The 'national debt' + government's guarantee of the debt of essentially bankrupt government controlled corporations and special purpose vehicles (SPVs) + the unfunded vested pension benefits of government employees and officials = $13 billion of 'true unsustainable debt', and counting.

The Bahamas's true unsustainable debt of $13 billion equates to well over $100,000 for every productive worker in The Bahamas today who is lucky to still have a paying job.

Almost a million dollars a day in interest alone. Think about that for a moment. With a populationof 400,000.

that's not even one coffee per day per head :D

"This places government debt at 68.4 percent of GDP". Looks like this does not include the 2020 shrinking of GDP.

Regarding the national debt, the Bahamian nation should take the same approach most Bahamians take toward a debt: Just don’t pay it. 🤣🤣😎

We get nothing but typical sugar coating by the MOF of just how dire our country's financial predicament really is. Turnquest's deceitful playfulness with words and figures as minister of finance is intended to hide the harsh reality that our country is bankrupt and unable to sustain itself going forward without taking on even more debt. We are now dependent on the goodwill of international organizations controlled by other nations to continue lending us the hard currency amounts we desperately need in order to prevent us from being officially declared a failed state.

You are right.

The national debt ballooning to $8.24bn for the fiscal year 2019/2020 in the fourth-quarter fiscal is a **full-length feature movie series,** not a *"snapshot".*

The Bahamas need to come to grips with and urgently put new innovative plans in place to address our ballooning debt in the most serious posture possible. This is no time for politricks, and playing political favorites.

**EVERY REMOTELY ABLE HAND** is needed front & center on deck, or we all go down!!

With the tourism product as our number one industry having been albeit totally ignored for the past 50 years and allowed to seriously regress by successive administrations, Covid19 has unquestionably forced this government to remove the blinders, sit up straight, and start paying undivided attention!

This government should be "nose to the grinder" at the table trying to identify as many ways possible for more tourists to increase spending in our country.

No more of the "give everything to foreigners" stupidity will work. Bahamians MUST become owners and operators of our top industries our we will find ourselves in this very same untenable position again, and again!

If Bahamians are initially unable to deliver world-class products, the government needs to acknowledge and accept that they themselves are the reason Bahamians may be deficient due to inexperience caused by DECADES of being left out of sharing the tourism pie.

Jamaica and the Dominican Republic had to overcome the very same deficiencies with their people producing food and tourism products. They both came from way, way, way, behind us, and surpassed the Bahamas in local food production and tourism products.

The only thing holding Bahamians and the Bahamas economic growth back was our own government that insisted on giving everything lock, stock, and barrel to foreigners and regulating Bahamians to workers instead of owners in our economy.

Thanks to the Covide19 pandemic, the chickens have now come home to roost and successive governments many, many, failures, and utter stupidity, are laid bare for all to **FEEL AND EXAMINE!**

You are wrong on the point that the buck stops with the government. The people put these jackasses in there every 5 years. The people can complain all we want, but we knew exactly the moral fiber of those we voted for. We just thought some of those ill gotten gains would trickle down to us.

No prob ... if every person in the country just chips in $20,000, we can pay it off by Friday. 😎

The problem is our government cannot be trusted with money, nor do they understand the concept of fiscal management! VAT was started for the sole purpose of paying down the national debt, but that never happened. By now government should have implemented a national lottery to aid social services, education and to assist in paying down the national debt as well (considering the social burden of gambling, the proceeds of gaming should not be flowing into the coffers of a few men). The problem is the more money they have, the more money will be wasted and misappropriated.

Absolutely right.

LIAT Airline , airline owned by some 7 caribbean countries just June liqiudating the airline because of increasing costs and Covid 19 economic challenges, BWIA, well known Trinidad and Tobago airline ceased, AIR JAMAICA airline ceased. GUYANA AIRWAYS became insolvent an ceased.These Caribbean airlines ceased because of debts. In order to cut decades long debts accumulating and accumulating...and perpetually seems more decades and decades more increasing debt ...it is time to liquidate BAHAMASAIR (and also other govt controlled entities losing money and unlikely to give good returns.) Dozens of other private business Airline operators can fill vacancy, likely more competitive rates and same or better Covid 19 passengers travelling.