07182022 BUSINESS

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MONDAY, JULY 18, 2022

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Briland beach battle escalates over ‘stay’

BEN ALBURY

PETER GOUDIE

NIB rate hikes ‘totally impossible’ to absorb

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN businesses have warned it is “absolutely impossible” to absorb the contribution rate increases required to save the National Insurance Board (NIB), adding: “The can’s been kicked to pieces at this point.”

Agreeing that The Bahamas has delayed critical reforms to its social security system for too long, private sector executives spoken to by Tribune Business branded the proposed

rescue plan as “brutal” with the likely contribution hikes “a death blow” if implemented now given that many companies are still struggling for survival following COVID-19 and the current cost of living crisis.

Ben Albury, the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association’s (BMDA) president, said increasing NIB’s combined contribution rate to 16.9 percent by 2029, and subsequently to 22.55 percent for long-term solvency, was simply “not feasible”

SEE PAGE B6

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A FOUR-YEAR battle involving a prominent developer and some of Harbour Island’s ultra wealthy landowners is escalating once again over disputed claims that a Supreme Court Order has been violated.

The ongoing fight between developer Chad Pike and his Bonefish Alley Ltd entity, which is constructing a harbour side beach in the area known as the Narrows, and some of the project’s neighbours has been branded Briland’s equivalent of the decade-long battle between Louis Bacon and Peter Nygard by several locals spoken to by Tribune Business.

For ranged against Mr Pike and Bonefish Alley are a group of highend expatriate Harbour Island homeowners including Arpad Busson, the hedge fund magnate, a former husband of super model, Elle Macpherson, known as ‘The

• Ultra wealthy residents not giving up despite legal retreat • Developer refutes claims Supreme Court Order violated • Says all permits in; not told SEE PAGE B4 of action until 12 days prior

BONEFISH Alley’s beach construction project (top left) as viewed from the property of one of its main opponents, hedge fund magnate Arpad Busson Photo:James Malcolm/Bahamas Property Group

Union chief: ‘We’ve been taken for a ride too long’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE hotel union’s president says it is “diametrically opposed” to the industry’s proposal that tipped employees receive less than a full minimum wage increase, saying: “We’ve been taken for a ride for too long.”

Darrin Woods, the Bahamas Hotel, Catering and Allied Workers Union’s (BHCAWU) chief, told Tribune Business “it just cannot happen” after this newspaper reported that the hotel sector had “intervened” over the upcoming minimum wage rise.

DARRIN WOODS Responding after employers effectively called for two minimum wage floors, with employees earning the bulk of their income from gratuities receiving less than the full planned

SEE PAGE B8

Third mobile operator study eyes November

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SOME 45 percent of Bahamians believe Aliv’s mobile market entry has reduced prices, sector regulators have revealed, as they prepare to complete their study on the feasibility of a third operator by November 2022.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), unveiling the final report and determination on its mobile phone market review, pledged to keep “a close watch” on the sector and how competition evolves despite the acknowledged benefits caused by the smashing of the Bahamas

Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) monopoly in November 2016.

Referring to the results of a consumer survey conducted on its behalf by Public Domain, URCA said: “The persons surveyed said Aliv’s market entry has resulted in lower pricing and greater data allowance (45 percent/43 percent) and greater call and SMS allowance within bundles (23 percent).

“Although URCA has come to the conclusion that competition in the market has developed to a point where certain ex-ante measures applicable to BTC’s retail mobile activities are no longer appropriate (see

SEE PAGE B7

PAGE 2, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Building compliance for global workforce D

espite the changes in a company’s dayto-day workflow due to technological progress, the backbone of a successful corporation remains its trained and engaged workforce. As a result, our workforce is becoming more diverse, with employees located across the globe. The diverse nature of these employees brings numerous benefits, both intangible and tangible, to the workplace, but they also present a number of compliance challenges.

Given that training is an essential pillar of a strong compliance programme, this should cover programmes and their controls, as well as the roles and responsibilities of different employees.

In this article, I will discuss the points pertaining to building and maintaining a strong compliance training programme for a workforce spread across the globe.

A systematic approach to training Consider whether you will be able to hire instructors to facilitate your training, or if you will be delivering these opportunities internally. A trainer’s appearance may significantly influence what needs to be translated, and how it should be translated.

Your audience must always remain central to your approach, while simultaneously considering key aspects of the regulatory environment that must be taught. In other words, you should have some

By

Derek

Smith form of a plan in place before you begin creating your materials. Companies often translate materials into three different media before making their final decision.

Make training convenient Providing a single, live training date (or even a couple of options) is not always convenient for employees, especially in globally dispersed companies. It is just the nature of life that schedules do not always align.

Leaders of compliance training must determine whether live training is really necessary. It may be more effective for employees to meet deadlines if online modules are not highly interactive. There are several ways to structure training so that employees will not become overwhelmed, including making the content digestible, providing recordings of live sessions and pacing the delivery frequency.

Edit, review, test and track In most cases, companies spend considerable time and effort editing and reviewing training materials, but they rarely take the time to test them prior to finalising them. Having a proper plan in place is closely related to the first tip. It is important to develop a tested strategy that you know works. If you are using software to support your training efforts, take particular note of how people from other cultures may adapt to it.

Keeping abreast of relevant laws can be challenging, but you should also make sure your standard operating procedures and employee handbooks are constantly updated in all relevant languages.

The final step is to track your effectiveness.

Today we have access to a vast amount of data. Analyse these initiatives and determine how to measure the quality of your training

over time. If you are experimenting with different approaches, this can be extremely helpful.

Conclusion In short, it is likely that considering the above points will assist you in more easily training and working with employees of varied cultural backgrounds.

Jr

NB: About Derek Smith

Derek Smith Jr. has been a governance, risk and compliance professional for more than 20 years. He has held positions at a TerraLex member law firm, a Wolfsburg Group member bank and a ‘big four’ accounting firm. Mr Smith is a certified anti-money laundering specialist (CAMS), and the compliance officer and money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) for CG Atlantic’s family of companies (member of Coralisle Group) for The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

Disney vessel honoured in first voyage to Nassau NASSAU Cruise Port on Saturday exchanged plaques with Disney Cruise Line to celebrate the Disney Wish’s first voyage to Nassau.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, brought remarks.

Also in attendance were Basil McIntosh, minister of state for the environment; Reginald Saunders, permanent secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation; Latia Duncombe, acting director-general, Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation; Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general, Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation; and other tourism and government officials.

Disney Cruise Line also announced that Junior Achievement Bahamas (JA Bahamas) is one of the first youth organisations to receive funding as part of its all-new ‘Wishes Set Sail’ campaign.

Earmarked for Abaco, Eleuthera and Nassau, the donation will support programmes focused on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, college preparedness and work readiness. The cruise line said its support will restart JA Bahamas’ programme development efforts in Abaco, which paused in 2019 following Hurricane Dorian, while providing continued funding for Eleuthera’s activities and adding to the donation made in December 2021.

“Disney Cruise Line is excited to continue bringing positive, lasting change to our valued port communities through this new initiative,” said Thomas Mazloum, president, Disney Signature Experiences. “Since our maiden voyage nearly 25 years ago, we have enjoyed introducing countless families to the beauty and spirit of The Bahamas, while demonstrating our strong commitment to the port communities we visit. Our hope is that this donation will empower local young people and help their wishes set sail.”

Disney Cruise Line said it had previously partnered with JA Bahamas, including a donation in December 2021, to fund educational programming in Eleuthera.

Adapted for each age group, the Junior Achievement curriculum is designed to help students understand economics and business fundamentals, while also exploring career interests and opportunities and developing work-readiness skills.

“With Disney’s support, Junior Achievement can provide programming for 2,100 students in Abaco, Eleuthera and New Providence as we celebrate the end of our four-year hiatus due to natural disasters and the global pandemic,” said Philip Simon, JA Bahamas chairman.

“As we meet our goal of ensuring our programming is available to every student on every island, we are grateful to Disney Cruise Line for recognising the value of our offerings and actively ensuring our return to Abaco while expanding availability and new opportunities in New Providence and Eleuthera.”

Mr Mazloum announced Disney Cruise Line’s continued support for JA Bahamas during Saturday’s traditional plaque and key exchange ceremony. He was joined by Disney senior vice-president and general manager, Sharon Siskie; Disney Wish captain, Marco Nogara; and other members of Disney leadership. Representing The Bahamas were Mr Cooper, Mike Maura, chief executive of Nassau Cruise Port, and Craig Curtis, deputy port controller.

Photo:Kemuel Stubbs/BIS

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 3

Scotiabank sharpens credit focus via new Sales Centre

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net A SCOTIABANK (Bahamas) executive says its newly-launched Sales Centre will enable the lender to focus on “all things credit” and give greater attention to customers seeking loans.

Nakera Symonette, the bank’s director of business support, told Tribune Business that the launch of the dedicated Wulff Road and Jerome Avenue facility while bring greater efficiency to the lending process as borrowers will have direct access to credit specialists.

“This is transformational because there have been mortgage centres in the past from some of our competitors,” she added. “But today I do believe that we are the only bank with a sales centre that focuses specifically on having those conversations. So when you’re ready for your dream home, and you’re really thinking about where to go and how to manage those individual conversations, it’s the goal of this branch to eradicate customer anxiety.

“We believe that this will give customers an opportunity really to have that individualised attention for all of our home financing needs. So we have a number of branches remaining in The Bahamas that offer a range of products and services. We have

cashless branches, we have cash branches and now we have a sales centre.

“Ultimately, what we’re really trying to do as we innovate the way we offer our products and services, is create markets within our own brand that caters to specific needs.” The sales centre will employ 18 workers.

The Wulff Road and Jerome Avenue property will undergo extensive renovations this November to facilitate the switch to a full sales centre. “There will be a lot more investments in digital, and a lot more investments in up-skilling our staff. We’re really putting a lot into making sure that our team members can continue to evolve and grow even through these trying periods we have been through between Dorian and COVID,” Ms Symonette added.

Marcus Moxey, senior manager of Scotiabank’s sales centre, added: “The branch renovations are going to be state-of-theart. The unit is looking really good. Customers can expect when they come in to see a team of eight sales professionals focus on, and committed to, delivering consistent customer service - and high-end customer service. We’re going to be responsive, we’re going to be efficient and we’re going to be a very competent team.”

Cable pushes TV review after 11% subscriber fall

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net CABLE Bahamas is pushing industry regulators to complete their review of pay-TV services after it suffered the greatest yearover-year subscriber drop of 11 percent for 2021.

The BISX-listed communications provider and its Aliv mobile affiliate, in their second and last response to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) mobile market assessment, argued that a similar exercise on fixedservices products will show increased competition from Netflix, other streaming and over-the-top services are “the driving force” behind the growing erosion of their subscriber base.

“We note BTC’s (the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s) comments about the fixed line market, and consider that these comments apply with even greater force to the pay TV market, which has changed beyond all recognition from the market which existed the last time that URCA reviewed dominance in this market in 2014,” Cable Bahamas/Aliv said.

“Since then, global new entrants and mobile and fixed broadband technologies have completely changed the scope and market dynamics of the television/content market, and Cable Bahamas knows from its daily experience that it is now very competitive.”

The duo added: “Cable Bahamas looks forward to engaging with URCA on

its review of the fixed services market, including pay TV, which is due to be completed by trimester three of 2022, according to URCA’s recently-published Annual Plan 2022. In preparation for this market review, Cable Bahamas urges URCA to finalise its review of URCA’s position on OTT services, scheduled to be completed by trimester three of 2022.

“Cable Bahamas believes such a survey will identify substitution by OTT services as the driving force behind the observed decline in traditional linear TV services. Indeed, URCA’s comments in its Annual Report 2021 on the pay TV services market review on subscriber numbers on the continuing trend of decline ‘despite competition’ in the market since 2016, and with 2020-2021 statistics seeing the largest decline at 11 percent yearover-year to-date, is most worthy of note.”

Aliv received some backing from BTC, which in its own response to the mobile market review, said: “Aliv takes issue with one specific aspect of URCA’s mobile market definition, namely the exclusion of OTT call and messaging services. Indeed, much of Aliv’s response is dedicated to providing reasons why OTT call and messaging services should, in fact, be included in the mobile market definition.

“In response, BTC agrees that there are many good reasons that OTT call and messaging services could be included in the mobile market definition,

including those offered

by Aliv in its response.

That said, BTC also recognises that the inclusion or exclusion of OTT call and messaging services in the mobile market definition would have no effect on the conclusions reached by URCA.” URCA, in its final mobile market determination, which eased a number of regulatory requirements previously imposed on BTC when it was still a monopoly, said while there was some evidence that OTT messaging acted as a substitute for text messaging, there was insufficient evidence to suggest consumers would switch from bundled plans to data only ones.

“URCA accepts that the declining usage trends in SMS suggest there may have been some substitution from mobile messaging to OTT messaging services, whilst the increasing usage trends in mobile calling are likely to be the result of mobile services being relatively inexpensive and convenient,” the regulator said.

“BTC and ALIV provide large or unlimited allowances of domestic calling minutes and messages within their mobile bundles, which means that the marginal cost to the consumer of making an additional call or sending SMS is often zero. In this regard, there would be no financial benefit for an end-customer to switch to making an OTT call or send a OTT message as long they are is still within their monthly call or messaging allowance,” URCA continued.

“This means that any switching would apply primarily to marginal calls or text messages that are not part of a mobile bundle.

The survey referenced

by Aliv also shows that 17 percent of respondents would do nothing, 22 percent would make fewer mobile calls, and 21 percent would switch to another mobile plan in case of demand-side [substitution] in mobile access and call services.

“The corresponding values for mobile messaging are 19 percent, 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Clearly, a nontrivial number of customers (60 percent of respondents) have not indicated any desire to move to mobile data only plans and would still subscribe to bundles with calls, messages and data.”

Concluding its analysis, URCA said: “The evidence before URCA does not support Aliv’s view that sufficient number of Bahamians would move from smartphone bundles to mobile data only plans (in order to use OTTs) to make a price increase in smartphone bundles non-viable.

“URCA reiterates that the increasing availability and usage of OTTs have not resulted in any decline in mobile connections in The Bahamas. In line with international experience, Bahamians have not given up their mobile phone service entirely for OTT services as they still require a mobile connection and mobile data to be able to access and use OTT services from any location.”

PORT AUTHORITY TAKES ROAD UPKEEP OUTLAY TO $1.6M THE Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) says it has extended its Freeport road resurfacing project through a further $500,000 investment that has taken the total outlay to some $1.6m.

The project’s first phase, which began on May 22, saw the complete resurfacing of the Fishing Hole Road, West Atlantic and Adventures Way roundabout, Beach Way Drive, Bahama Reef Boulevard, Pioneers Way, Waterfall

Drive, Tarrytown Street and Grand Bahama Highway. An initial $1.1m had been allocated for its completion, “The road resurfacing project funded by GBPA, and led by our city maintenance and management section, began works almost two months ago to several major roads and thoroughfares across the city of Freeport,” said Troy McIntosh, GBPA’s deputy director of building and development services. “We

are thrilled that GBPA has committed a further half a million dollars in additional funds to this vital initiative to improve our roadways within Freeport.”

The second phase began on July 1 on Sergeant Major Drive North near the fire station, and will continue on to Gambier Drive near Sunland School and Hawksbill Subdivision, including Bimini Place, Inagua Place, Acklins Place and Rum Cay Place.

Mr McIntosh said these

roads were selected using the road rating system, which allows inspectors to assess their condition on an annual basis.

“Our commitment to the upkeep of the city is steadfast,” added Mr McIntosh. “After the challenging storm events our community has overcome

over these past few years, we believe a refresh of our infrastructure is needed as we work together to prepare for future investment opportunities in our city.

“We ask motorists to drive with due care and attention. Please obey the speed limit and posted signs to help ensure the safety

of all motorists and crews while roadwork is underway. Delays are expected as there will be partial lane closures in some areas.” The second phase of road resurfacing is scheduled to be completed by September 2022.

PAGE 4, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

BRILAND BEACH BATTLE ESCALATES OVER ‘STAY’ FROM PAGE B1

Body’, and also ex-partner of Hollywood actress, Uma Thurman.

Fellow Narrows residents who have joined Mr Busson in seeking to overturn Bonefish Alley’s permits, and halt its beach construction, are Antony Beck, a wine mogul whose Beck Family Estates business owns wineries and vineyards in South Africa and the US state of Oregon, and who is also a prominent figure in horse racing and breeding. Another is Robert Miller, a Hong Kong-based billionaire who co-founded DFS (Duty Free Shops), and whose daughter is the Crown Princess of Greece.

The controversy has reignited in recent weeks after Bonefish Alley’s opponents were given permission by the Supreme Court to withdraw the second Judicial Review action they launched in late 2021, challenging the permits and approvals granted for the beach construction by both the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and Harbour Island District Council (HIDC).

The discontinuation application was made on June 28, 2022, the same day that Justice Camille Darville-Gomez was supposed to hear the substantive Judicial Review case. This came more than seven months after Mr Busson and his fellow homeowners first obtained the Supreme Court’s permission to bring the legal proceedings.

That permission, granted on November 11, 2021, at a hearing where only the attorneys for Mr Busson and his group were present, was also accompanied by an Order that “stayed” both the public consultation process over Bonefish Alley’s

beach development and the “decisions, permits and approvals” granted by the DEPP and Harbour Island District Council.

Bonefish Alley’s opponents believe that “stay” was sufficient to halt further construction activity, and they are accusing it of breaching the Supreme Court’s order by proceeding with the beach development. They are understood to have withdrawn the Judicial Review action because the beach’s creation has reached a stage where any quashing of the permits would be meaningless since it is near completion.

Since the June 28 withdrawal, the dispute has heated up further. The Tribune has been bombarded by anonymous messages, seemingly from the project’s opponents or someone allied with/supporting them, all alleging that Bonefish Alley has “ignored a ‘stay’ order from the Supreme Court and completed construction of a beach development project in the ultra-exclusive Narrows neighborhood of Harbour Island.......

“The grant of leave functioned as a ‘stay’ on the implementation of the aforementioned decisions, approvals and permits.

Legal action has been halted due to the fact that the ‘stay’ Order appears to have been ignored and the construction on the project completed.” This assessment, though, is being vehemently denied and disputed.

Bonefish Alley and Mr Pike’s position is that they hold all the necessary permits and approvals for the beach construction project. And, besides not being named as a party to the Judicial Review action, Bonefish Alley told this newspaper it was not informed about the June 28

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BEACHSIDE AND DOCK CONSTRUCTION hearing before Justice Darville-Gomez until just 12 days beforehand - and more than six months after the November 11, 2021, Order was granted.

That alert is understood to have come from the DEPP, rather than Bonefish Alley’s opponents or their attorneys, leaving Mr Pike and his company to question how they could have breached a Supreme Court ‘stay’ order through continued construction work when they knew nothing of its existence.

And they are also refuting the allegation that they violated any “stay” Order.

Basing its contention on a prior Privy Council ruling, Bonefish Alley is understood to be arguing that a ‘stay’ does not operate or function like an injunction since it only applies to a decision-making process and therefore cannot be breached by parties to legal proceedings. In the absence of an injunction, its position is there is nothing to violate.

“Bonefish Alley properly obtained all permits required to build a beach on its property. Bonefish Alley first learned of the proceedings against the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection and the Harbour Island District Council on June 16, 2022,” Bonefish Alley told Tribune Business yesterday in a statement issued via its attorneys.

“Upon learning of the proceedings, Bonefish Alley was prepared to defend its permits at the hearing on June 28, 2022. However, the opponents of the project withdrew their challenge on the day of the hearing.

Bonefish Alley intends to continue its development of the beach in accordance with the validly issued permits and authorizations it has received.”

Mr Pike and Bonefish Alley are understood to view the ongoing attacks as malicious harassment now that the latest Judicial Review challenge has been withdrawn. However, it appears that nothing is

deterring their opponents, who are continuing to allege that the beach violates land use or zoning regulations - which stipulate The Narrows is for residential use only - amid claims it is a commercial project.

“It appears there is considerable concern that Bonefish Alley may be circumventing zoning or land use approval regulations to create what is, in effect, a boutique hotel, much to the dismay of the residents of The Narrows,” one of the anonymous statements sent to The Tribune reads.

“That’s the core question,” one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “The question of whether it’s a development compatible with what else is taking place in that area.

It’s primarily for second home residences, and many of the neighbours believe they intend to use that property for commercial development.”

This was vehemently denied by Bonefish Alley executives when the DEPP staged a public consultation on the project’s permit applications in late 2020.

They said in response to repeated questioning that the beach would be “solely for residential use”, with some eight inches of sand placed on the rock that exists at the site.

Mr Pike is principal of Eleven Experience, a highend travel company that creates custom-made experiences and adventures for its guests through a network of boutique properties that it owns and operates worldwide. Its property on Harbour Island is Bahama House, which features 11 guest rooms with capacity for 22 guests, and is located in the centre of Dunmore Town.

Bonefish Alley’s beach development plans have had to survive not one but two Judicial Review challenges. The first, before incoming chief justice, Ian Winder, was launched on August 24, 2018, and sought to challenge the permit granted by the Harbour Island District Council

for construction of a rock groyne as well as the thenBahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission’s decision to give the project the go-ahead.

Justice Winder, in his ruling on February 11, 2020, noted that Bonefish Alley’s beach was “proposed to be similar to the one located at a neighbouring property”.

While he upheld BEST’s decision, he quashed the permit issued by the district council because it had failed to live up to its pledge to “pursue proper consultation”, while also finding the approval “did not reflect the true decision” by failing to detail the conditions imposed in return for its granting.

Undeterred, Bonefish Alley resumed efforts to procure the necessary permits and approvals, which led to the November 26, 2020, virtual public consultation arranged by the DEPP. John Featherman, Bonefish Alley’s representative, affirmed that the beach development was for residential as opposed to commercial use in response to repeated questioning from JJ Percentie, Harbour Island’s deputy chief councillor.

“The family that owns this piece of property does own a piece of property on the other side of the island; that’s very well known.

The family that owns this property also owns a commercial operation in the centre of town, as you well know. This is a residential property that is meant to be enjoyed in a residential fashion,” Mr Featherman said.

Gail Lockhart-Charles QC, Bahamian attorney for Bonefish Alley, added: “This owner; this developer is seeking to do things the right way. This developer is seeking permits and approvals in full transparency, submitting all of the relevant planning and studies that are necessary by law to support the application.

“So I don’t think that they should be criticised for seeking to go through

the process applying for the permit. There’s no guarantee that they can get approval, and I fully agree with you that nobody can just go and get what they want, and anyone that does go and do what they want is rightfully fined, but this is not what this developer is doing. This developer has put in the application to do things properly.”

This was seized on by Mr Percentie, who said: “Miss Gail...Miss Gail.... you’re using the right word – developer. A developer comes in for commercial use of a property. This is not a resi....” He was interrupted

by Mrs Lockhart-Charles, who replied: “Mr Percentie, I just want to be fully clear - a developer refers to anyone that is developing property.

“The law doesn’t make a distinction in terms of how someone seeking approval is described. It’s a developer whether its residential development or commercial development, it’s still a developer and this is a residential development.”

The public consultation then saw an intervention

by Robert Adams QC, the Delaney Partners attorney who, in confirming that he represented the project’s Narrows neighbours and opponents, branded the meeting as “an ambush” because no notification had been given of the permits and approvals that were to be considered.

“I respectfully contend that this process is flawed. It is flawed from the outset, it’s flawed now, and any decisions made in respect from it will also be flawed..... This needs to stop and start again, and I implore you director, and District Council, to do so,” Mr Adams blasted. “This should stop. Engage the public in a proper consultation exercise.

“The Act and the regulations under the Act speak very clearly as to what should be contained in a notice, who should publish the notice, where it should be published, and then you come and you set up a meeting at 7pm on Thanksgiving night.

“It feels like an ambush.

You may not have intended to be so, but that’s the way it feels. It feels like a fast.

So, I wish for the record to reflect, in no uncertain terms, our objections to this entire process. If the process is not stopped, we will mount legal challenge to ask the court to intervene and we will do so swiftly, because this process is fraught and riddled with defects.”

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 5

Winter is coming

By CHRIS ILLING Business developer ActivTrades Corp

I

do believe there are catastrophes that everyone can see coming long before they happen.

Events and developments that become apparent long before they occur, initially often swept under the carpet, then deliberately ignored before being trivialised in their effects a little later - and whose impact is only recognised at the very end, when there is nothing left to deny.

Therefore, no one draws the conclusions that made it possible to avoid the catastrophe until it is too late.

Climate change and Putin’s war in Ukraine are good examples of this. Anyone who was not completely blind saw, and sees, what is still to come. It is time to recognise the true dimensions of the problems, to show maximum willingness to change and to accept considerable welfare losses in return. Otherwise history will overwhelm the Europeans first, and then climate change will overwhelm the whole world.

The energy crisis in Europe is another example.

The growing dependency on Russian gas deliveries in Western Europe was largely ignored in recent years. And now Germany and other European Union (EU) countries are worried about their energy supply.

Their plans for the winter are very different, though.

The degree of dependency differs greatly from country to country - as do the strategies with which the

respective governments try to replace Russian oil and gas, curb energy consumption and protect citizens and companies from excessive cost increases or even supply bottlenecks.

France already lost the supply of Russian gas, but is less dependent on it since it gets most of its supply from Norway. And 70 percent of French energy demand is normally covered by its traditionally strong nuclear sector, although half the 56 nuclear plants are undergoing maintenance at the moment and are offline.

France also has three liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals that can receive LNG. Spain and Portugal have permission from the EU Commission to cap gas prices for a period of one year. In the first six months, the price of gas used in the power plants to generate electricity will not exceed 40 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). The cap will be gradually increased over the following months to 50 euros per MWh. The energy price decreased by 25 percent on day one after the cap was imposed, but it is estimated that the cap will cost the Spanish government around 6.3bn euros.

At first glance, the situation in Switzerland does not look so bleak compared

WELLS FARGO PROFIT FALLS BUY LOAN GROWTH BUOYS INVESTORS

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer WELLS Fargo, the nation's largest mortgage lender, saw its secondquarter revenue and profit decline as rising interest rates pushed people out of the housing market.

The San Francisco bank earned $3.1 billion in the period, or 74 cents per share, coming up short of the 80 cents per share forecast by analysts surveyed by data provider FactSet. Revenue was $17 billion, down 16% from last year and below the $17.5 billion Wall Street projected. The bank

had revenue of $20.3 billion and earnings per share of $1.38 in the same period a year ago.

Investors appeared less concerned with the bank's topline numbers and more impressed with an 8% increase in loan balances, however. Wells saw growth in consumer and corporate lending and new credit card products.

Wells Fargo shares climbed 7% in afternoon trading.

This week, Wells Fargo launched its fourth new credit card since the beginning of the year and it expects to offer several

to other countries since it generates a large part of its electricity with hydropower. But, especially in the winter, the output is not sufficient to cover the demand. Then the Swiss are dependent on electricity imports from abroad, especially from Germany and France. And those countries might not be able to deliver.

If the gas supplies from Russia fail completely, all of Europe is threatened with a serious economic crisis and rapidly increasing unemployment.

But energy is only one of the Euro zone’s problems. The development of the euro could fuel inflation even further. When other currencies become stronger, goods imported into the continent become more expensive. While the euro has been significantly stronger than the US dollar for around two decades, on July 14, 2022, the currency briefly traded below parity with the greenback for the first time since 2002.

The extreme price hikes in import and producer prices overshadow any gain that European exporters can take from the weaker euro.

It might be an extreme winter for the European continent since there is no alternative to energy abstinence. more rewards-based cards.

The bank said its new credit card accounts are up more than 60% from a year ago and credit card spending increased 28%.

Wells' revenue from its home lending division fell by 53% in the quarter, as the housing market cooled in the face of rapidly rising interest rates. Mortgage loan originations, including refinancing, fell sharply in the quarter.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday that mortgage applications have declined 14% from last year and refinancings are down 80%.

Sales of existing homes have fallen for four straight months, during what is generally the busiest time of year in real estate.

PAGE 6, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

NIB rate hikes ‘totally impossible’ to absorb FROM PAGE B1 given the current fragile economy and future drag this will impose on business costs, worker earnings and economic growth.

“I’d say it’s absolutely impossible and absolutely impractical,” he told this newspaper of the contribution rates recommended in NIB’s 11th actuarial report, tabled in the House of Assembly last week.

“There’s no way. It’s not feasible. There are many businesses teeter tottering at the moment. That could

be a death blow to a lot of them.

“I think there’s going to have to be some more creativity. I do understand the situation it’s in, and the urgency and the position we ultimately find ourselves in.” Advocating for NIB to explore ways to generate increased investment returns, so as to make for the shortfall created by benefit payouts exceeding contribution income, Mr Albury added that improving governance was critical to ensuring its $1.5bn reserve fund was managed correctly.

“The fund has been used and abused, and the can has been kicked to pieces at this point,” he told Tribune Business. “I understand that there’s something that has to happen, but maybe it can be done less drastically to soften the impact.

Maybe manage the fund so that there’s greater returns on investment.

“I don’t think the taxpayer can be the one to keep footing the bill for decades of mishandling. I’d hate to be the one to try and resolve it but, at the end of the day, we’ve heard about this for a long time.

It’s the proverbial can being kicked down the road. This is nothing new. It’s a challenge every administration has to deal with at some point. I think some hard decisions have to be made.

There’s got to be some give and take across the board.”

Paying more to rescue NIB would gain greater acceptance from businesses and employees if there was assurance of improved governance, and that increased contribution income will be put to proper use, which Mr Albury said needs to be tied to a strategic plan with measurable targets and goals.

“I don’t have a problem with taxes as long as things are managed in the best interest of the public,” the BMDA chief said. “I think the average Bahamian will be happy to contribute as long as they know it’s being governed in the right way and there is a plan on the way forward, not that they’re going to continue to raid this and continue to abuse it.

“That is absolutely the key. We’re always the ones that have to pay, that’s the problem. People always get hung up on this, but nothing in life is free.” NIB’s present contribution rate is 9.8 percent, split 3.9 percent/5.9 percent between employee and employer, with the latter paying the majority of what is effectively a payroll tax.

The 11th actuarial report is recommending that this rate increases by 72.4 percent, in percentage terms, in the near-term to 16.9 percent by 2029 before more than doubling over the long-term. Any rate hikes, especially of such magnitude, besides increasing business costs will also cut into employee take-home pay and disposable income just when they are facing heightened inflation.

However, the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) reported in 2018 that NIB contribution rates must more than double to over 20 percent to prevent a long-term Bahamian pension crisis.

And the 11th actuarial report said: “The required contribution rate to pay all expenditures of all branches during the next 60 years is 22.55 percent.

“Higher unemployment benefits paid in 2020 due to the severe contraction of GDP because of the COVID-19 pandemic increases the required contribution rate to 23.05 percent from 2019 to 2023.”

That rate, the NIB actuarial report said, fall back to the long-term 22.55 percent from 2024 onwards.

Peter Goudie, head of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCE) labour division, told Tribune Business of the forecast contribution rate hike: “It’s going to be brutal for everybody.. It’s going to be a big pill to swallow, and we’re talking about high inflation so we’re going to get it from both sides.

“It’s going to be tough.

If they talk about moving the minimum wage up too much, it’s going to come from all sides. That’s what I’m worried about. It’s going to affect the whole economy. If they keep pushing contribution rates up, people won’t have money to spend and the economy shrinks. It’s a tough one.

“They’re going to have to start communicating what they’re actually going to do, the Government, not just rely on the actuarial report.

They’re just avoiding it, like it’s been avoided by governments for many years now.

It’s going to come home to roost. We’re going to have to do something, but this is the first time I’ve heard those numbers.”

Asserting that “we’ve got to get honest”, Mr Goudie said it was vital that the Government urgently hold talks with all stakeholders - the private sector, trade unions, workers and civil society - on crafting a solution to address NIB’s short-term viability and long-term solvency.

“The implications for everybody is people are going to have to take a serious look at the cost of doing business and how they are going to reduce it,” he added. “We’ve got to maintain NIB. We have to find the money, and that may affect employment. That’s why I’m worried about the economy.

“This is a perfect example of government not making decisions and we end up in this kind of boat. This is what we’ve been saying for the last few months. We cannot kick the can down the road any more. It’s really bringing it home. We all have to face up to it.”

Mr Goudie reiterated that The Bahamas cannot afford for NIB to fail due to the hundreds of thousands of Bahamians depending on it for retirement pensions, plus short-term sickness and other benefits.

While other reform options involve adjusting the pension accrual rate; raising the retirement age from 65 years to 67; and government funding of assistance benefits, the 11th actuarial report warned that a contribution rate hike cannot be escaped given that NIB’s $1.5bn reserve fund is projected to be exhausted in 2028, which is just six years away.

“The analysis and tests conducted.... show that the reform options considered cannot prevent an immediate increase of the contribution rate to avert the exhaustion of the reserve by 2028,” the study said. “It is worth noting that the sooner the increase in contribution rates takes place, the better it is for future generations.

“If the increase is accompanied by modifications in the investment policy to better reflect long-term objectives, this will also be beneficial for future generations.” The last two paragraphs, though, directly contradict the position taken by the Prime Minister who has publicly stated he will not impose a contribution rate increase at this time to give businesses and households more time to recover from COVID-19’s economic devastation.

Philip Davis QC has also said the Government is looking at alternative, as yet unspecified reform options, having described an NIB contribution rate increase as akin to raising taxes in terms of being a “lazy way” out to solve the country’s problems. However, in stark contrast, the actuarial report is warning that he has no choice and cannot afford to postpone the inevitable any longer.

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THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 7

TOURISM MINISTRY IN STAFF MEETING THE Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation held a general staff meeting last Thursday at the Baha Mar Convention Centre, which was addressed by Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister.

Mr Cooper is pictured with his executive team.

From L to R: Valerie Brown Alce, senior director; Erica Ingraham, senior director; Bridgette King, senior director; Paul Strachan, senior director; Karen

Seymour, senior director; Dr Kenneth Romer, deputy director-general; Latia Duncombe, acting director general; Greg Rolle, senior director; Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister; Senator Randy Rolle; Leslie Norville, senior director; Anthony Stuart, senior director; Reginald Saunders, permanent secretary; Andre Miller, senior director; and Kristal Bethel, senior director.

Photo:Kemuel Stubbs/BIS

THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR STUDY EYES NOVEMBER FROM PAGE B1 article on Page 3B), its concerns for potential lessening of competition in the market in future remains. It is critical, therefore, for URCA to keep a close watch on the progress and developments in the market.

“Relating to the issue of a third mobile licence, URCA advises that it is moving ahead with the feasibility assessment as it is required to do by virtue of the Communications Act and other relevant documents. The expected completion date for the study is end of November 2022. This timeline, however, is contingent on the operators’ timely and expeditious submission of critical information to URCA.” Both Aliv and BTC have voiced doubts on whether The Bahamas is a sufficiently large enough consumer market to support a third operator, although many will see their position as laced with self-interest.

URCA, meanwhile, agreed that the roll-out of 5G (fifth generation) technology and networks could stimulate further competition moving forward.

“Clearly, fifth generation (5G) mobile technology offers tremendous opportunities for mobile operators to exploit any comparative advantage gained by introducing new technologies,” URCA acknowledged. “5G build out to The Bahamas is likely to impact current and future competitive dynamics

in this market, thereby ensuring that the market is not mature or stagnant in the coming years.

“This is especially if one of the existing players manages to gain a substantial lead in the provision of 5G network and services such that it could ‘tip’ competition in its favour. It was not apparent to URCA, however, that one player is likely to gain a substantial lead over its rival in 5G and hence alleviate concerns for potential lessening of competition in this market, thereby alleviating concerns for potential co-ordination in the future.”` Suggesting that the Bahamian mobile market is leaning towards convergence, or co-ordination, between its two major players, URCA added: “Coordinated behaviours are prevalent in cellular mobile markets internationally, especially where the major players have converging market characteristics as is currently the case in The Bahamas.

“From URCA’s perspective, these factors point to a mobile market that may be tending towards a steady phase. As such, it is too early to say whether 5G will yield durable and efficient competition between BTC and Aliv.”

Elsewhere, URCA objected to Aliv’s argument that it continues to look at the mobile market “in silos and fails to recognise the gradual replacement of traditional services (TV,

messaging and voice) by OTT (over the top) data services with customers accessing OTTs across multiple devices and platforms”.

Responding to concerns over its treatment of apps such as What’s App, the regulator said: “URCA takes issue with the assertion that it continues to define markets in silos. The economic principles and procedure used in this market definition exercise are compatible with best practice regulation and provide a conceptual framework within which evidence on market definition can be organized and assessed.

“As such, in arriving at the boundaries or scope of the relevant product market, URCA has given utmost consideration to all relevant factors and evidence before it at this time. This includes consideration of not just the current status and recent trends of mobile, but also likely future developments which could impact on the boundaries of the relevant product market.

“In particular, the survey evidence before URCA in relation to substitution away from mobile services to OTT services was carefully reviewed and considered.

While the evidence before URCA appears to show that some demand-side substitutability exists between OTTs and mobile services (especially mobile messaging), it is not conclusive that OTTs are direct substitutes for mobile services at this time.”

MARKET REPORT www.bisxbahamas.com

FRIDAY, 15 JULY 2022

BISX ALL SHARE INDEX: BISX LISTED & TRADED SECURITIES 52WK HI 6.70 53.00 2.47 2.61 2.60 6.10 10.05 4.15 9.90 3.65 8.25 17.50 2.65 10.75 11.25 10.85 17.75 4.00 11.00 16.50

52WK LOW 5.30 33.80 1.60 2.20 1.30 5.75 6.96 2.82 5.00 2.27 5.95 9.80 1.99 7.75 10.02 10.00 13.10 3.50 8.20 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%

2599.69

6.80

0.26

371.45

16.67

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) 115.92 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.10 100.57 100.43 100.43 100.34 100.23 100.00 100.00 100.98 100.00

104.79 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.10 100.34 99.96 100.43 100.04 100.00 89.62 89.00 90.24 90.73

MUTUAL FUNDS 52WK HI 2.52 4.69 2.22 207.86 212.41 1.74 1.84 1.83 1.03 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 1.69 1.75 1.76 0.97 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 FL BGRS76026 BGRS FL BGRS95032 BGRS FL BGRS97033 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 BSBGRS760265 BSBGRS950320 BSBGRS970336 BSBGRS750225 BSBGRS810375 BSBGRS880287 BSBGR1292493 BSBGR1312499 BSBGR1322498 BSBGR1361504

LAST CLOSE 6.48 39.95 2.44 2.35 2.51 6.10 9.75 3.95 9.33 3.64 8.00 16.00 2.80 10.27 11.55 10.85 17.26 3.90 10.10 15.50 1.00 1000.00 1000.00 1.00 10.00 1.00 LAST SALE 100.00 100.00 107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.10 100.45 100.09 100.54 100.34 100.00 89.62 100.00 100.00 100.00

CLOSE 6.48 39.95 2.44 2.35 2.51 6.10 9.75 3.95 9.33 3.64 8.00 16.00 2.85 10.27 11.44 10.85 17.75 3.90 10.15 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

100,000 850

13,000 1,000 2,078

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

CLOSE 100.00 100.00

CHANGE 0.00 0.00

107.31 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.10 100.45 100.09 100.54 100.34 100.00 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 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.00 (0.11) 0.00 0.49 0.00 0.05 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

50 200 150

NAV 2.52 4.69 2.21 197.44 202.39 1.74 1.84 1.83 0.97 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% 4.56% 4.31% 4.31% 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% 1.37% 3.03% 1.19% 5.23% 1.62% 4.13% -5.25% -6.07% -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 27.1 42.9 N/M 16.8 N/M N/M 26.4 -9.0 66.6 19.8 17.8 22.2 27.9 22.0 17.7 14.9 21.8 19.2 10.8 24.6 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

YIELD 2.62% 3.15% 0.82% 3.40% 0.00% 0.00% 2.67% 0.00% 0.00% 3.30% 2.75% 4.50% 15.23% 0.58% 2.87% 2.21% 3.04% 3.08% 1.97% 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 18-Jan-2026 25-Sep-2032 17-Apr-2033 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-May-2022 31-May-2022 31-May-2022 31-May-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 8, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Union chief: ‘We’ve been taken for a ride too long’ FROM PAGE B1 rise, he questioned how the Government could discriminate between workers and/

or industries and voiced doubt it will “go down that particular road”.

Pointing out that, unlike their employers, hotel

workers cannot raise prices every time there is a cost increase, Mr Woods said his members were facing a continual squeeze due to the cost of living crisis sparked by surging US and global inflation, much of which is at 30-40 year highs. He backed the Davis administration’s decision to focus on developing a livable wage, arguing that The Bahamas has “to raise the bar” and lift more families out of poverty.

“I told someone that we are diametrically opposed to it,” the hotel union chief said of the employers’ minimum wage stance. “I’m trying to understand the mindset of some people.

How could you tie the minimum wage to gratuities which fluctuate, and you have to go to someone else to get it? At the end of the

day, that’s a no brainer; it cannot happen.”

Speaking as the Airport Authority last night warned it was bracing for potential industrial action across The Bahamas’ airport network, and had put contingencies in place to minimise any disruption to travel and airline service, Mr Woods suggested that the hotel industry’s gratuity-related minimum wage concerns were, to an extent, payback for its failure to negotiate a new industrial agreement and salary increases with the union for almost a decade.

“For us we see this as karma for some of them,” the union president added.

“Had they done what they needed to do a long time ago, people would be further ahead in their wages. If the Government decides to increase the minimum wage to $250, $250 per week is what it is across the board.

How can you discriminate against some people? It suggests just what they are thinking about.

“Now is the time for the employees to start benefiting from this industry. For too long we’ve been taken for granted, and for too long we’ve been taken for a ride.

It’s [gratuities] are based on how many people come in, and if tourists come in in reduced numbers, how are we going to make up for the shortfall. The gratuity falls from a charge the employer sets. The worker gets a percentage, and the employer gets the lion’s share.

“This one won’t go down too well, that’s for sure.

I’ve been getting messages that ‘you need to deal with this on our behalf’, or ‘you need to address this on our behalf’. I doubt very seriously that this government,

this caring government, this government for the people, will go down that particular road I don’t see it happening.”

Robert Sands, the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president, last week said the industry’s position was justified by the “unique arrangement” in the industry where tipped workers receive “generous gratuities” on top of minimum wage base pay.

He was quick to emphasise that the sector was not “indifferent”, or opposed to, a minimum wage increase - especially for non-tipped employees earning the current $210 weekly floor. However, Mr Sands said the matter was “a pivotal, pivotal concern” that both the Government and National Tripartite Council should account for.

“Our hotel sector, we obviously pay minimum wage, but also create a significant amount of opportunities for gratuities.... We’re not indifferent to some type of minimum wage increase, obviously, but we believe the issue of gratuities should be a consideration in our sector,” the BHTA chief argued Mr Sands joked with Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, that “you’ll be creating some monsters there” should the Government give tipped employees the full minimum wage rise on top of the automatic 15 percent gratuity they earn from customers. Workers in the hotel industry, especially those such as restaurant waiters/ servers and others in food and beverage, earned thousands of dollars in tips and gratuities that accounted for the majority of their annual take home pay pre-COVID. “We accept there are circumstances where persons are only paid the minimum wage and no gratuity, and the level should increase for them, but possibly

consideration should be given for those making minimum wage and also gratuities - a different level of increase. Hopefully, the National Tripartite Council will look at that,” Mr Sands told this newspaper later.

Mr Woods, though, said he was “not overly” concerned about the employer position unless the Government showed it was taking it seriously. “I’m concerned if the Government listens to it. That’s where the concern comes from,” he added.

“The concern for us will come if the Government starts to meander, pander and entertain this kind of thinking.

“We’re talking about what’s best for Bahamians.

It’s time for us in this country to reap the benefits of this country. They talk about the minimum wage and they talk about increases for employees. They say what they cannot give employees because of this or that, but if the cost of business rises they’re able to pass that on to their guests but don’t pass it on to the employees.

“They’re able to satisfy the shortfall but the employees can’t do that.

Everything is going up.

Everything is going up. Gas costs are going up, food costs are going up. Why is it always the employees who are the ones to suffer with costs? It’s the employer’s time now.”

Mr Woods backed the Government’s focus on introducing a livable wage, despite indications this will be a long-term project. Suggesting that the likes of domestic workers, gas station and food store employees will continue to “live below the poverty line” without such intervention, he added: “We have to raise the ring, we have to raise the bar so more people can support their families.”

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that FATIMA ABDELGADIR ABDALLA of P. O. Box EE-17262, #17 Tracker End, Fox Hill, New Providence, 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 18th day of July, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 9

BIDEN INTERVENES IN RAILROAD CONTRACT FIGHT TO BLOCK STRIKE

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer PRESIDENT Joe Biden on Friday blocked a freight railroad strike for at least 60 days by naming a board of arbitrators to intervene in the contract dispute, averting action that could have disrupted all kinds of shipments.

The widely expected move will keep 115,000 rail workers on the job while the arbitrators develop a set of contract recommendations for both sides to consider. Biden had to act before Monday to prevent a possible strike. A new round of negotiations is likely after those recommendations are issued.

The president wrote in an executive order naming the arbitrators that he’d “been notified by the National Mediation Board that in its judgment these disputes threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree that

would deprive a section of the country of essential transportation service.”

If the railroads and their 12 unions can’t agree on a contract within the next 60 days, Congress would likely step in to prevent a strike by voting to impose terms or taking other action.

The United Rail Unions coalition said the labor unions are preparing to make their case to the board of arbitrators, and believe that current economic data shows the raises they are asking for “are more than warranted when compared to our memberships’ contribution to the record profits of the rail carriers.”

The National Carriers Conference Committee, which represents the nation’s freight railroads in national collective bargaining, cheered Biden’s move, noting that it “remains in the best interest of all parties — and the public — for the railroads and rail labor

PRESIDENT Joe Biden arrives at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Friday, July 15, 2022, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Photo:Evan Vucci/AP organizations to promptly settle the bargaining round on reasonable terms that provide employees with prompt and well-deserved pay increases and prevent rail service disruptions.”

“Throughout the bargaining round, the railroads have worked to thoughtfully address issues raised

by both sides and have offered pay increases that are consistent with labor market benchmarks and reward rail employees for their essential work,” the committee said in a statement.

Any prolonged rail strike could cripple the supply chain that has been slowly

recovering from the backlogs and delays that became common during the pandemic because of worker shortages at the ports, trucking companies and railroads as demand for imports surged.

“It’s really in everybody’s best interests to avoid a strike,” Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said.

The group that represents Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and other railroads and the unions have expressed optimism that this new presidential board will be able to help them resolve the dispute that began more than two years ago.

Business groups had urged Biden to take this step to ensure the railroads would continue operating.

They worry about what a strike or lockout would mean for the fragile supply chain because railroads deliver all kinds of raw materials, finished products

RETAIL SALES UP 1% IN JUNE, EASING FEARS OF A RECESSION

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO AND CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Business Writers CONSUMERS picked up their spending from May to June, underscoring their resilience despite painfully higher prices at the gas pump and in grocery aisles and allaying fears that the economy might be on the verge of a recession.

U.S. retail sales rose 1% in June, from a revised decline of 0.1 % in May, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The figures aren't adjusted for inflation and so largely reflect higher prices, particularly for gas.

But they also show that consumers are still providing crucial support for the economy and spending on such discretionary items as furniture, restaurant meals and sporting goods.

At the same time, last month's spending gain is modest enough that it

likely won't encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively. Stock prices rose after the report's release.

"People did not fold in the face of the Ukraine shock and the subsequent surge in food and energy prices," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. "Instead, they ran down a small part of their pandemic savings in order to keep up their discretionary spending."

Consumers still have significant savings, on average, bolstered by pandemic-era government relief checks and strong hiring and pay gains. JPMorgan executives said Thursday that their customers are still breaking out their credit and debit cards at a healthy pace.

Kathy Bostjancic, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said that excluding inflation, retail sales still rose about 0.3% in June, up from a contraction

of 0.4% in May. She expects the economy to grow at a slim 0.5% annual rate in the April-June quarter, after shrinking in the first three months of the year.

The report showed consumers' ongoing appetite for non-essentials like gadgets and furniture. In fact, sales at furniture stores rose 1.4%, while consumer electronics stores rose 0.4%. Online sales showed resurgence, posting a 2.2% increase. Business at restaurants was up 1%. But department stores took a hit, posting a 2.6% decline.

The solid figures bold well for the back-to-school shopping season, the second largest sales period behind the winter holidays. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment forms including cash, forecasts that back-toschool spending will be up 7.5% from July 14 through Sept. 5 compared with the year-ago period when sales rose 11%.

But spending is volatile.

The latest round of retail earnings reports released in May showed some slowing of spending, particularly with low-income shoppers.

RH, an upscale furniture chain, cut it sales outlook for the year last last month, pointing to deteriorating macro-economic conditions.

It cited higher mortgage rates, which are slowing sales of luxury homes, indicating that even wealthy shoppers are pulling back.

Nevertheless, the overall solid spending came even as shoppers were confronted with high prices in all areas.

U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high

and imported goods that businesses rely on. A railroad strike could jeopardize the health of the economy.

The board of arbitrators will hold hearings with both sides to learn more about their positions before issuing their recommendations about a month from now.

The the unions and the railroads will have 30 days to negotiate a new deal before a strike could be permitted under the federal law that governs railroad contract negotiations.

So far, the two sides have remained far apart because workers want raises that will offset inflation and cover increased health insurance costs while reflecting the current nationwide worker shortages. Railroads maintain that the double-digit raises they are offering over the five year contract that would date back to 2020 are fair based on the kind of raises other companies gave their workers at the time. in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Fed to raise rates aggressively — trends that raise the risk of a recession.

The government's consumer price index soared 9.1% in June compared with a year ago, the biggest yearly increase since 1981, with nearly half of the increase due to higher energy costs.

PAGE 10, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

DIESEL LACKING FOR CUBA DRIVERS AS FUEL USED FOR ELECTRICITY

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ Associated Press

DANY Pérez had spent four days in a line of vehicles waiting to fill his truck with diesel he needs for the 900-kilometers (560-mile) trip from Havana to his home in eastern Cuba.

Taxi driver Jhojan Rodríguez had been waiting at another station even longer — it was nearing two weeks — but he was finally near the head of the line of hundreds of vehicles in the Playa district of the capital.

Such lines have become increasingly common in Cuba, where officials apparently have been sending scarce diesel fuel to power generation plants rather than fuel stations for vehicles.

It's not the first time the island has suffered fuel

shortages, but it's one of worst.

"I have seen pretty bad situations, but not like now," said the 46-year-old Pérez, who was eating and sleeping in his 1950s-era Chevrolet truck, which he had outfitted to haul some 40 passengers.

Drivers in the lines have tried to organize themselves by creating lists of those waiting and updating them daily as they wait for tanker trucks to arrive with fuel. Because of the lists, those who live nearby can go home for spells — keeping track of any progress via a WhatsApp group.

"I'm a professional taxi driver. ... I pay taxes, social security. I'm legally established," said Rodríguez, the 37-year-old owner of a gold-and-white 1954 Oldsmobile whose worn-out gasoline engine at some point had been replaced

with a diesel. "My home, my family depend on this diesel."

The car had run out of fuel and Rodríguez had to push it into the line. That was 12 days earlier. Authorities say drivers can only fill their tanks, but not other containers. For Rodríguez, that's 60 liters (16 gallons), which he said will last him three days.

The recent fuel shortage largely affects diesel — used by heavy vehicles and classic cars whose original engines were long ago swapped out, often with Eastern European truck engines — rather than the gasoline used by most cars.

Rodriguez expressed frustration at the lack of clear explanations from officials.

"Nobody has said 'this is what is happening' with the fuel,'" Rodríguez said.

"If at some point there was

DRIVERS wait their turn to fuel their vehicles at a gas station in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, July 14, 2022.

Photos:AP information that, ´Look, there is no fuel because the situation of the country requires it to give electricity to people,' I would understand."

Experts — agreeing with scuttlebutt in the streets — say the country can't afford to buy all the diesel it needs and what it has is being directed to generate power.

"What we are seeing is what we call the domino effect," said Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas in Austin.

"The collapse of the thermoelectric plants has caused an increased demand for diesel generation groups. Venezuela has not been sending Cuba the quantity of diesel it needs, so Cuba has had to take part of the supply that was dedicated to the transport sector for the diesel electric generation groups," he said.

Half of Cuba's electricity comes from 13 thermoelectric plants, eight of which are more than 30 years old.

They usually depend on the island's own heavy crude oil, but their operation has been erratic. So the island turns to diesel units to try to cover the shortfall.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba used about 137.000 barrels a day of fuel — gasoline, diesel, natural gas and derivatives — to keep the economy moving.

About half of that came from political ally Venezuela, which itself has sunk into economic crisis and, under mismanagement and U.S. embargoes, has found

“Nobody has said ‘this is what is happening’ with the fuel. If at some point there was information that, ‘Look, there is no fuel because the situation of the country requires it to give electricity to people,’ I would understand.”

Jhojan Rodríguez it increasingly difficult to produce and ship fuel .

A series of recent power blackouts caused public grumbling and led Cuban President Miguel DíazCanel to try to explain the situation on national television and tour thermoelectric plants.

International news media and tanker tracking sites reported that a Russian tanker carrying 700.000 barrels of oil reached Cuba in recent days, though authorities did not comment.

"We think it's a shipment from Russia in place of Venezuela — that it is a triangulation where Russia is substituting for Venezuela with this shipment, later to be paid by Venezuela and not by Cuba," Piñon said.

Meanwhile, Cubans are adapting as they can — whether at home or by heading abroad.

"I am going to keep struggling because I can't stop working," Pérez said at the station in Guanabacoa, east of central Havana. "but if there's no (fuel), we will have to park it."

At the station in Playa, the taxi driver Rodríguez said he was thinking of other options.

"My Plan B is to sell the car and leave the country with my family. I don't know what I am going to do."

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 11

G20 finance meetings in Bali overshadowed by war in Ukraine

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer FINANCIAL leaders of the Group of 20 richest and biggest economies agreed at meetings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali this week on the need to jointly tackle global ills such as inflation and food crises, but failed to bridge differences over the war in Ukraine.

As G-20 host this year, Indonesia has sought to bridge divisions between G-20 members over Russia’s invasion, but enmity over the conflict was evident even as the finance ministers and central bank chiefs concurred on other global challenges that have been worsened by the war.

All involved agreed the meeting took place “under a very challenging and difficult situation because of the geopolitical tensions,” Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Saturday.

She said delegates had “expressed sympathy that Indonesia has to manage this situation.”

Indrawati and Indonesian central bank Gov. Perry Warjiyo said Indonesia would later release a G-20 chair’s statement that would include two paragraphs describing areas where the participants failed to agree.

There were still issues that could not be reconciled, “because they want to express their views related to the war,” Indrawati said.

In the statement “related to the war there are still views that are different within the G-20,” she said.

Indrawati outlined a range of areas where the members did agree, including the need to improve food security, to support the creation of a funding mechanism for pandemic preparedness, prevention and responses, on working toward a global tax agreement and on facilitating financing of transitions toward cleaner energy to cope with climate change.

“The progress is more than expected,” Warjiyo said.

With inflation running at four-decade highs — U.S. consumer prices were up 9.1% in June — Warjiyo said participants were

“strongly committed to achieving price stability.”

“There is a commitment among the G-20 to well calibrated macro economic policy to address inflation and slowing growth,” he said.

The meetings in Bali follow a gathering of G-20 foreign ministers earlier this month that also failed to find common ground over Russia’s war in Ukraine and its global impacts.

During the talks that began Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen condemned Moscow for “innocent lives lost and the ongoing human and economic toll that the war is causing around the world.”

“Russia is solely responsible for negative spillovers to the global economy, particularly higher commodity prices,” she said.

Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland likened the attendance of Russian officials at the meetings to having “an arsonist joining firefighters.” War is waged by economic technocrats, as well as generals, she said in a post on Twitter.

Russian officials reportedly blamed Western sanctions over the war for worsening inflation and food crises.

Indrawati said the closed-door G-20 talks did not include discussion of proposals for a price cap on Russian oil — one of Yellen’s key objectives as the U.S. and allies seek to curb Moscow’s ability to finance its war.

Such discussions would have occurred on the sidelines of the meeting, she said.

The Bali talks saw more progress than an earlier G-20 finance meeting in Washington in April, when officials from the U.S., Britain, France, Canada and Ukraine walked out to protest the attendance of Russian envoys. That meeting also ended without the release of a joint statement.

Caught in the middle as host, Indonesia has urged officials from all sides to overcome mistrust for the sake of a planet confronting multiple challenges.

“The world needs even more and more collaboration. no matter what country … they cannot solve this problem alone.

food security, energy, climate change, pandemic … all are interconnected,” Indrawati said.

“We all agreed we need to continue the spirit of collaboration and multilateralism,” she said.

The meetings also addressed the problem of mounting debts in countries like Zambia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

While the G-20 is “not a creditor forum, there is a recognition that there is growing debt,” Indrawati said.

The talks centered on a framework to enable creditor and debtor nations to work out solutions to help countries in need.

“When a country has a debt that is unsustainable they have to communicate with their creditors,” she said. “This mechanism needs to be more predictable. That is what we have been discussing within the G-20.”

CALL 502-2394 TO ADVERTISE IN THE TRIBUNE TODAY!

INDONESIAN Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, left, talks with the President of Islamic Development Bank Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser as they attend the second day of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Nusa Dua,Bali, Indonesia, on Saturday, July 16, 2022.

Photo:Sonny Tumbelaka/AP

PAGE 14, Monday, July 18, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

500 FLIGHTS SCRAPPED IN ITALY BY 4-HOUR AVIATION STRIKES ROME Associated Press SEVERAL hundred flights were canceled in Italy on Sunday, a peak vacation travel day, because of four-hour walkouts involving employees of lowcost airlines as well as air traffic controllers.

A union official, Fabrizio Cuscito, told Italian state TV that some 500 flights were scrapped. Airline workers are seeking better pay as well as improved

working conditions, including meals on long shifts, he said.

The Italian transport ministry said the strikes were called by workers for Ryanair, easyJet and Volotea airlines.

That strike began at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT), while the air traffic controllers' walkout, which also lasted four hours, started an hour earlier.

Compared to airports in other Western European countries, Italy's airports have experienced less

chaos this summer. That's because in large part when the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed travel, many airline and airport workers in Italy received government benefits while not working, instead of losing their jobs, as frequently happened in other countries.

When travel demand surged this summer, many airlines and airports couldn't hire enough workers fast enough to serve the customers.

PASSENGERS look at flights timetables in Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci international airport, Sunday, July 17, 2022. Several hundred flights were canceled in Italy Sunday, a peak vacation travel day, because of four-hour walkouts involving employees of low-cost airlines as well as air traffic controllers.

Photo:Andrew Medichini/AP

THE WEATHER REPORT

5-Day Forecast

TODAY

ORLANDO

High: 94° F/34° C Low: 76° F/24° C

TAMPA

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

Breezy with times of clouds and sun

Mainly clear and warm

Sunny to partly cloudy and pleasant

Mostly sunny and pleasant

Mostly sunny

Partly sunny, a t‑storm; breezy

High: 89°

Low: 79°

High: 88° Low: 80°

High: 89° Low: 79°

High: 88° Low: 78°

High: 89° Low: 79°

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

AccuWeather RealFeel

99° F

86° F

99°-87° F

100°-85° F

99°-85° F

99°-87° F

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: 90° F/32° C Low: 80° F/27° C

10‑20 knots

S

High: 91° F/33° C Low: 79° F/26° C

8‑16 knots

FT. LAUDERDALE

FREEPORT

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 80° F/27° C

E S

E

W

WEST PALM BEACH

W

uV inDex toDay

TONIGHT

High: 92° F/33° C Low: 81° F/27° C

N

| Go to AccuWeather.com

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 80° F/27° C

MIAMI

High: 91° F/33° C Low: 80° F/27° C

6‑12 knots

KEY WEST

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 83° F/28° C

ELEUTHERA

NASSAU

High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022

High: 91° F/33° C Low: 79° F/26° C

N

tiDes For nassau High

Ht.(ft.)

Low

Ht.(ft.)

Today

12:32 p.m. 3.0 ‑‑‑‑‑ ‑‑‑‑‑

6:24 a.m. 0.0 6:43 p.m. 0.3

Tuesday

12:50 a.m.

1:29 p.m.

3.0 2.9

7:15 a.m. 0.1 7:43 p.m. 0.6

Wednesday 1:43 a.m.

2:28 p.m.

2.8 2.9

8:06 a.m. 0.3 8:46 p.m. 0.8

Thursday

2:39 a.m.

3:25 p.m.

2.5 2.8

8:58 a.m. 0.4 9:49 p.m. 0.9

Friday

3:36 a.m.

4:21 p.m.

2.3 2.8

9:50 a.m. 0.5 10:50 p.m. 0.9

Saturday

4:32 a.m.

5:14 p.m.

2.2 2.8

10:42 a.m. 0.5 11:45 p.m. 0.9

Sunday

5:25 a.m.

6:03 p.m.

2.2 2.9

11:31 a.m. 0.5 ‑‑‑‑‑ ‑‑‑‑‑

sun anD moon Sunrise Sunset

6:31 a.m. Moonrise 8:01 p.m. Moonset

none 11:34 a.m.

Last

New

First

Full

Jul. 20

Jul. 28

Aug. 5

Aug. 11

CAT ISLAND

E

W

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

N

S

E

W

10‑20 knots

S

10‑20 knots Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

Statistics are for Nassau through 2 p.m. yesterday Temperature High ................................................... 88° F/31° C Low .................................................... 79° F/26° C Normal high ....................................... 88° F/31° C Normal low ........................................ 75° F/24° C Last year’s high ................................. 91° F/33° C Last year’s low ................................... 72° F/22° C Precipitation As of 2 p.m. yesterday ................................. 0.73” Year to date ............................................... 36.30” Normal year to date ................................... 16.98”

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

ANDROS

SAN SALVADOR

GREAT EXUMA

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 78° F/26° C

High: 89° F/32° C Low: 81° F/27° C

N

High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

E

W S

LONG ISLAND

tracking map

High: 90° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

10‑20 knots

MAYAGUANA High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

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

CROOKED ISLAND / ACKLINS RAGGED ISLAND High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

High: 89° F/32° C Low: 78° F/26° C

GREAT INAGUA High: 89° F/32° C Low: 79° F/26° C

N

E

W

E

W

N

S

S

12‑25 knots

12‑25 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 8‑16 Knots SE at 6‑12 Knots SE at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots ESE at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 12‑25 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots SSE at 10‑20 Knots SSE at 6‑12 Knots SE at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 12‑25 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 12‑25 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots ESE at 10‑20 Knots SE at 10‑20 Knots E at 8‑16 Knots E at 12‑25 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots SE at 10‑20 Knots E at 10‑20 Knots

WAVES 3‑5 Feet 2‑4 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑2 Feet 3‑5 Feet 3‑5 Feet 3‑6 Feet 3‑5 Feet 3‑6 Feet 3‑5 Feet 1‑3 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑2 Feet 1‑2 Feet 3‑5 Feet 2‑4 Feet 3‑5 Feet 2‑4 Feet 4‑7 Feet 3‑6 Feet 1‑3 Feet 1‑2 Feet 3‑6 Feet 3‑5 Feet 1‑3 Feet 1‑3 Feet

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

WATER TEMPS. 84° F 84° F 86° F 86° F 84° F 84° F 83° F 83° F 84° F 84° F 83° F 84° F 85° F 85° F 83° F 83° F 84° F 84° F 83° F 83° F 84° F 85° F 84° F 84° F 84° F 84° F

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, July 18, 2022, PAGE 15

Stocks end higher on Wall Street, still down for the week

By DAMIAN J. TROISE AND ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writers WALL Street capped a week of losses with a broad rally for stocks Friday, as investors welcomed solid earnings from big companies and an encouraging report on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.

A July survey from the University of Michigan showed that inflation expectations have held steady or improved, along with general consumer sentiment.

The report was welcome following several government reports this week that showed consumer prices remained extremely hot in June, along with wholesale prices for businesses.

The report also bodes well for investors looking for signs that the Federal Reserve might eventually ease off its aggressive policy to fight inflation.

The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, snapping a five-day losing streak. Still, the gains weren’t enough to pull the

benchmark index out of the red for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.1% and the Nasdaq gained 1.8%. Smaller company stocks outgained the broader market, sending the Russell 2000 index 2.2% higher. Those indexes also posted losses for the week, however.

“Investors are saying, look, ‘we’ve seen this before, where the market goes up smartly one day, only to turn back around the next day,’” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. Technology stocks, banks and healthcare companies made some of the biggest gains. PayPal climbed 6.3%.

UnitedHealth Group rose 5.4% after raising its profit forecast for the year following a strong earnings report. Citigroup jumped 13.2% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after reporting encouraging financial results.

Bond yields mostly fell.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.92%

THE NEW York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in New York. Stocks are opening broadly higher Friday, July 15, 2022, on Wall Street, but not enough to erase their losses for the week.

Photo:Julia Nikhinson/AP from 2.96% late Thursday.

The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 3.14% from 3.13% late Thursday.

Inflation and its impact on businesses and

consumers remains a key focus for Wall Street. The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates in an effort to hit the brakes on economic growth, and

curtail rising inflation. The Fed has already raised rates three times this year.

Wall Street has been worried that the Fed could go too far in raising rates and

GROWING ENROLLMENT, OPTUM HEALTH PROPEL UNITEDHEALTH IN 2Q

By TOM MURPHY AP Health Writer UNITEDHEALTH Group hiked its 2022 forecast Friday after riding both growing health insurance enrollment and its newer care-providing businesses to a better-than-expected second quarter.

The health care giant said a nearly 9% surge in Medicare Advantage customers pushed its total enrollment past 51 million people.

UnitedHealth Group runs UnitedHealthcare,

one of the nation’s largest insurers. But it also has been investing for several years now in its Optum segment, which provides care, manages prescription plans and offers technology support.

Revenue from that segment grew 18% to about $45.1 billion in the quarter, helped by Optum Health, which runs a growing network of doctor offices and surgery centers and provides care delivered at patient homes.

Optum Health brought in more than $17 billion, and the company said its revenue per customer grew 30% in the quarter, which it attributed to growth in value-based care arrangements.

That involves reimbursing care providers based more on the patient’s health and how it improves instead of for each service performed.

This can give doctors more flexibility to address issues like whether the patient has a ride to an

appointment or enough healthy food to eat.

UnitedHealthcare and other insurers have shown a growing interest in approaches like this with the idea that connecting people to more regular care can help them ward off or at least manage expensive medical conditions.

UnitedHealth’s Optum segment turned in a secondquarter operating profit margin of 7.3%. That’s bigger than the insurance side but less than expected, Jefferies analyst David

Windley said in a research note.

He called the miss a blemish in an otherwise “very solid” quarter.

Overall, UnitedHealth Group’s second-quarter earnings grew 19% to more than $5 billion while earnings adjusted for one-time items totaled $5.57 per share.

The company’s total revenue grew 13% to $80.3 billion.

Analysts forecast earnings of $5.21 per share on

actually bring on a recession. Investors have been closely watching economic reports for clues as to how the central bank might react and the latest upbeat consumer sentiment report raises the chance of the Fed softening its current policy.

Traders have eased off of their bets that the Fed will issue a monster rate hike of 1% at its next policy meeting in two weeks. They now see a 30.9% chance of that happening, according to CME Group. That’s down significantly from Thursday. They now see a 69.1% chance of a three-quarters of a percentage point rate hike.

Economic data also shows that retail sales remain strong. A government report showed that retail sales rose 1% in June from May, topping economists’ expectations, while prices for everything from food to clothing rose.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 72.78 points to 3,863.16. The index has resisted dropping below 3,800, noted Stovall. $79.68 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. UnitedHealth Group now expects adjusted earnings for 2022 to range between $21.40 and $21.90 per share. That represents an increase of 20 cents per share on both ends of the range from a forecast the company made in April.

FactSet says analysts expect, on average, earnings of $21.69 per share.

Mizuho Securities USA analyst Ann Hynes called the forecast hike modest.

She said in a research note that it likely set the company up for additional increases in the year’s second half.