, discussing how to support Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression while avoiding an escalation of the conflict. Another hot topic has been the

FROM PAGE TWO carried into the tertiary level.

When we create a life cycle of critical thinkers, we are setting the standard for education, skills and goals for the student population.

A lack of early education can be linked to other social

imposition of sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports, which is a complex balancing effect as alternatives are hard to find and such moves will only worsen inflation, exacerbating already-high energy costs in the global markets.

But now, more than three months into the conflict, a new concern

issues such as crime and poverty. Therefore, like we always say, it starts with a good foundation.

The National Development Plan Fortunately for The Bahamas, our National Development Plan (NDP) has already identified

is emerging. Dwindling Russian exports, due to direct sanctions or the closure of financial channels, and the blockade on Ukrainian Black Sea ports by Moscow’s navy, are dramatically reducing shipments of agricultural commodities from two of the world’s main producers.

Against such a background,

most of the gaps in our learning and infrastructure needs to help improve the education system. The NDP calls for a renewal of the curriculum. The plan points out that lessons can be applied from what has worked in the past, and more attention can be provided to the needs of the future. According to

the NDP: “By investing in skills development, summer learning hours and better attention to at-risk students who need more attention, or simple nutrition, it is hoped that students will be better prepared to take on higher education or well-paying jobs when they graduate high school.” In addition to

Conclusion Education is the root of how we become more progressive as a nation.

We must make shifts and changes in our curriculum, skills, resources and technology to produce better outcomes. In this fourth industrial revolution, companies and consumers

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THE TRIBUNE

VAT BOOST FROM $2BN REAL ESTATE PURCHASES FROM PAGE ONE collected by the Department of Inland Revenue for the fiscal year to-date came from land and property transactions.

The present VAT real estate structure, which will be replaced come July 1, 2022, applies a 2.5 percent rate to any transactions worth less than $100,000.

All other deals attract a 10 percent levy and, although the Minnis administration temporarily increased the rate to 12 percent on the portion of transactions $2m and above, that was eliminated when its successor slashed the VAT rate to 10 percent with effect from January 1, 2022.

Using these rates, and extrapolating from the

data provided by Ms Strachan, the $220m in VAT collected on conveyances brought forward for stamping translates into $2.2bn worth of real estate sales that generated these tax payments. Even allowing for the fact that a small portion will have attracted the 2.5 percent levy, and not 10 percent, places the value of such sales well above $2bn.

“Stick a pin by that VAT,” Ms Strachan said. “Of that $712m, $220m was coming from VAT on conveyances.

That tells us that this is a buyer’s market; persons are finding money from somewhere to purchase property.

That’s a good thing. We’re excited about that. Of the $712m in VAT collected by the DIR, persons that file and pay at the DIR, out of

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that REMY JEAN-PIERRE of Minnie Street, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 7st day of June, 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 FRANDLAY JULIEN PIERRE of Joe Farrington Road, 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 31st day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

that $712m some $220m of that came from the stamping of VAT on conveyances, property transfers.”

Realtors yesterday cautioned that the potential $2bn-plus in sales, and $220m in VAT payments, likely include transactions that closed - and tax liabilities that became due - before this fiscal year started. They suggested that a significant portion could relate to the “backlog” created by 2020’s COVID lockdown and subsequent restrictions, when government agencies were closed and neither documents could be stamped or taxes paid.

David Morley, Morley Realty’s principal, told Tribune Business that it “seems a little bit excessive” to suggest that all $2bn-plus of real estate sales occurred during the first 11 months of the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Pointing out that transactions typically took three to six months to close after sales agreements were signed, he added: “Throw the pandemic in on top of that, and that 11-month period could reflect sales that took place over 18 months.

“Two billion dollars in sales seems an awful lot of property. A good number of those transactions may have been hold because of the pandemic or their closings; it’s the same thing. It’s probably a lot more than what was contracted in 11 months. It doesn’t necessarily reflect what was contracted to be sold in that period. It seems a little bit excessive to my mind....

“To me, it doesn’t seem possible that it was all in that 11-month period.

If you add five to seven months to that, you’re talking a 16-18 month period.

The question I would ask is that during the pandemic lockdown period, many of those people [at the DIR] were working remotely.

How long did it take to get that into the system where people were trying to pay?

A lot of that could be the backlog they were trying to put into the system.”

Nevertheless, Mr Morley said the real estate VAT figure disclosed by Ms Strachan showed just how the industry had helped to prop up government revenues at COVID-19’s peak when its main income generator - tourism - was all

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NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JULIAN EVAN SIEGRIST of San Andros, North 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 31st day of May, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

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THURSDAY, 2 JUNE 2022

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 6.70 53.00 2.05 2.61 2.60 6.10 10.05 3.56 9.02 3.10 8.00 16.60 2.65 10.28 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 7.05 10.02 9.01 13.10 3.50 8.19 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%

2431.30

1.10

0.05

203.06

9.11

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 2.35 2.47 6.10 9.75 3.50 8.15 2.81 8.00 16.00 2.81 10.26 12.14 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 2.35 2.47 6.10 9.75 3.55 8.15 2.81 8.00 16.00 2.83 10.26 12.36 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

18,850 500

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 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.22 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

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%

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

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 16.8 N/M N/M 26.4 -8.1 58.2 15.3 17.8 22.2 27.7 22.0 19.1 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% 3.40% 0.00% 0.00% 2.67% 0.00% 0.00% 4.27% 2.75% 4.50% 15.34% 0.58% 2.65% 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

but shut down due to pandemic-related lockdowns, border closures and travel restrictions.

“Government has to be thankful for that,” he added. “If a government is hurting for money, you’d think they would try to keep that train rolling as quickly as they can and keep the money coming in. It will be interesting to see what the repercussions are from increasing the cap on real property tax on high-end homes.”

The Government is increasing the real property tax cap, which sets a maximum limit on a homeowner’s annual payment, from $60,000 to $120,000 effectively doubling this, or increasing it by 100 percent.

It says only high-end homeowners, with properties valued at $6m and above, will be impacted by this reform, and the maximum $120,000 will just apply to those with real estate valued over $19.3m.

Other realtors, too, said the VAT and sales data provide an “indicator” of the real estate industry’s economic and fiscal impacts.

Mike Lightbourn, Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty’s president, told this newspaper: “It just shows the real estate industry has been healthy, and I hope it continues.

“Every time a property changes hands there’s a possibility there will be new construction or renovations on existing buildings, and that’s all good for the economy. It’s part of the package we need to reinvigorate our economic situation. Anything that we can get to accelerate the economy is good. Whatever is good for the economy is what we need.”

Mario Carey, the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate MCR Group

Bahamas principal, said: “I’ve always postured that real estate is by far in the top three tiers of our economy, and it just continues to show more and more.

It’s powerful, and has to be an industry that is handled delicately.

“The Budget showed some progress. At first read, it looked pretty good.

Every time real estate is sold, it creates two to three jobs. There’s a lot of people employed in real estate, directly and indirectly.

It’s a good market right now. We’re in a very good position, and anybody in the real estate business is seeing some good returns.

Anybody in the Family Islands, anybody in New Providence.

“The new frontier is going to start to become the Family Islands, and all that is geared towards airlift and airports.” The post-COVID real estate surge has largely been driven by international buyers via a combination of factors including pentup pandemic demand plus the desire to secure a property that meets the need for social distancing and remoteness.

Bahamian real estate is also being viewed as a hedge against soaring inflation, and increased interest rates, in the US and other major international markets. This heightened activity has resulted in growing calls from some observers for real estate-related taxes to be increased given the Government’s need for revenue and a belief that the wealthy should pay a greater share.

Meanwhile, in the Bahamian segment of the market, shortages of available housing have produced multiple bidding wars among buyers that have helped to maintain prices.

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.

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.

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.

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.

THE TRIBUNE

‘STAY TUNED’ FOR SHARE OFFERING, SAYS DOCTORS FROM PAGE ONE Doctors Hospital, which exists beyond Grand Bahama.

While we’re breaking ground on a new hospital in Freeport, we’re completing the check-list for the clinic in Eight Mile Rock.

“We’re doing the final safety, quality and risk inspection for the brand new Eight Mile Rock clinic. That final inspection is being done today [last Thursday], and we’ll be opening the clinic shortly thereafter in the month of June, and breaking ground on our new clinic in Exuma,” Mr Deveaux continued.

“An equity raise is still very much part of our plan, and we’re very excited to let the Bahamian public and institutional investors know of our plans. They

can expect to hear from us very shortly. It’s likely to be a more common equity raise, and clearly one of the projects we will fund is the Grand Bahama hospital.”

Declining to provide specifics, on the basis that the “finer details” are still being discussed with RF Bank & Trust, Mr Deveaux said it has “yet to be determined” whether a rights offering to existing Doctors Hospital shareholders will be part of the capital raising mix.

The BISX-listed healthcare provider had initially mulled spinning-off its Grand Bahama health facilities via a share offering to new investors, with residents on that island and in the wider northern Bahamas allowed the first opportunity to buy-in.

However, Mr Deveaux added: “A rights offering is

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, PAGE 7 something we have discussed and it would have to be segmented appropriately with a common market offering.

We haven’t finalised that yet. A lot of that is going to depend on demand... We obviously have a quantum target, but the definitive details will come out in the next quarter with respect to the raise.

“I think folks should definitely expect to hear from us in the next quarter, what our plans are for private healthcare moving forward.

There’s a clinic about to imminently open in Eight Mile Rock, we’re about to start construction on a new clinic in Exuma.

“We’re opening a quality care centre and clinic in Carmichael, and putting some infrastructure into the Meldon Plaza in Palmdale.

We’ve got a very aggressive expansion strategy, and we’re very excited over the next quarter to talk about what that means for the expansion of healthcare services in the country.”

Acknowledging that the “deficits in healthcare” across The Bahamas were well-known, Mr Deveaux said: “Our president, Dr Charles Diggiss, has been very clear on his vision for healthcare. Where there’s critical mass, and it’s economically viable, that’s where we’ll be, and we’re committed to executing that over the next three to four years.

“We know the people of Grand Bahama have long sought additional choice, and while the public healthcare system continues to be there as a support network, people that seek choice too often have to fly to south Florida.” With the First Commercial Centre’s purchase having now closed, Doctors Hospital is moving swiftly to improve both care quality and accessibility to private medical treatment on the island.

“I’m on the ground now in Grand Bahama, and we’re in the demolition phase,” Mr Deveaux told Tribune Business. “We’re actually demolishing the ground floor right now, and doing a bit of mold remediation and testing. It’s fair to say construction has begun. We’ve started with demolition, and we expect that process

to take four to six weeks before we jump right into exterior and interior based construction.”

Asked when construction will be completed, he replied: “We’re targeting the first quarter of next year. We had some challenges getting the regulatory approvals, so that’s our target. Our biggest challenge is long lead-time equipment, but if the supply chain co-operates our target is the first quarter of next year.”

Doctors Hospital invested $425,000 in acquiring all the medical and equipmentrelated assets that formerly belonged to Okyanos, the stem cell therapy provider that formerly occupied the First Commercial Centre, and which is now in Supreme Court-supervised liquidation. This included a catheterisation laboratory.

“We purchased everything they left in there. We expect to repurpose not so much the medical equipment, but the furniture and fixtures, which have great value to us,” Mr Deveaux added. “There was a semi-functional catheterisation laboratory that we are retooling and putting back into operation. There are some very fine assets that we have acquired, and are going to leverage that for the

benefit of healthcare for the people of Grand Bahama.

“That’s a big part of our investment. We think it’s likely to be a $20m project.

We know with the supply chain being the way it is we are going to carry contingencies, but it’s safe to say it will be between $20m-$24m.” He added that much of the construction work is required on the First Commercial Centre’s third floor, suggesting that the investment here will be “probably north of $20m” alone.

Noting that Doctors Hospital has been “heavily reinvesting based on the success of the business over the last four years”, Mr Deveaux said the healthcare provider had largely reached its present position using existing cash flows.

It has not had to deploy the $13.5m equity injection received in 2021 from Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings in exchange for a 16.7 percent stake in the business. “It’s actually matured off a shortterm investment, and we will probably put it back into a medium-term investment,” Mr Deveaux explained of the Fairfax funds, saying there was no rush to put them to use.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, June 7, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

THE TRIBUNE

GOV’T SET TO ‘PURSUE’ QATAR ON BAHAMAS AVIATION HUB FROM PAGE ONE and his delegation, which also included Senator Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, have to be further nurtured to convert them into tangible benefits for The Bahamas, the deputy prime minister said their meeting with Qatar Airways’ president and chief executive had discussed multiple tourism and aviation possibilities.

“We are interested in establishing links internationally through an inter-airline agreement with Bahamasair, as well as causing there to be some promotion through Qatar Holidays to bring tourists to The Bahamas,” Mr Cooper said, “by way of links that already exist through Miami and other major US destinations. That is what we sought to achieve on the tourism front, and we believe we have made significant ground.”

Noting that The Bahamas already has an air services agreement with Qatar, the deputy prime minister said this nation has again promised to support the Gulf state’s bid for membership on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) council. It had previously done this

in 2019, when Qatar was unsuccessful.

Seeking to build on that air services agreement, Mr Cooper added: “In addition to developing an inter-airline agreement with Qatar Airways, we sought to attract them to The Bahamas to create a hub for passengers as well as cargo.

We wanted to explore that possibility of The Bahamas as a hub for the region and outward to Latin America.

“This is something we will continue to pursue for the future, but in the shortterm Qatar Airways has offered technical assistance for reviewing the operations of Bahamasair, establishing linkages and inter-airline agreements with Bahamasair and making determinations as to how we might improve the operations of our very own airline.

“In addition to this, the Government has been able to secure their assistance for technical co-operation and training,” Mr Cooper continued. “We are going to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for assistance and training as it relates to aviation.

“We will look to see how we can get technical assistance in establishing our own aviation institution in The Bahamas. Initially

we have a commitment for some training programmes where we will be able to send our citizens to Qatar Airways or the civil aviation authority in Qatar for training and, in the long and medium term, we will work hand in hand to develop an institution, so in effect we have covered a lot of ground.”

When it came to Saudi Arabia, Mr Cooper said the mission obtained a “commitment in principle” that the Middle East kingdom will provide “matching

funds” through its tourism development agencies to The Bahamas’ Tourism Development Corporation and Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) to finance tourism-related small businesses and entrepreneurs in this nation.

Describing Saudi Arabia as a new but wealthy entrant to tourism, with plans to invest $100bn in developing attractions that include snow skiing in the desert as it plans for the eventual transition from oil, Mr Cooper said The Bahamas

Tuesday, June 7, 2022, PAGE 11

was seeking to develop a relationship that “will work both ways” with this nation providing technical and training assistance to it.

He added that the Saudis were “very excited” about initiatives such as BahamaHost and ‘People to People’, and with that country’s tourism industry still developing he said: “There are some issues with service. No doubt we can teach them a thing or two....”

Mr Cooper said the Ministry of Tourism will also seek to develop “packages”

for Saudi travellers flying to destinations such as Orlando (Disney World) and London in the hope that they may add on a leg that would take them to The Bahamas.

And he revealed that the Government is also planning to stage investment forums involving both Qatari and Saudi investors, possibly as early as this summer, in a bid to facilitate contacts with the Bahamian private sector and build relations with the two Middle Eastern states further following his group’s mission.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Monday, June 6, 2022