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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2018
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Business easier in Gaza than Bahamas
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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HE deputy prime minister yesterday pledged “drastic improvement” after the World Bank concluded it was easier to do business in the war-torn West Bank and Gaza Strip than The Bahamas. KP Turnquest, pictured, told Tribune Business that planned reforms to the Government’s processes and interaction with the private sector, driven by the increasing use of technology, would warrant “a significant upgrade” to The Bahamas’ 118th spot in the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” index. While that represented an improvement of just one spot from last year’s 119th position, the World Bank still put The Bahamas two places behind the 116th-ranked West Bank and Gaza Strip
* World Bank puts nation behind Palestinians * DPM pledges ‘drastic improvement’ via reform * Says Bahamas often ‘short-changed’ on upgrades * Legislative action with mid-year budget
- the Palestinian territories regularly subjected to bombardments, economic blockades and lengthy power outages as a result of conflict with Israel. Mr Turnquest, though, said The Bahamas was frequently “short changed” by assessments from the World
Chamber chief: World Bank ignored ‘ease of business’ upgrades By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Chamber of Commerce’s chairman yesterday said he was “personally frustrated” that the World Bank had ignored evidence of improvements in The Bahamas’ cross-border trade regime. Michael Maura, pictured, saying he was “disappointed” that much “real work” in upgrading The Bahamas’ “ease of doing
business” had not been recognised, revealed that World Bank officials had failed to deliver on promises to cut the time for clearing imports by almost 50 percent.
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Insurers: NHI launch deadline ‘not feasible’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN insurers yesterday warned that the Government’s April-July 2019 target for launching National Health Insurance’s (NHI) basic care package “is unrealistic and not feasible”. The Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA), unveiling its “position paper” on the revised NHI model, said there would be just three to five months to properly roll-out the scheme’s Standard Health Benefit (SHB)
once the 45-day public consultation was completed. This timeline, it added, was more than two times’ shorter than the health insurance industry’s normal product development cycle, thus suggesting that the design of NHI’s minimum benefits package is likely to be rushed. “According to the [Government’s] policy paper, the Standard Health Benefit (SHB) is scheduled to be launched between April and July of 2019,” the BIA said. “It is our view that
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Bank and other international agencies, which often failed to account for improvements and reforms enacted by this nation. He added that the Government will initiate legal reforms to give effect to recommendations from its own “Ease of Doing Business”
committee, chaired by Lynn Holowesko, when the midyear budget is unveiled in the House of Assembly in early 2019. The Minnis administration’s critics, though, are likely to seize on the World Bank’s latest findings to argue that its much-touted “ease of doing business” focus has yet to bear fruit, with The Bahamas effectively “treading water” and going nowhere fast in terms of improving its competitiveness and attraction for foreign direct investment (FDI). In truth, both the Government and its political opponents can use the latest World Bank index - with its
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Over 25% of BOB’s loans still delinquent By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net MORE than one-quarter of the Bank of The Bahamas net loan portfolio was delinquent at end-June 2018 despite the prior year’s bailout, with its financials unable to escape a “going concern” warning. KPMG, the BISX-listed institution’s external auditors, said the $138.9m “accumulated deficit” that existed at financial year-end represented “a material uncertainty
that casts significant doubt on the bank’s ability to continue as a going concern”. The qualification to Bank of The Bahamas’ (BOB) audited financial statements came despite the troubled institution’s return to profitability with $2.591m in total comprehensive income for the full-year, a result that was driven by the removal of some $167.7m in toxic commercial loans from its balance sheet in August 2017.
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Insurers: NHI’s $1k cost a ‘gross underestimate’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN insurers yesterday warned that the $1,000 annual premium for National Health Insurance’s (NHI) basic package may “grossly underestimate” the true cost of the scheme’s benefits. The Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA), releasing the industry’s “position
paper” on the Government’s revised NHI model, called on it to produce data and empirical studies that showed how it had determined the scheme’s costs and employer/employee contributions. In particular, it questioned how it could set a $1,000 annual premium for NHI’s Standard Health Benefit (SHB), the minimum level
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