business@tribunemedia.net
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2021
$5.10
$5.13
Governor: Public finance rebuild ‘ambition’ critical
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
T
HE Central Bank’s governor yesterday said the government’s “fiscal consolidation ambition” is critical to protecting the external reserves and currency peg, as well as enabling the country to meet its debt payments. John Rolle told Tribune Business that huge borrowings to cover near$1bn annual deficits were simply unsustainable given that The Bahamas will eventually “hit a point” where servicing its $10bn-plus national debt will become a challenge. Warning that The Bahamas has to “make certain we
• Warns rapid fiscal consolidation return is ‘must’ • Even as external reserves strike $2.6bn record • But ‘usable non-borrowed’ reserves just $369m
JOHN ROLLE repair our finances beyond the pandemic”, he nevertheless said the country’s foreign currency reserves - which are critical to financing imports and sustaining
the one:one peg with the US dollar - remain higher than expected at some $2.6bn as of last week. That number, though, has been inflated by the government’s massive foreign currency borrowings last year at COVID-19’s height, with another $900m-plus including a $700m sovereign bond - already approved for this 2021-2022 fiscal year. And Mr Rolle said the Central Bank expected a further drawdown on the reserves over the remainder of 2021 due to Hurricane Dorian rebuilding.
Meanwhile Marla Dukharan, the former Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) chief regional economist, in her monthly economic report that was released yesterday described continued Bahamian government foreign currency borrowing to prop up the external reserves as “unsustainable”. She also noted that The Bahamas’ foreign currency debt had risen by 57.4 percent year-over-year to $4.16bn as at May 2021.
SEE PAGE 6
Liquidator blasts own creditors committee By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN broker/ dealer’s liquidator has resumed battle with his own creditors committee by blasting their criticism of his $1m-plus fees as “significantly lacking in substance, truth and accuracy”. Ed Rahming, the Intelisys (Bahamas) founder and managing director, who is due to step down as Pacifico Global Advisors’ liquidator at week’s end due to ill-health, slammed the three-man liquidation committee for opposing almost every action has has taken to wind-up the insolvent firm under the Supreme Court’s supervision. He launched the blistering attack on Luca Lanciano, Pacifico Global’s ex-chief operating
• Slams criticism as ‘lacking truth and accuracy’ • Opposed broker/dealer wind-up at every turn • Yet judge backed committee fears as ‘valid’
ED RAHMING officer; Alexander Maillis, an attorney with Maillis and Maillis, representing Pacifico Global’s landlord, Mosko; and Garciar Whyms, managing partner of Capital Corporate Services, in a July 21, 2021, affidavit that sought to rebut their concerns over
Govt defending ‘sole source’ Customs app By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
A TOP Ministry of Finance official yesterday defended the decision to accept a “sole source” bid for the app that now allows persons to file their Customs declarations electronically prior to arrival in The Bahamas. Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, told Tribune Business that the selection of Caves Villagebased Exempt Technologies Ltd as the app developer/
MARLON JOHNSON provider was consistent with both existing procurement practices as well as the new Public Procurement Act due to take effect from September 1. He added that the choice
SEE PAGE 7
Unions fearing ‘chilling effect’ if orders extend By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
TRADE union leaders yesterday warned that any extension of the COVID-19 Emergency Orders will have “a chilling effect” on the Bahamian workforce with 60 percent of hotel union members still furloughed. Obie Ferguson, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that he was especially concerned for furloughed workers given that allowing the emergency orders to remain in place beyond their August
OBIE FERGUSON 13 expiry will automatically also extend their temporary lay-off period. With the Employment Act provision requiring companies to provide full severance pay to furloughed workers after 90 days thus
SEE PAGE 9
the compensation he and his attorneys, Callenders & Company, are seeking. Responding to an “unfiled” affidavit sworn by Sheila Cuffy on the liquidation committee’s behalf, Mr Rahming alleged that the trio’s objections to his fees claim and that of Callender’s stemmed from failing to follow their demands that all Pacifico Global’s clients should have had their assets returned to them “immediately upon appointment” as the broker/dealer’s liquidator. Asserting that this was not his role under Bahamian law, especially the Companies (Winding Up
Amendment) Act 2011 and Insolvency Practitioners Rules 2012, Mr Rahming said the job “involves more than simply transferring assets to persons who request them or transferring the proprietary assets to creditors”. Pointing out that a liquidator is required to perform multiple tasks, including asset recovery, determining the cause of the company’s failure and assessing the conduct of directors/key management, he added: “A liquidator is statutorily mandated to use his discretion in undertaking his
SEE PAGE 6
$5.17
CAREY LEONARD
$5.18
BEN ALBURY
Attorney: Amend laws for mandatory vaccine By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN attorney yesterday urged the government to reform health and safety at work laws to allow employers to mandate that staff get vaccinated against COVID-19. Carey Leonard, the former Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) in-house counsel, told Tribune Business that increased vaccination rates were the only way “to get a grip” on resurgent pandemic case numbers that pose a particular threat to The Bahamas because of its service-based economy. While arguing against the government extending its Emergency Powers Orders beyond the current August 13 expiry in a bid to get a handle on soaring COVID infections, he added that vaccination-related court rulings in the US had established a precedent where the public interest in having all persons inoculated outweighed individual freedoms and choice. While The Bahamas is not bound to follow US law, and has a completely different legal system, Mr Leonard argued that the government should seek to change the Health and Safety at Work Act to give employers the ability to mandate that staff become vaccinated against COVID-19. Such suggestions will likely provoke a sharp push back from trade unions and workers, as well as other attorneys, but he explained:
“I think we’ve had enough of these emergency orders, but there may be some laws they need to amend to provide for certain things. “They may need to amend the law as it relates to Health and Safety at Work to give businesses the right to insist on vaccinations of their staff.... I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility to say for the safety and interest of the general public, in this particular instance it outweighs the individual’s rights. “If we don’t get a grip on this we’re going to be in trouble. If you look at the UK numbers, they’re skyrocketing again but they don’t have 1,000 people dying every day; they don’t even have 100 per day. They say the majority of people in hospitals and dying are all the non-vaccinated,” Mr Leonard continued. “I think perhaps we need to change the laws so that we get everything under control... We have very serious issues that we need to get under control, and the evidence is becoming clearer and clearer as most people in hospital are the non-vaccinated.” Mr Leonard argued that concerns being spread over COVID-19 vaccines are “not as drastic as people are making them out to be, and added: “I think they’ve blowing it out of all proportion.” He added that similar fears were raised decades ago over smallpox and polio vaccinations, yet pointed out that parents would not
SEE PAGE 7