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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2017
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Arawak port generates $100m Customs boost By NATARIO MCKENZIE Business Reporter and NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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ahamas Customs has enjoyed a $100 million revenue increase over the past 12 months through enhanced controls at the Nassau Container Port, Tribune Business can reveal. Michael Maura, the Arawak Port Development Company’s (APD) president and chief executive, said significant investments in technology and other inspection
* Enhanced controls give ‘win-win’ for all * Smuggling crackdown aids ‘legitimate’ firms * New inspection site ground break in Q1 2018 facilities were resulting in a ‘win-win’ for all parties - including legitimate Bahamas-based businesses. The Nassau Container Port’s operator explained that the crackdown on smuggling and tax evasion was preventing rivals from gaining an unfair competitive advantage, as well as boosting revenues for a
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A VIEW of the cruise ships in Nassau harbour.
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Bahamians warned: All must pay for NHI By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ALL Bahamas residents must “contribute” to the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme’s financing to ensure its sustainability, its chairman warned yesterday. Dr Robin Roberts said the newly-appointed NHI Authority had effectively been given a ‘blank canvas’, and was starting all over again in designing a universal health coverage (UHC) plan that would meet Bahamians’ needs without undermining the economy. Addressing a Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) seminar, Dr Roberts said the Authority had yet to determine
* SUSTAINABILITY ‘800 POUND GORILLA IN ROOM’ * AUTHORITY CHAIR: ‘IT’S NOT GOING TO BE FREE’ * TARGETS PLAN RE-LAUNCH IN TWO YEARS which benefits (healthcare services) would be covered by the plan; how much it would cost; and the timeline for when NHI would be fully rolled-out. He added that if he was “whipping a horse” the revised NHI plan would be
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National Health Insurance scheme still ‘operating outside the law’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government was yesterday urged to “go back to the drawing board” on a National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme that is still “operating outside the law”. Tina Cambridge, Generali’s regional director, argued that the newly-created NHI Authority “cannot ratify” the actions of the former Christie administration
* INSURER URGES: ‘GO BACK TO DRAWING BOARD’ * AUTHORITY AWAITS AG OPINION ON PREVIOUS ACTS * ‘RESET’ NEEDED AS ‘COUNTRY OF LAWS’ in launching the scheme without having brought its enabling Act and regulations fully into law. Addressing a Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) seminar, she said the May 10 election outcome presented an opportunity to “reset and get this right without risking
destabilisation of the public and private healthcare systems”. Dr Robin Roberts, the NHI Authority’s chairman, yesterday told Tribune Business that its “first letter” had been to the Attorney General Office’s seeking a legal opinion on how it should deal with previous actions
that had no basis in law. These stemmed from the fact that the Christie administration only brought select parts of the NHI Act into effect when it ‘gazzetted’ them on April 5, 2017. Crucially, no Board was appointed until July 17, meaning that the NHI Authority did not exist and, as a result, the pre-election contracts entered into with medical providers may have been “ultra vires” and outside the law. The Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA) had warned earlier
this year that the Christie administration’s rush to roll-out NHI’s primary care phase prior to May could place the Authority “in a difficult position” by potentially having to ratify illegal acts - something Dr Roberts acknowledged yesterday. “This is why the first letter we wrote was to the Office of the Attorney General for a final legal opinion on how we should be proceeding,” he told Tribune
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QC: ENTERPRISES BILL ‘DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Government was yesterday urged to find its “political courage” and create “a volcanic boom” by liberalising the Bahamian economy beyond the Commercial Enterprises Bill. Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and
* CALLS FOR EXCHANGE CONTROL, ‘FRONTING’ REFORMS * URGES GOV’T TO MUSTER ‘POLITICAL COURAGE’ * ‘VOLCANIC BOOM’ IF MORE LIBERALISATION SEE PAGE 10
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