09122019 BUSINESS

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business@tribunemedia.net

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

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JEFFREY BECKLES

Chamber chief: 50% of firms not totally insured By YOURI KEMP THE Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive yesterday underscored the difficulties in recovering from Hurricane Dorian by revealing that around 50 percent of storm-hit businesses were not fully insured. Jeffrey Beckles told Tribune Business that “getting small business back up and running” is critical to Abaco and Grand Bahama’s economic revival as many lack the capital resources to fully rebuild their enterprises. He added that about “50% of the businesses are currently underinsured”, including firms with no insurance at all. “You may have insurance coverage on your building, but you may not have insurance protection against fire, flood or hurricanes, or any sort of catastrophic insurance,” Mr Beckles said. “As a result, for us at the chamber, this is an opportunity for us to educate small and medium-sized

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By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

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URRICANE Dorian was yesterday branded “the perfect storm” to derail an economic and fiscal turnaround that the government wanted to be natural disaster-free for “at least another year”. KP Turnquest, deputy prime minister, told Tribune Business that the devastating category five storm represented “a significant setback” to the Minnis administration’s efforts to “firmly establish” its Fiscal Responsibility framework and consolidation plan. He revealed that it was likely that the government will have to borrow beyond its 2019-2020 budget-approved limits to finance Dorian restoration, although local - as opposed to foreign currency - debtraising operations “would be our preference”. While unable to provide figures for Dorian’s likely damages and the amount of extra borrowing the government will have to undertake, as this is still being determined, Mr Turnquest said it did “not at all” anticipate it would have to

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Revealing that the one surviving location was now acting as a command post for recovery efforts in Hope Town, Mr Damianos said Dorian’s arrival could not have been more ill-timed

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Dorian victims told: ‘Don’t reach for sky’ on recovery finance By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net HURRICANE Dorian victims were yesterday urged by a well-known banker not to sacrifice their future financial wellbeing by over-borrowing to recover from the storm’s devastation. Gowon Bowe, pictured, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that those impacted by the category five storm must borrow for “what they need, not what they want”, and avoid falling into the trap of

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‘The perfect storm’ for our economic viability

Dorian destroys 30% of realtor’s business A LEADING Bahamian realtor yesterday pledged to “put Humpty Dumpty back together again” after Hurricane Dorian wiped out up to 30 percent of his business. George Damianos, pictured, president and managing broker of Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, told Tribune Business that the category five storm had totally destroyed four of the firm’s five Abaco offices when it rampaged across the island.

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over-extending themselves amid the emotional fall-out from arguably the worst hurricane ever to strike this nation. Encouraging persons “not to allow circumstances

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• DPM wanted ‘another year’ disaster-free • ‘Major setback’ to Fiscal Responsibility bed-in • Ex-minister suggest ‘debt foregiveness’ look • More borrowing likely; local market ‘preferred’

KP TURNQUEST

JAMES SMITH

ROBERT MYERS

seek “debt forgiveness” or rescheduling from local and international creditors for its $8bn-plus liabilities following the storm. He added that The Bahamas was “a very long way” from having to undertake such drastic measures, or seek assistance from the likes of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), even though one of his predecessors as minister of finance suggested that such pressures now exist. James Smith, who held the post during the 2002-2007 Christie administration, told

Tribune Business in a recent interview that both the fiscal deficit and national debt were likely to significantly increase in Dorian’s wake due to the combination of restoration spending demands and reduced tax revenues imposed on the government. While acknowledging that the government has to meet the “essential needs” of its people, and repair public infrastructure, Mr Smith warned: “We have to be careful how we manage this... and not need to go to the International Monetary

Fund, which is something we’ve avoided up until now. “It’s extraordinary,” he added of Dorian’s devastation. “I totally sympathise with the position they’re in. It’s something nobody could have predicted. It’s going to take forbearance on the part of the entire population for the next three to four years.” While the full scale of Dorian’s impact is unlikely to be revealed before the mid-year budget in February next year, along with

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$4.59 ‘Bottom feeders’ targeting Abaco

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A LEADING realtor yesterday revealed that “bottom feeders” are inquiring whether they can purchase Abaco real estate cheaply as a result of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation. Mario Carey, pictured, founder of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate MCR Bahamas Group, told Tribune Business he has already fielded inquiries from persons exploring whether they can obtain a deal after much of the island’s economy was levelled by the category five storm. “You are going to get bottom feeders coming into the Abaco market looking for opportunities,” he revealed. “You will have people looking for opportunities in Abaco. “People are inquiring whether real estate prices are attractive for land. Can we pick up a deal in Abaco? It’s a funny conversation to have.” Mr Carey added said Dorian had created several knock-on effects for Abaco and the wider Bahamian real estate market,

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