An Amendment to the Letter of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement was signed between the governments of The Bahamas and the United States to assist in the fight against transnational crime at the Cabinet Office in Nassau December 18, 2012.

…continue >

The Bahamas and the United States of America held the first partnership dialogue December 17, 2012, to address the issue of transnational criminal activities and the impact on both countries.

The dialogue was held at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre, Police Headquarters on East Street.

…continue >

Following a review of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) under Standard and Poor’s revised criteria for multilateral lending institutions (MLIs), the rating agency has lowered its long-term foreign currency issuer credit rating on CDB to ‘AA’ from ‘AA+’ and affirmed its ‘A-1+’ short-term foreign currency rating. The following statement was released by the rating agency.

…continue >

Seventeen MBA students graduated from The College of The Bahamas (COB) last week with skills in entrepreneurship and innovation, leadership and financial decision making.

…continue >

New York, December 14, 2012 — Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the rating of the government of the Bahamas to Baa1 from A3. The rating outlook remains negative.

Key drivers of this rating action are:

1. Limited growth prospects following a protracted recession and weak recovery in tourism and construction
2. Significant and rapid deterioration of the government’s balance sheet, exacerbated by a low revenue base
3. High and rising levels of debt and a weakening of debt sustainability metrics relative to peers

RATING RATIONALE
The economy contracted at an average rate of 0.8% annually between 2007 and 2011 and Moody’s expect the post-crisis recovery to remain fragile. Tourism, offshore financial services, and construction sectors – the main drivers of economic activity – continue to face downside risks, exacerbated by an uncertain recovery in the US, the Bahamas’ main tourism market.

…continue >

The Organization of American States (OAS), the World Economic Forum, and Georgetown University December 13 organized a “Cyber ​​Security Dialogue,” in which experts and government officials of the hemisphere exchanged experiences and discussed the priorities of Latin America and the Caribbean on the issue.

The Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Albert Ramdin, opened the session highlighting that in Latin America and the Caribbean, “the number of Internet users in the past ten years has increased more than one thousand percent.” “Countless services on which we rely, and largely take for granted, including energy, transportation, security, banking, social services and many other systems, depend on the Internet and its connected networks to function properly,” added Ambassador Ramdin.

…continue >

Domestic economic activity continued to benefit from mildly positive developments in the tourism and construction sectors; however, the narrow base limited improvements in general employment conditions and the debt profile of the private sector. Price developments remained relatively benign over the twelve-months to August, while the fiscal situation moved further into deficit during the first quarter of FY2012/13, as capital spending-led growth in total expenditure outpaced gains in aggregate revenue. In the monetary sector, bank liquidity contracted in October, in line with seasonal increases in demand for foreign exchange and other current payments, which correspondingly led to a contraction in external reserves.

…continue >

SINGAPORE, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Wealth-X, the ultra high net worth (UHNW) business development solution for Private Bankers, Marketing Executives, Prospect Researchers, Fundraisers and Business Development Professionals, announced the appointment of Mr Gianluigi Bianchi as its Managing Partner for Europe.

Mr Bianchi, a veteran banker, brings with him 28 years of experience in countries that range from Switzerland to Germany and The Bahamas. A World-Check alumnus, Mr Bianchi was Head of Sales, Europe for the KYC standard bearer.

…continue >

Prime Minister Perry Christie has said that Digicel Group Ltd has proposed offering broadband services in The Bahamas, but no approval has been given as the market will not be liberalized until 2014. Watch a ZNS news report here.
…continue >