The Bahamas Investor

...r Thompson added: “The Bahamas’ approved National Budget opened the window for free tertiary education for qualifying Bahamians at the University of The Bahamas and BTVI respectively. Bahamians are encouraged to take full advantage of these opportunities because education is indeed a privilege that positions us all for upward mobility in whatever undertaking we pursue.” “Our small business owners have not been forgotten. We continually seek new te......

...ebsite as it seeks public consultation and feedback. The new Bill provides for a complete ban of single-use plastics and styrofoam by 2020, eliminating items such as plastic straws, styrofoam food containers and single-use plastic shopping bags. The Bahamas joins several other Caribbean countries as the movement towards reducing plastic and styrofoam advances regionally. Jamaica, Dominica, St Lucia and Turks and Caicos and other Caribbean states h......

...ices. Cruise control The wealthy traveller could opt to indulge in all the comforts available in a luxury villa with the added benefit of cruising around spectacular seascapes and beautiful coastlines. A leading real estate firm, H G Christie offers a variety of local yachts ranging from the 70 ft Sparkman & Stephens designed Bonaparte at $5,000 a day (local charter, all inclusive for 10 persons) to the 132 ft Sea Dreams at $12,000 per day. The ya......

...sultancy arm of the Singapore government, to establish a comprehensive platform for delivering e-government in The Bahamas. The cost of the project will be around $10 million. This will include three tracks: (i) An e-government network development track, to allow for the delivery of e-government services; (ii) A governance track, to ensure the appropriate rules and protocols for delivering online services; and (iii) A service delivery track, that......

...Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest brought remarks at the Caribbean Association of Banks’ (CAB ) 45th Annual General Meeting and Conference , October 31, 2018. Read/download his address here. Read/download the DPM’s adress here: Guest Speaker: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance The Hon. K. Peter Turnquest speaking at the CAB 45th Annual General Meeting and Conference......

...d and financial asset acquisitions by $3.7 million and $2.8 million. For full text reading, please download the attached document. Downloads Download MEFD January 2016......

...a turnaround from a 2.8% advance in 2014, due to a fall in the larger sea component by 5.1% to 4.7 million, vis-à-vis a 2.2% expansion in the previous year. By major port of entry, total visitors to New Providence contracted by 7.1% to 3.3 million, reversing the 0.6% uptick in 2014, as a 10.0% reduction in sea passengers outweighed a slight 0.2% rise in air traffic. Similarly, the number of visitors to the Family Islands contracted by 6.7% to 1.9......

...ive places to 63rd, and The Bahamas improved by 35 points and two places to 65th. This is an excerpt from Z/Yen Group’s Global Financial Centres Index. To download or view the PDF in its entirety, please click here. Download/View the PDF >......

...Programme. Given the external reserve performance and the positive outlook for foreign exchange earnings, the Central Bank reduced the official Discount rate by 50 basis points to 4.00% in December, while the Prime Rate was lowered by the same magnitude to 4.25% in the ensuing month. A comprehensive breakdown of the Bank’s Statement of Accounts for the period ended-December, 2016, revealed that the Bank recorded a modest increase in total comprehe......

...onal and international stock market indices. Table 6.7 Public Corporations Foreign Currency Debt by Instrument and Holder– As a compliment to Table 6.5, this table features an overview of the main types of debt outstanding and the major investors in the debt. Table 6.8 Public Sector Debt & Debt Service Indicators– This table provides, on an annual basis, key debt service indicators for the public sector. These improvements to the Digest are in lin......

...Z/YEN has published its twenty-second Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 22). This index is widely quoted as a source for ranking financial centres. The Bahamas saw a strong rise in its rank and ratings moving up two places in rank and increased its ratings by 32 places. Download or view a PDF of Global Financial Centres Index as provided by the Z/YEN, September 2017. (4.5 MB) Download/View......

...ications Company (BTC), part of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), has completed the full commercial launch of the country’s only Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile data services. 4G LTE is the fastest mobile data service currently available to telecoms operators and will enable BTC to increase the speed at which its customers can download mobile data at least five-fold. Customers can expect download speeds of between 10 – 15 megabits per second......

...spending also continued to show improvement, as evidenced by rising demand for foreign exchange for the purchase of goods and services from abroad. Given the level of construction activity, the onboarding of staff for Baha Mar, and some public sector recruitments, employment conditions improved over the six months to May 2017, pushing the jobless rate below double digit levels for the first time in almost a decade. Fiscal developments featured a f......

...onomic and Financial Developments report > This is an excerpt from The Central Bank of The Bahamas’ Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report. To download or view the PDF in its entirety, please click here. Download/View the PDF >......

...Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest addressed the Caribbean Regional Compliance Association Conference in Bridgetown, Barbados, November 2, 2018. Read/download his comments here. Read/download the DPM’s adress here: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance The Hon. K. Peter Turnquest speaking at the CARIBBEAN REGIONAL COMPLIANCE ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE......