10312022 BUSINESS

Food

price control extension

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN food stores yesterday said they “expect” the Government to extend tomorrow’s deadline to implement the major price control regime expansion if both parties are unable to reach agree ment by then.

John Bostwick, the Retail Grocers Associa tion’s (RGA) attorney, told Tribune Business “the ball is in the Govern ment’s court” as to the next step since neither the food retailers, wholesalers and distributors or their pharmaceutical counter parts have received any response to the position papers and alternative solutions that were pro posed “well within” the time permitted by the Davis administration.

With the November 1 deadline to expand price controls to 38 food product categories, and multiple pharmaceutical drugs, now less than 24 hours away, he said the Association’s 130 members are “some what concerned” by the Government’s silence but feel the looming imple mentation should again be “extended” given that negotiations remain

open and have not yet concluded.

“We continue to wait for the Government’s response,” Mr Bostwick told this newspaper. “The grocers responded well within the time allocated and, to-date, there has been no communication from the Government. At this time, we are just wait ing. That can also be said for the other associations.”

Asked about the immi nent November 1 deadline to implement price control changes, and adjustments, to up to 5,000 food items, he replied: “We are some what concerned, but due to the fact the consultation process [has not ended] and the proverbial ball is in the Government’s court, the Government’s hands........ it’s definitely

‘Don’t crash private’ healthcare with NHI

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A PROMINENT doctor has warned the Govern ment that its proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) reforms must not “crash private healthcare” and suffocate the “innova tion and investment” that drives improved medical care.

Dr Conville Brown, principal of The Baha mas Heart Centre, Cancer Centre Bahamas and The Medical Pavilion Bahamas, told Tribune Business the Davis administration needs to balance its push for

universal health care via NHI with maintaining an environment in which pri vate health practitioners can flourish since they are the ones that drive medical

Banks ‘can take more’ as debt drops $29m

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN commer

cial banks have “significant capacity” to take on more government debt, the Ministry of Finance’s top official has asserted, after the national debt for the three months to end-Sep tember fell by $29m.

Simon Wilson, the finan cial secretary, told Tribune Business the modest decline is nothing to get excited about yet as the total gov ernment debt closed the 2022-2023 fiscal year’s first quarter at $12.1bn. How ever, he voiced hope that it represents “the start of a trend” in what will be a

long haul, spanning mul tiple administrations, to rebuild The Bahamas’ fiscal headroom and cut the debt burden to more sustainable levels.

Speaking after the Government’s debt

Roadworks blasted over 30% sales fall

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FRUSTRATED Baha mian auto dealer yesterday blasted the Village Road roadworks for both caus ing a 30 percent decline in sales and failing to resolve his decade-old sewerage problem.

Brent Fox, Montague Motors’ principal, told Trib une Business that if he did not own the property upon which his dealership sits he would have been “wiped out” by a combination of COVID-19 and the ongoing road improvements which, at times, have either totally blocked access to Village Road’s southern end or made it virtually impassable to vehicular traffic.

And he likened the fail ure to solve a ten-year sewer problem impacting both his business and some 10-15 apartments located behind it as “a slap in the face” despite repeatedly urging construction crews

and the Ministry of Works to address the problem during the current works.

Mr Fox explained to this newspaper that his sewer connection to the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s main one is the lowest-lying one in the Village Road area. Due to the “degrada tion” associated with the previous infrastructure, during period of heavy rain or frequent use by other businesses in the area, his pipe “became half full” and started to back-up.

As a result, to cure the problem he was forced to install a 100-gallon lift sta tion at his own expense to ensure the waste form his pipe could be pumped into the Water & Sewer age Corporation’s main line. Hopeful that the installation of new sewage infrastructure would pro vide a permanent solution, Mr Fox said his hopes have been dashed because the new main line has been

JOHN BOSTWICK

DR CONVILLE BROWN

SIMON WILSON

SBDC: FUNDING SLOWED DRASTICALLY AFTER ELECTION

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

ENTREPRE

NEUR financing facilitated by the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) has slowed dras tically since the Davis administration took office with just $2m, or 2.7 per cent, of funds disbursed to-date occurring since the election.

Samantha Rolle, the SBDC (Access Accelera tor’s) interim executive director, said that despite the seeming slowdown the agency is still working on fulfilling its mandate to finance start-ups and existing micro, small and

medium-sized (MSME) businesses. She added that the data was also somewhat deceptive since much of the previous financing was arranged as part of small business support initia tives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Utilising our economic impact survey, we have been able to collect data around monies that are funded, around clients and how they’re successfully progressing within their business journey,” Ms Rolle said. “As of to-date, the SBDC have funded about $73m to business owners, and that equates to about 19,136 businesses.

“Specifically, if we wanted to break that up in terms of within the year since this administration has come in,

it would be approximately $2m to-date. But we look at it as a whole because government support, as well as our founding part ners such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Uni versity of Bahamas, work as a team and it’s a collabo rative effort. So funding is ongoing to support MSMEs on a national level.”

She continued: “If you compare $2m in one year to $73m over the course of four years, there are a couple of different vari ables. So we would have received an uptick, cer tainly within the year of 2021 [and 2020] having to do with the pandemic, so that’s one aspect of it.

“The other aspect is look ing at how we properly streamline the way that

Exuma businesses: ‘We will believe $1.2bn when see it’

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

EXUMA businesses yesterday said they will believe there are $1.2bn in investments in the pipeline

for the island, as identified by the deputy prime min ister, when they see them materialise.

And besides question ing the magnitude of the investments detailed by Chester Cooper at last week’s Exuma Busi ness Outlook conference,

they are also question ing whether the island’s infrastructure outdated infrastructure can cope with these multi-million dollar projects.

Ramon Darville, Darville Lumber’s general manager, told Tribune Business that electricity reliability on

we assess business plans, the quality of the business plans, and providing busi ness development to our entrepreneurs to make sure that they are success ful. It is one thing to give away money; it’s another thing to make sure that it is sustainable.”

Despite the decline in funding approved via the SBDC, which acts as a facil itator and liaison between the business and actual lender, the agency has seen a 40 percent uptick in client applications year-todate. Ms Rolle said: “We have received over 600 requests between fund ing programmes, advisory services and mentorship opportunities throughout seven islands.

Exuma is “terrible” with periodic outages. “I just landed back in Exuma and I see a bunch of money and equipment just sitting around at the airport,” he added. “They are supposed to be building an airport, but I could only imagine what’s the cost to those companies to just have their equipment sitting there.

“The airport has been stalled for over six months now with nothing hap pening with regard to construction. It’s been at least six months now. I haven’t heard anything that it is going to continue. Right now we are down to American Airlines doing one flight a day, but it’s summer time and it’s nor mally dead around this time of year here. American Air lines does one flight a day, and Silver Airlines does about three or four per week. There is just not a lot of action out there.”

Mr Cooper last week reit erated the Prime Minister’s pledge that construction work on Exuma Interna tional Airport will resume this month after the project stalled due to non-payment of the contractor. Fresh financing has been found after the previous Free National Movement admin istration signed a $60m contract to upgrade the facility via works forecast to last two years.

Mr Darville, meanwhile, added: “We are still dealing

“As we seek to expand our presence in the Family Islands, and by enhanc ing our service offerings, streamlining processes and continuing to forge strategic partnerships, we anticipate the exponential increase in our client base.”

The SBDC has also implemented new ini tiatives to reach the small business community, one of which is the “Bridge pro gramme”. This is designed to help MSMEs that are already established. Ms Rolle explained: “The bridge programme is designed to assist startups as well as existing businesses.

“We know that, with any business, they just some times need some assistance to get over the hump,

with things like electricity. Our electricity stays going off all of the time. Then there are a few people on Exuma that have solar sys tems, but they can’t tie into the grid and it’s not worth anything because BPL doesn’t have the proper meters so they could actu ally get something back or at least allow our electric bills to go down.”

Mr Cooper said last week detailed projects for Cave Cay, Hog Cay, Elizabeth Island, the Sampson Cays and Roker’s Point Estates.

Mr Darville, though, said most of these properties had failed under previous investors. “Cave Cay is way down the road from the mainland. That’s in the Exuma Cays and I don’t even know if that will affect us,” he added.

“I heard Sampson Cay got bought out again, but then again that’s past Stan iel Cay and that is way down the road from the mainland, too. That’s half way to Nassau almost. With Roker’s Point, they built one house about 10 years ago and nothing really has been going on there. But they did do a lot of infra structure work like roads and carving out land. It is right next to the Sandals Resort.”

Ricardo Morley, owner/ operator of Shop Rite Mart, Great Exuma, added: “All I can say is we hope. A lot of these investments

whether they’re expanding to add to their inventory, to add to their equipment, and so the bridge programme was set up to assist those who would apply and who would meet the eligibility criteria as well as the appli cation requirements. Once approved, that would help them to, one, either startup, or two, expand.

“It is structured to where funding can be avail able between $5,000 up to $25,000. Again, based on the assessment of the adjudication commit tee, that’s why we have an overwhelming response to that and we are currently reviewing the first tranche of those applications.”

are proposed, and we hope some will materialise, but we just have to wait and see. We want to see shovels in the ground and some thing coming up out of the ground.

“The infrastructure is pretty much in place. We will just have to expand what we need to accom modate whatever comes on stream. But for the most part the infrastructure is in place. It’s just a matter of upgrading.”

Not dismissing the $1.2bn in proposed investments for the island, Mr Morely reit erated there have been a lot of promises in the past from different administrations but “not all of those pro posals have materialised, so it’s not like everybody is holding their breath. We’re just waiting to see what materialises out of this new announcement”.

O’Brian Strachan, owner/operator of Stra chan’s Service Station, said: “Improvements are on the way in terms of the roads. The roads are being restructured and being rebuilt right now, and then you’ve got the airport ter minals that are also in effect. The infrastructure is coming up on par, so I guess by the time this develop ment comes around then it should be should be ready for it.”

Crowdfund platform targeting savings, real estate products

A BAHAMIAN crowdfunding platform yes terday said it is exploring the launch of a savings bond product and ways to mon etise real estate in response to investor demand.

ArawakX, in a statement, said that after collectively raising $2.26m on behalf of entrepreneurs, together with three successful crowd funding offerings, it is now eyeing other product development opportunities. The three successful raises to-date have been Pin nacle Red Lobster ($1.834m), Tropical Gyros ($254,000) and Foot Care Rx ($172,000). The crowd funding platform added that it has also engaged more than 3,000 active investors and 250 issuers via its effprts.

“Crowdfunding has proven to be a successful and viable market. People come up to us every day and are asking for more invest ment opportunities. We have been in direct contact with thousands of people and believe that there are some new markets that

are in dire need of finan cial products,” said D’Arcy Rahming Jnf, ArawakX’s chief technology officer and and co-founder.

The identified markets are a savings bond product and the need to convert real estate into business oppor tunities. “The challenge with savings accounts are zero to low interest rates and an abundance of fees.

Our clients are saying to us that they do not want to put savings in a traditional bank account because the fees often take away from the amount put in. In effect, the banks are charging you to hold your money,” said Mr Rahming.

“What people are asking us for is a product that acts like a savings account, with a guaranteed interest rate that is easy to set-up and access from their mobile phones while being free to set-up and maintain. Then a person will know that if they put in $25 per month for each child over a certain period, they will be able to exit the account with a cer tain amount.

“The key word here is certainty. This is a differ ent type of investment from crowdfunding. This kind of money is looking for safety and a guaranteed return. We have great confidence that the public will soon be pleasantly surprised when we announce this product with a key partner.”

The second financial product, ArawakX said, aims to deal with situa tions where persons are asset rich via real estate but have very little cash. Inves tors, in turn, have cash but not enough to buy a whole property outright.

“Many Bahamians have died broke despite being rich on paper because they were not able to turn their land into business. By introducing a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) we will help developers accelerate their plans in Nassau and the Family Islands,” said Mr Rahming.

“How REITs work is that a group of individuals get together and they buy a piece of real estate that

PRICE CONTROL WOES CONFINE $100K BUTTER TO WAREHOUSE

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN whole saler says it has been unable to sell $100,000 worth of butter, which has been sit ting in its warehouse for five weeks, because the Price Control Commission has yet to approve a revised selling price.

Heath Pritchard, vicepresident of Asa H Pritchard, told Tribune Business this highlights the inefficiency of price control regulation and how perish able goods can spoil and go off before they even have a chance to reach food stores and the end-consumer.

Suggesting that the Gov ernment is thus “putting the cart before the horse”

with its proposal to expand price control by 38 product categories, which is due to take effect from tomor row, he questioned how the Commission will be able to handle the increased work load when it struggles to provide timely responses to present wholesale requests.

Mr Pritchard explained that the butter, which took seven months to get to New Providence due to global shipping delays, has a landed cost 15 percent higher than the current price control limit. In such situations, wholesalers write to the Price Control Commission to request a higher price that compen sates for the increased cost but still aligns with the mark-up/margin permit ted by law. However, the timeframe in which such

approvals are provided is simply taking too long.

Mr Pritchard said he and other wholesalers have made these concerns known to the Prime Minis ter, and were assured that the Government would respond to them within two weeks. However, he revealed: “I called the Price Control Commission last week Monday and they told me they were tied up in meetings about these new price-controlled items and they wouldn’t be able to get to my matter until another couple of weeks.”

“They are brushing all of the old stuff aside and they are making me wait, and I am going on six weeks to two months before I can sell a single case of butter. They’re trying to show us what’s going to be for us on

1,200 items under price con trol. They are just putting the cart before the horse.”

Wholesalers have been trying to work with the Government on the new price control items, but feel the implementation time line - and deadline by which they have to make the changes - is too tight with out faster Price Control Commission approvals for changes to ‘schedule A’ goods such as butter, grits and mayonnaise.

“If I were to sell a case of butter, I would liter ally lose money and not many people understand it because they don’t have to deal with it. They don’t understand how significant it is because we lose about 6 percent of the sale on price control because our break even is so high, which is just

the cost of doing business,” Mr Pritchard explained.

“Here they are trying to force what’s going to be 1,200 items plus for Asa H Pritchard, and here we are going on six weeks of sit ting on inventory. We’ve got two containers sitting in our warehouse where we can’t sell a case because our landed cost is higher than our approved selling cost from the last shipment we brought in.”

Mr Pritchard warned that the combination of price control expansion, which will cover more than 5,000 items, and delayed approvals could force wholesalers to stop importing certain products because the losses they will incur are just too great.

“This has to be a smoke screen for the Bahamas

Bahamas ‘non-functional’ portal led to EU blacklist

By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE ATTORNEY General says The Baha mas’ efforts to comply with the European Union’s (EU) economic sub stance reporting demands became “non-functional” with corporate filings having to be entered manually.

Ryan Pinder blamed a “complete failure of imple mentation” by the former Minnis administration for The Bahamas’ recent blacklisting by the 27-nation bloc, asserting that the Government is “closing all gaps” in a bid to ensure the country escapes this desig nation as rapidly as possible.

The EU blacklisted The Bahamas because it was unable to correct defi ciencies in its economic substance reporting regime prior to the April 2022 deadline. This relates to the Commercial Entities (Substance Requirements) Act 2018, which requires

companies conducting “rel evant activities” to confirm they are carrying out real business in The Bahamas via annual electronic filings. These companies must show they are doing real, legitimate business in a juris diction and are not merely brass plate, letterbox front ing entities acting to shield taxable assets and wealth from their home coun try authorities. Mr Pinder yesterday told the Senate that “shortly after the gen eral election” on September 15, 2021, the Davis admin istration was “informed of deficiencies” in The Bahamas’ implementation, monitoring and reporting requirements for 2019 and 2020.

“Our administration has worked diligently to satisfy the concerns of the Euro pean Union,” he added. “However not all deficien cies could be addressed before the determination of our review. The EU has added The Bahamas to its list of non-cooperative juris dictions. We are committed to closing all remaining gaps

expeditiously and to seeking a re-determination of our status in the shortest pos sible time, again remedying the comedy of errors of the prior administration.”

Tribune Business pre viously reported that deficiencies with the eco nomic substance reporting portal, and an inability to test, analyse and inspect the data, was the critical factor behind the EU blacklist ing. Mr Pinder yesterday went further, saying: “To give some context, the defi ciencies primarily lie in the reporting portal and meth odology that was put in place.

“The former FNM gov ernment looked to put the substance reporting through the Department of Inland Revenue framework. This method was ineffective and presented many problems with the actual administra tion of the reporting. In fact, at a point in time the reporting was being done on a manual entry basis as the entire platform was non-functional. A complete failure of implementation,

which led to the blacklisting of the country by the EU.”

Ministers in the Minnis administration have pre viously refuted assertions that nothing was done to correct these deficiencies. They have argued that the company which originally developed the portal was contracted to fix the weak nesses, and a plan was left in place prior to the Septem ber 2021 general election to remedy the EU’s concerns.

Kwasi Thompson, former minister of state for finance and others, have instead argued that the Govern ment’s failure to follow through on this and act more rapidly led to the EU blacklisting. They have also asserted that the departure of Stephen Coakley-Wells, who headed the Ministry of Finance’s international tax unit, and the disbanding of the unit itself may have meant no one in govern ment was focused on the EU issue.

Finally, the Government has yet to explain why three letters signed by the Prime Minister were sent to the

EU over a six-week period between December 2021 and January 2022 promising that The Bahamas would comply with its demands by the April deadline. This sug gests that either the scope of work was under-estimated or that there was an execu tion failure.

Mr Pinder yesterday said the Government has solic ited several bids to develop a standalone economic substance reporting portal, and has finally approved a vendor that is in the imple mentation process. “We also look to put in place a frame work to allow us to verify,

Power & Light (BPL) rate hike. I think they said to themselves what was the fastest way to pass a Bill in parliament to relieve the pressure on the public, and it was price control,” Mr Pritchard said.

“Come Tuesday we don’t know what we’re going to be selling and at what price we’re going to be selling it at. It’s going to be a dis aster. If they had said that this was coming in Janu ary, we would have been able to iron out the details, we would have been much more receptive to it, and we would have figured it out, but you expect us to flip the switch without even provid ing tariff codes?”

whether through inspec tion or audit or some other acceptable method, the accuracy of the data being used in the substance report ing. This is also an important remediation element,” he added.

The Government is also “optimistic” that The Bahamas will be rated “compliant” or “largely com pliant” with all the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) 40 anti-money laundering and counter terror financing recommendations when its regional affiliate meets next month. The Bahamas has attained such designations on 38 of the recommen dations already, and has further enhanced regulation in the remaining areas - digi tal assets and non-profits.

Downtown Freeport unveils new Board

THE DOWNTOWN

Freeport Business Associa tion (DFBA) has unveiled its new Board of Directors for 2023-2024 following elections that took place on Tuesday, October 11, at the Sir Charles Hayward Library.

The Association, in a statement, said the new Board features representa tives from a cross-section of downtown businesses such as Bank of The Bahamas, Scotiabank, the Bahamas Telecommunications Com pany (BTC) and Insurance Management.

The Board has served the downtown area for more than a decade with clean-up and cultural entertainment initiatives, working closely with the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) to encourage island resi dents to shop locally. The new Board is also look ing forward to partnering with the Ministry of Grand Bahama.

“We are looking to bring life, laughter and fun back to the heart and soul of Grand Bahama,” said Antoine Brooks, the Association’s president. “We encourage Grand Bahama residents to join the movement and the team in their mission to revitalise downtown.

“In recent years, we have enjoyed working with GBPA to host signature events such as Freeport Flash Friday and Decem ber’s Midnight Madness promotions. These have all become staples and annual events on the downtown and Grand Bahama cal endar. We are excited to continue this partnership with GBPA, and to forge new relationships with additional corporate stake holders for the benefit of our downtown community and the local economy,” added the Association;s public relations director, Alex Thompson.

HIRING NOW

A company is looking for an experienced accountant to take on the position of Financial Controller who will report to the CFO and management team.

Duties include the following:

• Supervise all activities and staff of the accounting department including accounts payable and receivable.

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• Developing financial reviews and providing investment and profitability advice

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• Improving efficiencies and reducing costs across the business

• Stakeholder management

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FREEPORT MARITIME

A FREEPORT-BASED maritime and logistics solutions provider has appointed Talea Beneby as its group financial controller.

Glennett Fowler, Fowlco Maritime Projects & Ser vices’ president and chief executive, said: “This appointment supports our strategic and developmen tal plans as an organisation, and aligns with our commit ment to retain top talent as we continue to build a stel lar team of qualified young Bahamians.

“Talea brings a wealth of experiences from vari ous industries including finance, hospitality and human resources. Her fresh perspectives and expertise have already added tremen dous value as we prepare to embark on a new chap ter in our company’s development.”

A Grand Bahama, Ms Beneby added: “Coming back home to Freeport had always been a desire and long-term goal for me. Additionally, leadership has always been an important factor in my career choices.

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Having admired Fowlco from a distance, its dynamic female leadership, strong values and the innova tion they’ve brought to the maritime industry, when the opportunity was presented I was most eager to join the team.”

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Ms Beneby has held positions in accounting and finance for the past 15 years, and was most recently financial control ler and head of human resources for a boutique hotel in New Providence.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in international business and management from Northwood Univer sity, and a master’s degree in accounting from Kaplan University.

“In addition to deliver ing financial solutions and guidance for the company, I also provide oversight to the administrative depart ments. Since joining, the teams have continued to work diligently to support our operational commit ment to providing the best customer experience to all

of our internal and external clients,” Ms Beneby added.

“The Fowlco team is unique because of our flex ibility. We all work beyond the scope of our duties to ensure that the overall objectives for every project are not just met, but often exceeded. Just recently, a team member from logistics jumped in to support the finance team in meeting a client deadline, offering us an extra hand and resulting in speedy results. To me this is the epitome of teamwork and what team Fowlco embodies. We are not lim ited by roles and expected norms; we do what is neces sary, always.”

Mrs Fowler said:

“Embracing our mantra of ‘limitless possibilities’, as an organisation we are consist ently seeking opportunities to enhance the way we do business, leveraging tech nology, trends and industry opportunities. We are grateful for Talea’s astute leadership and guidance over the last few months as we have been navigating an expansion opportunity, which we hope to share details of in the coming weeks.

“We believe that the strength of our team is vital to our ability to meet the current and future needs of our clients and, to this end, we are committed to building a robust team of industry professionals, pro viding excellent service and staying abreast of advance ments in the maritime industry.”

TALEA BENEBY

Destroying fortunes

By CHRIS ILLING Chief operating officer ActivTrades

EVEN the most powerful online retailer in the world is having trouble with the gloomy consumer mood. After disappointing quarterly figures, Amazon’s share price collapsed dra matically. This also affected the fortune of its founder. And some of the world’s other richest men are still feeling the effects of this technology crash.

On Thursday evening, after the US stock mar kets had closed, the US group Amazon presented its business figures for the past quarter. They were so devastating that many investors wanted to get rid of their shares after the trading day’s close. The course collapsed, at times by more than 20 percent. Within a very short time, the company’s valuation fell

by an unprecedented $230 bn.

With the crash, the fortune of founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, also fell last week by approxi mately $20 bn.

The Amazon shock took investors by surprise. The group earned only $2.9bn in the third quarter, and thus a good 9 percent less than in the previous year. Amazon’s operating profit had even halved, and came largely from the cloud service AWS, which was also weakening. Although sales grew by 15 percent to $127.1bn, they also remained below market expectations.

And the forecast for the important Christmas quar ter was viewed by investors

as a disappointment. Andy Jessy, Amazon’s chief executive, expects rev enues of between $140bn and $148bn, and profits of between zero and $4bn in the final quarter, as he announced on Thursday after the stock market closed. That corresponds to meagre growth by Ama zon’s standards of between 2 and 8 percent compared to the same period last year. Analysts had also expected significantly more here.

The courses fell corre spondingly drastically. And the crash in tech stocks is also squeezing the fortunes of the other super-rich. This is particularly notice able among the technology kings, who had established themselves at the top of the

global money elite during the boom in share prices.

Meta boss, Mark Zuck erberg, was hit particularly hard. Just over a year ago, with around $140bn, he was still well ahead of the global elite. After the disappoint ing figures from Facebook, and the share price slump last week, Bloomberg only ranks him 28th with just $38bn - a $100bn slump in just over 13 months. Mark Zuckerberg’s quarterly fig ures started the tremor on the stock market. Meta’s decline in sales has accel erated, while at the same time the development of the Metaverse is swallow ing up billions. The stock collapsed by 25 percent, wiping out $60bn.

Other super-rich from the technology scene also felt this. Google found ers, Larry Page and Sergej Brin, lost $42bn and $41bn, respectively. The assets of Microsoft’s major share holders, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, shrank by

$29bn and $24bn. Chinese technology heroes, Ali baba founders and Tencent founders, Ma Huateng and Jack Ma, lost $22bn and $9bn, respectively.

The global list of billion aires continues to be led by Elon Musk, who has just bought Twitter. His for tune is currently estimated at $212bn, which is $125bn less than almost a year ago, when Tesla’s share price exploded briefly.

This reinforces the dichotomy in the market that, while technology stocks are penalised, shares of so-called quality compa nies that pay high dividends and have high cash flows are in demand. During the trading day on Friday, more shares were up than down in the market-wide S&P 500 index despite the selloff in the technology sector.

Shares in oil companies, energy suppliers and banks are currently in demand.

MUSK TOOK OVER TWITTER. THEN SOME USERS BEGAN TESTING CHAOS

By HALELUYA HADERO AND SOPHIA TULP The Associated Press

SHORTLY after Elon Musk took control of Twit ter, some conservative personalities wasted no time to jump on the platform and recirculate long-debunked conspiracy theories in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to “test” whether Twitter’s poli cies on misinformation were still being enforced.

Twitter has made no announcements of any immediate policy changes and in a tweet posted on Friday afternoon, Musk said Twitter will be form ing a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints,” and “no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.”

But that didn’t stop users from cheering — or criticiz ing — what they expected to be a quick embrace of Musk’s previous pledges to cut back on moderation in the name of promoting free speech. Some were all too eager to see what they could get away with under the new regime.

Popular right-wing pun dits tweeted buzzwords such as “ivermectin,” and “Trump won” to see whether they’d be penalized for content they suggested would previously have been flagged. Ivermec tin, a cheap drug that kills parasites in humans and ani mals, has been promoted by some Republican lawmakers and conservative talk show hosts as an effective way to treat COVID-19. But health experts have been pushing back, warning there’s scant evidence to support the belief that it works.

“Ok, @elonmusk, is this thing on..?” Steve Cortes, a former commentator for

the conservative TV net work Newsmax and adviser to former President Donald Trump wrote in a tweet, where he included a micro phone emoji. “THERE ARE TWO SEXES TRUMP WON IVERMEC TIN ROCKS.”

In a letter aimed to soothe the fears of advertisers, Musk vowed Thursday that Twitter won’t be a “freefor-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”

But the jury is still out on what will become of the social media platform — and what it will tolerate. Observers are eyeing who stays, who goes and who might potentially come back from the list of people the platform has banned over the years. They range from Trump, to conspiracy theo rist Alex Jones and former

Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke — none of whom have returned to the platform so far. The Associated Press checked at least a dozen

other Twitter accounts that were suspended by the plat form — including those used by right-wing activist James O’Keefe and MyPillow

NOTICE is hereby given that BENIAN BRINAE BEAUCHAMP of Keywest Street P.O Box SS19324, New Providence, The Bahamas is applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for registration/ naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within

days from the 24th day of October, 2022 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, Bahamas.

Chief Executive Mike Lin dell — and each turned up an “account suspended” message as of Friday afternoon.

CROWDFUND PLATFORM TARGETING SAVINGS, REAL ESTATE PRODUCTS

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has a business, rentals or some other commercially viable product on it. They then include the public, and investors are then paid a dividend based on perfor mance of the rents in the REIT. The risk is therefore spread amongst many and the project gets developed.

“We are very confident in our ability to deliver these products in that we already have the technology, the people, the processes and the regulatory know-how. And we are also backed by the knowledge that this will affects tens of thousands of Bahamian families,” added Mr Rahming.

“We have been going school by school, church by church, constituency by constituency to educate people on how they, too, can become owners in our society. What makes mar kets work is having many educated buyers and sell ers, and having the financial products that create value for the investors and busi nesses that use them.”

Banks ‘can take more’ as debt drops $29m

recent Bahamas Regis tered Stock (BRS) or bond issues, Mr Wilson told this newspaper that contrary to suggestions Bahamian commercial banks - major buyers of government debt - are at or near their regu latory and prudential limits on how much they can hold, they have the ability to make more substantial investments.

“When you look at the percentage of bank assets, commercial bank assets, which are held in government liabilities, in government debt, it’s around 14 percent, which is very, very low,” he said. “So if we compare it to other countries in the region, they are in the 30 percent range and higher. There’s significant capacity in the local banking system based on the numbers to absorb more. I think we’re seeing that now with the over-sub scriptions as well.”

Not all recent BRS issues have been over-subscribed. The latest one, which closed on October 13, 2022, raised

$35.682m or 89 percent of its $40m target, according to the Central Bank’s web site, with investor appetite heavily weighted to the shortest-term three year securities. These attracted more than $20m, or over half the subscriptions, due to concerns that the Gov ernment’s securities have become a much riskier prospect post-COVID.

However, the Govern ment’s September bond issue was far more success ful in attracting $50m - an outcome two-thirds higher than the $30m raise tar geted. The Government needs to refinance, or rollo ver, nearly $2bn in domestic debt denominated in Baha mian dollars this fiscal year, and its decision to avoid the unfavourable international bond markets and high interest rate environment makes it especially reliant on the local capital markets to achieve its fiscal strategy.

“The debt redemp tion profile for fiscal year 2022-2023 includes the reissuances of Treasury bills ($863.4m), Treasury notes ($101.1m) and Central

ROADWORKS

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installed at a depth eight to 12 inches (around a foot)

higher than his connecting pipe.

Asserting that the main sewerage line should have been laid at the same depth

Bank advances ($205m),” the Government’s debt report said. Mr Wilson said the Davis administration’s debt management strat egy, and reliance on the local market and its more than $2.3bn in surplus com mercial banking sector liquidity, was making “good progress”.

He added: “We are plan ning based on the premise we will not go back into the [international capital] mar kets for at least this fiscal period.” The debt report shows close to $400m in external government debt, likely denominated in for eign currency, is due to be repaid this year but Mr Wilson said this was not causing any undue concern despite the aversion to the global bond market.

Noting that some $180m of external debt is coming due in January 2023, he added that the Gov ernment “has a plan to refinance that already at much lower costs”. Mean while, the Government’s debt report, with one eye to the future, said: “Spikes in fiscal year 2023-2024

and fiscal year 20282029 external payments reflect central Govern ment bond maturities, as is the case with positions in fiscal year 2027-2028 and fiscal year 2029-2030 through fiscal year 20312032.

“The Government intends to smooth out these spikes through appro priate liability management initiatives. Domestic maturities are also domi nated by the domestic bond issuances of central Gov ernment.” Close to $800m of external, foreign cur rency debt is coming due for repayment in 2024 and another $600m in 2029.

The spike in foreign cur rency debt repayments during this period was cited as a factor behind Moody’s recent downgrading of The Bahamas’ sovereign cred itworthiness. However, Mr Wilson argued there is no cause for alarm. “We’re putting together a liability management strategy which will help us smooth out these spikes,” he added.

“As they come to matu rity, we have to plan two to

three years ahead what we want to do, and that’s what we’re doing now. We’re not concerned. The situa tion is in hand. That is 2027.

We have four years before that, and have some strate gies we will execute prior to that.”

As for the forthcoming maturities of Bahamian government debt, the Gov ernment’s report said: “The average time to maturity (ATM) tapered to 6.92 years at end-September 2022 from 7.26 years in the comparable period of 2021.

The average 23.6 percent of the portfolio scheduled to become due in one year is heavily weighted by the short-term Treasury bills and notes, which placed the internal component matur ing in one year at a slightly reduced but dominant 34.8 percent.

“Conversely, external debt due to mature within one year, at 10.6 percent of the total, constituted a more than two-fold increase from last years’ 4.82 percent, and reflecting scheduled bond and loan redemptions.”

and looking at how to get here. Some people try, go there and turn around. It’s a mess.

As for the Govern ment’s total debt, the report added: “Outstanding debt of the public sector [central government and agencies and government business enterprises (GBEs)] stood at an estimated $12.102bn at end-September 2022. This equated to a quarterly decline of $28.8m (0.2 per cent) since end-June 2022, and a year-on-year increase of $673.6m (5.9 percent) over end-September 2021.

“Foreign currency indebtedness at $5.569bn constituted 46 percent of the debt stock at end-Sep tember 2022, slightly below the 46.2 percent share at end-June 2022 and above the 44.2 percent posted a year earlier. Bahamian Dollar debt of $6.533bn million represented a domi nant 54 percent of the public debt stock, compared with respective proportions of 53.8 percent and 55.8 per cent at end-June 2022 and end-September 2021.

“Between end-Septem ber 2022 and end-June 2022, the change in the debt stock was explained by con tractions in both the central government ($17.8m) and the agencies and GBEs ($11m) components.”

as the lowest line, which is his, Mr Fox said it either has to be dug up and relaid to deal with his situationsomething he has been told will cost $500,000 - or he has to persist with the lift sta tion pump.

Speaking after he and others attended a Town Hall meeting with Alfred Sears, minister of works and utilities, on the Village Road roadworks on Thurs day night, Mr Fox said: “It was the same old, same old. My sales are down at least 30 percent. If I didn’t own the property I would be out of business because I do not have to pay rent.

“We’re also recovering from the pandemic, which almost did wipe me out. I asked the minister of he can give me a discount on the VAT coming up..... He said he’s going to speak to the

Ministry of Finance about giving us something on the VAT. I don’t anticipate any thing from that.”

Recalling how, at the height of COVID lock downs and restrictions, he was hit with a $10,000 fine for leaving 15 vehicles in storage at the Nassau Con tainer Port beyond the time for their removal and clear ance, and was unable to obtain forgiveness, Mr Fox said: “If they’re not going to give me compensation on the pandemic, you think they’re going to give me compensation for Village Road?

“I told the minister that it’s only because I own the property that I’m not out of business. Had it been another person after the pandemic it would have wiped them out. I’m getting a lot of customers calling

“I was meeting with the permanent secretary [Luther Smith] a couple of weeks ago and he was saying they think they’ll be finished by December, but they’ve not landed the aggregate and asphalt. They’re having logistical problems getting asphalt to the island. If they go into January and February, that will be four to five months they will have spent digging.

I don’t know how much more I can take.”

Turning to his sewerage issue, Mr Fox added: “I’ve been dealing with multiple issue with the Ministry of Works going back ten years.

The sewer line coming from my property, which feeds 10-15 apartments at the back, has issues spilling into the main drain. I had to install a lift station about ten years ago at my cost.

“We had to block off the pipe coming from Vil lage Road. Our property is the lowest on the line, and when there was heavy rain or a lot of use, the pipe became half full and came

back up. I had to put in a lift station, a 100 gallon station. It’s not a commercial set-up to manage what it has to deal with. What do I know about lift stations? I did the best I could.”

Mr Fox said he incurs monthly expenses to clean the line, and tank, and every six months the lift station pump needs to be replaced. Having expected the installation of new sew erage infrastructure, as part of the roadworks, would address the problem, he added: “They’ve put in the new sewer line about eight to 12 inches higher than the old sewer line. Right now, I’m nowhere near able to connect to the main sewer.

“My sewer situation is not any better than it was ten years ago. They spent all this money and, when they determined what grade the pipe should be, they didn’t uncover my pipe until a few days ago. I’ve been going out there for three months saying you’re going to have to find my pipe before you do anything. There’s no way they can raise up my line which is going a quarter of a mile back. It’s a complete mess.”

FOOD STORES ‘EXPECTING’ PRICE CONTROL EXTENSION

something that we feel is with them now.

“We would hope that should November 1 arrive and there has not been an agreed conclusion to the consultation process, the Government would extend the time for the process to properly and finally be con cluded so that we arrive at an agreement that is suit able and livable for all parties.

“In fact, we would expect that the Government will extend the time should there not be a conclusion to the consultation process by November 1.” Other industries also impacted by the price control expan sion, as first announced by the Prime Minister’s midOctober national address, also yesterday confirmed that they had received no government reply to their alternative solutions for easing the inflationdriven cost of living crisis for low and middle income Bahamians.

Shantia McBride, the Bahamas Pharmaceu tical Association’s (BPA) president, when asked by this newspaper whether it had received a reply from the Government, responded: “No, not as yet.

At this time we’re just wait ing to have a response from the Government. There’s been nothing as yet.”

Michael Halkitis, minis ter of economic affairs, last week hinted to the media that the Government is not budging from its November 1 deadline to implement the price control expansion. He could not be reached for comment before press deadline last night. Clint Watson, the Prime Minis ter’s press secretary, said he would get back to this newspaper’s inquiries as to the Government’s posi tion but no response was received before print time.

The latest developments came as Tribune Business was informed of a grow ing alliance between the food and pharmaceutical industries due to the price control threat both are facing. Well-placed sources in both sectors, speaking on condition of anonym ity because they did not have permission to speak publicly, said their inter ests were converging to the point where they will “unite” and “stand up” to the Government given the businesses, jobs and liveli hoods at stake.

Ms McBride declined to comment when asked about this alliance yesterday,

saying: “I can’t speak to that right now.” She, though, did not deny, and this newspa per was told that relations may have progressed to the point where representatives from both sides, and their associations, were likely to pose for a joint picture and release a video explain ing to the wider Bahamian public why they have taken their respective positions.

One pharmacy industry source, confirming that the two sectors were exploring “joining forces” and seek ing legal advice together, told this newspaper: “That is actually happening as we speak. That is definitely the position being taken. We’re going to unite and stand up to the Government, but are going to pitch it in a way where it does not get a bad view with the public.

“A strategy is being rolled out, and a video will be produced together to explain to the public what our concerns are.” Another contact added: “The pharmacists have been in contact with the food retailers, the wholesalers, manufacturers and distribu tors have been in contact. It seems that everybody’s position is similar.”

Tribune Business has also been told that retail ers in the food and

pharmaceutical sectors, as well as their wholesale partners, have also been assessing how they will respond - and developing a so-called ‘Plan B’ - if the Government does not mod erate its demands and work with the private sector to reach a compromise. “That won’t look good,” one source said of such an out come. “Hopefully we can all avoid having to take to the trenches.

Meanwhile, one whole saler reveals in today’s paper (see Page 3B) how the Price Control Commis sion is unlikely to cope with the massive expansion in its workload given that it already struggles to provide timely responses to requests for price increases. Heath Pritchard, vice-president of Asa H Pritchard, told Trib une Business he has had $100,000 worth of butter sitting in his warehouse for five weeks waiting for the regulator to approve a price increase.

Without such approval, he faces selling the entire shipment at a loss or it will spoil and go off before reaching food stores and the end user. Suggest ing that the Government is thus “putting the cart before the horse” with its proposal to expand price

control by 38 product categories, Mr Pritchard explained that the butter, which took seven months to get to New Providence due to global shipping delays, has a landed cost 15 per cent higher than the current price control limit.

In such situations, whole salers write to the Price Control Commission to request a higher price that compensates for the increased cost but still aligns with the mark-up/margin permitted by law. However, the timeframe in which such approvals are provided is simply taking too long, highlighting a problem that is set to be worsened by the price control regime’s expansion. The combination of price control expansion, which will cover more than 5,000 items, and delayed approvals could force wholesalers to stop importing certain products because the losses they will incur are just too great. The result would likely be product shortages and greater food insecuritythe opposite of what the Government is trying to achieve.

Food wholesale margins, or mark-ups, are capped at 15 percent for all 38 product line items listed, while those

‘Don’t crash private’ healthcare with NHI

advances - especially in tertiary care and complex surgeries.

He spoke out after the Government last week tabled the National Health Insurance Bill 2022 in the House of Assembly. The legislation, which will repeal the existing NHI Act 2016, was described to this newspaper by one doctor - speaking on condition of anonymity - as the next step in the Government’s

“stealth takeover of the healthcare industry since it seeks to introduce price controls similar to those currently roiling the food and pharmaceutical industries.

The Bill seeks to ensure that all Bahamians and qualifying residents have access to a minimum level of healthcare, known as the Standard Health Benefit, which includes pri mary healthcare services, diagnostic imaging, and

screening programmes for cancer and other “specified conditions” among the ser vices offered. However, it also seeks to dictate the pre mium prices that insurers can charge for the Standard Health Benefit, and the fees received by doctors.

Its section seven, enti tled “powers of authority”, stipulates that the NHI Authority, the regula tory body charged with overseeing the scheme, has the power “to fIx fee

schedules and payment rates for Standard Health Benefit providers (doctors and physicians”. And the same section states that the Authority can also “regu late the maximum price by approved insurers for ben efits rendered under the standard health benefit”.

The fee schedules, pay ment rates and “maximum price” were not disclosed in the Bill. One doctor, spoken to by this newspa per yesterday, said these were equivalent to price controls and will have the same effect as those con cerning food retailers/ wholesalers and their phar maceutical counterparts - that of potentially forc ing physicians to provide services covered by the Standard Health Benefit at a loss if they are set too low.

“This is the Govern ment’s stealth takeover of healthcare,” the doctor said. “That’s what they’re doing with physicians and primary care. They’re coming in and telling us as medical practi tioners what to charge, and what our overhead costs are, without consulting us. They’ve never had a word with us.

“The Government is steadily positioning them selves for a takeover of the healthcare system in The Bahamas and physi cians, pharmacists, allied health care professionals and the insurance indus try are going to have this imposed on them if they are not careful and allow them to completely derail the system.”

Dr Duane Sands, a former minister of health and now Free National Movement (FNM) chair man, told Tribune Business that “arbitrarily applied” doctors’ fees and insur ance premiums “may have totally unintended conse quences” if the NHI scheme was not properly thought through, and warned: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Speaking to the Bill, he said: “There’s some con cerns that have been raised as to what this means. It certainly will impact the practice options for a number of young physi cians in particular. What they’re [the Government] trying to do is lock the

reimbursement rates for physician encounters or medical encounters, which is fine if they cover the cost.

“If they don’t cover the cost, and we’ve seen this with the brouhaha with the food stores and phar macies, the road to hell is paved with good inten tions. For an arbitrary rate, applied for whatever good reason, may have totally unintended consequences because it doesn’t take into account everything required to run a practice, maintain a practice.

“The cost shifting that goes on in the with what happens in the public sector is not necessarily compati ble with what goes on in the private sector. Let’s make some progress, but eve rybody that comes to the table ought to do so with clean hands and a degree of equanimity,” Dr Sands continued.

“If we pre-empt because there’s a political impera tive to do so, it’s not going to get the best outcome. When you see a group of professionals say what’s going on, how is this going to impact me, that dia logue becomes critically important.”

Dr Brown, meanwhile, told this newspaper that the Government “is going to have some challenges with the medical com munity” over the reforms contained in the NHI Bill and what it is intending to do. He added that “the biggest issue and concern” was that Bahamian private health insurers may use the price-controlled Standard Health Benefit to “negoti ate down” below cost all reimbursement rates and payments made to doctors on behalf of their insured clients.

Still, while agreeing that NHI “is very much needed” because access to quality healthcare and outcomes should not depend on whether a person has insur ance or the size of their bank account, Dr Brown argued that it needed to be designed and implemented in such a way that it did not crowd out or stifle the pri vate healthcare industry.

Warning that such an outcome would be equiva lent to “dumbing down” healthcare, given that

for retailers are set at 25 percent across-the-board. Those goods impacted, some of which are already price controlled, are baby cereal, food and formula; broths, canned fish; con densed milk; powdered detergent; mustard; soap; soup; fresh milk; sugar; canned spaghetti; canned pigeon peas (cooked); peanut butter; ketchup; cream of wheat; oatmeal and corn flakes.

The remainder are macaroni and cheese mix; pampers; feminine nap kins; eggs; bread; chicken; turkey; pork; sandwich meat; oranges; apples; bananas; limes; tomatoes; iceberg lettuce; broccoli; carrots; potatoes; yellow onions; and green bell pep pers. This is under the Government’s initial pro posal, which it has yet to confirm any changes to.

Price-controlled markups range from 15 percent to 18 percent for pharma ceutical wholesalers. For retailers, the range is from 35 percent to 40 percent. The medicines covered include vaccines, anti-dia betic drugs, decongestants, laxatives, contraceptives, antacids, anti-hypertension medicines, cough prepara tions, cardiovascular agents and serums.

private practitioners drive the sector’s innovation and investment, he suggested that his “Partnered Care” model - effectively a publicprivate partnership (PPP) where his healthcare busi nesses provide access to services such as kidney dial ysis and cancer screening at discounted rates for public sector patients - may prove a better route to take.

“The NHI system is very much needed but we have to make sure we don’t crash the medical profession,” Dr Brown told Tribune Busi ness. “We have to make sure that folks in private practice are not getting screwed by our system.”

Pointing to Medicare, the US government initiative that provides healthcare coverage for persons aged 65 and older, he pointed out that by taking care of 50m persons that programme is able to spread its risk and costs over a much larger insured pool, thereby gen erating economies of scale.

The Bahamas, though, with a population estimated at 400,000 cannot achieve similar efficiencies with its own government-run NHI to that of Medicare. As a result, Dr Brown said this nation has to be careful and not design an NHI system modelled on developed countries in the belief it can emulate their best qualities.

Pointing out that most if not all healthcare advances, especially at the tertiary care and surgical level, were driven by the private sector, he added: “If you crash your private sector you’ve also crashed your ability to offer advanced services in any kind of timely manner...... That is where your innovation comes in and investment to do it. The Government generally doesn’t have the wherewithal to look at these things.

“If you kill your private sector, you kill your sophis tication as well. You kill innovation, and you kill investment. People don’t even think it’s worth doing it. I always say innovation and investment smartens up a system, whereas total government takeover of a system dumbs it down. That’s not to be conde scending in any way, shape or form. It’s just what happens.”

Turning to his ‘Part nered Care’ model, Dr Brown added: “I’ve been asked why I’m doing this if I can bill at a higher price. It ain’t about the dollars I’m making. We’re here to take care of people. That’s my goal; I don’t put it on anyone else. That’s what I do. The Government system lags behind contem porary developments and gets overwhelmed. It ain’t the most efficient system, which is why the UK’s NHS is in the paper every day.”