The Bahamas Investor

...eir screen the exact drawing that everybody else is looking at. It’s not uncommon for the team here to have conference calls at 9pm, which for the lender is 9am the next day and at any point in between for the architects and engineers. We do most of our design reviews on screen instead of using traditional drawings. It just wouldn’t be cost-effective to be flying people across the country and around the globe all the time. You end up having to do......

...greatest challenge isn’t the government’s regulatory environment, the greatest challenge is getting access to financing for their businesses. “Banks operate on a very simple principle: minimize risk, increase reward. If you are minimizing risks, then whenever you give a loan, you want that to be fully collateralize and the interest rate is going to be high because you want to increase the reward. Many small business don”t have the ability to full......

...Bahamas received an overall rating of four out of five stars. What to look for For foreign investors with acquisition plans, the types of property that make good long-term investments are income producing ones and good vacant land in populated areas, according to Peter Dupuch, a Bahamasair pilot turned realtor. In the early 1990s while still a pilot, Dupuch realized he could be more successful on the ground investing in real estate than in the air......

...by 2.7% from the previous year’s level. Preliminary data on the fiscal outcome for the seven months to January 2013 of FY2012/13 showed continued deterioration in the overall deficit which widened by over two-thirds vis-à-vis the comparative fiscal period, to $313.1 million. Total revenue declined by $50.0 million (6.0%) to $787.9 million, which represented an estimated 51.3% of the budget projections, while aggregate expenditure, at $1,101.0 mil......

...grew by 2.7 per cent to 2.3 million visitors. Visitors to New Providence increased by 9.6 per cent to 1.3 million, with the majority of these coming by sea. To read the full report, download it here.......

...venue to $10.4 million was primarily explained by a $3.4 million hike in income from fines, forfeitures & administrative fees, which offset broad-based declines in the other components. The contraction in aggregate expenditure was led by a $9.3 million (67.4%) decrease in capital outlays to $4.5 million, reflecting reduced spending on infrastructure developments and asset acquisitions, by $7.7 million and $1.1 million, respectively. In contrast, r......

...The newly elected Prime Minister, Perry Christie, delivered the 2012/13 Budget Communication to Parliament May 30. In his address, he said that the government was not going to propose any increase in taxes on Bahamians and claimed that the budget “unequivocally sets us on the course of change” for the economy. View or download a PDF of the communication here.......

...a range of maturity dates; the earliest being repayable in 2031 and the latest in 2033. Applications will be received by The Banking Department beginning at 9:30 am on 8th April, 2013 and will close at 3:00 pm on 15th April, 2013. Allocations will commence at 9:30 a.m. on 16th April, 2013 and will cease at 3:00p.m. on 17th April, 2013. If the total subscriptions exceed the sum of B$50,000,000.00 (Nominal) partial allotment will be made to subscri......

...m rates, megawatt sales, building permits, chargeable telephone minutes, consumer price index, etc. The 2012 GDP figures will be revised as more data become available. Click here to download/view the tables of data in pdf format.......

...or the periodic consultation with the member country. It is based on the information available at the time it was completed on January 18, 2013. The key points are as follows: The Bahamian financial system faces no obvious near-term threats to financial stability. The onshore banking system is well capitalized, liquid, and profitable. Credit risk, particularly for mortgages, will need to be monitored closely in view of existing high non-performing......

...The Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie, today presented the 2013/14 Budget Communication to the House of Assembly in Nassau. View or download the full document here.......

...and the number of individuals included in the high net worth category grew by a comparable amount, rising 9.2 per cent to 12 million people worldwide. HNWIs are defined as people who have investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding “primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables (which include things like furniture and appliances).” Ultra high net worth individuals have assets of $30 million or more. North America had t......

...ve review of the Constitution of The Bahamas, and to recommend changes to the Constitution in advance of the 40th anniversary of Independence next year. These changes will require a national referendum to be held in due course so that the will of the people can be determined on the matter.” The Committee conducted a wide array of private and public forms of consultations with eminent persons in civil society, government officials, special interest......

...ntion by The Rt. Hon Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth Of The Bahamas At the 7th Summit of The Americas Panama City, Panama. (April 11th, 2015) Mr. President, Let me thank you for your warm welcome here. I am pleased to be here. Today we are gathered with all the nations of the Americas; no nation is absent from the table. (continue)......

...segment. Similarly, the number of tourists to the Family Islands expanded by 5.9%, occasioned by improvements in both sea (6.5%) and air (1.2%) arrivals. In contrast, the Grand Bahama market fell marginally by 0.1%, as the 2.0% reduction in the larger sea segment overshadowed the 14.4% rise in air visitors. Domestic price inflation for the twelve months to July—as measured by the Bahamas’ Retail Price Index—firmed by 0.43 of a percentage point to......