Sadly, Dukharan is right and Bowe is wrong as time will all too quickly prove.

The IMF is not the big bad bogeyman they once were. The sooner they assist us with structural reforms of our economy the better. It’s not a matter of if, just when. We have an almost 50 year record of fiscal malfeasance and an ice cube has a better chance in hell than we have of a PLP government under Brave Davis making the necessary economic reforms on their own initiative.

Yes, because they sure did a great job in Jamaica lol.

God forbid that we ever sell our souls to the devil (IMF), there is no guarantee that anything they propose would work.

Actually they did do a great job in Jamaica. Jamaica significantly reduced debt to GDP under their restructuring. Of course they had a massive setback because of the pandemic but this has nothing to do with the IMF.

Go study the Manley and Seaga eras of Jamaica. The IMF has disappointed before.

The IMF will be the death of the working class Bahamian. Income tax and family island property taxes on day one, with more to come. Working class Bahamians are struggling enough as it is, with the young ones abandoning the country if they can. I don't see how anything that the IMF can do will possibly save us.

Our economy is not typical for the world. We have done very well to be the third richest nation in the Americas. The policies that the IMF will try to shove down our throats will destroy the economic prospects for working class Bahamians. I would not even be too concerned with debt-to-GDP being honest with you. The US is looking at scrapping their debt ceiling, and Canada is printing money like there is no tomorrow. Japan at one point had a debt-to-GDP ratio of over 250% during the 08 Recession. What I would be more concerned about is economic growth, job numbers, and bridging the gap between the low average wage and high COL in a way that doesn't wreck the economy.

That is ancient history. The IMF is much reformed since the time of Manley and Seaga. This recent restructuring was much different than the ones you refer to as the IMF is much more sensitive and nuanced in its approach. In fact it even mandated a certain minimum level of social spending that could be exceeded but not reduced.

40-50 years ago is not ancient history lol. It is not some magic cure for the issues we face; on the contrary, it will destroy our nation worse than ever imagined.

Our economy was designed around little to no taxation, that combined with proximity, linguistic, and cultural affinity with the US, made us ripe for tourism and foreign investment. The IMF will destroy our economy overnight by putting in an income tax. Full stop. Most Bahamians make less than 20k a year and simply cannot afford it. Investor permanent residents will flee to another jurisdiction. Many have accounts in Caymans or Panama, but remain here for residency purposes as that is how some countries determine whether you pay or not (US being a key exception, although Trump was talking about changing that). Property taxes for Bahamians on the Family Islands are exactly the opposite of what we should be aiming for long-term. We need to be focusing on getting Bahamians off of Nassau to these other places as Nassau is simply full and it is jacking up the COL way too high. It is bad from a disaster standpoint as well; one Dorian to hit New Providence and we are North Haiti.

Social spending is the exact opposite of what we need. It is why we are so deep in the hole now. We cannot afford to pay for people to eat or give them CERB/CRB. We were in the hole before, but not nearly as deep as we are now. Trying to emulate Canada or the US will only put us in an perpetual state of being heavily in debt.

Howtheever, --- even The Colony's Central Bank is straight up in telling Popoulaces, whilst deposits in Bahamalander dollar deposits placed with a member bank of the DIC is protected up to B$50,000 per depositor per member bank --- It does not guarantee the soundness of individual banks and everything like that and, although banks in The Colony, --- "Does not often fail," --- like any other business and everything like that, it is possible go tits up --- Yes?

If two investments on the scale of Baha Mar and Atlantis does not happen for the Bahamas by the end of next year then we will be in the hands of the IMF. We need investments that can move our GDP needle in a positive direction bey a minimum of 10% points. Those who were hungry for power and now in power because the D average population will be in for a rude awakening .very soon. The fiscal restructuring policies of the previous government were very sound, they only lacked closing the big investment deals. The new min of investments had better start combing the world for investors who want to leave countries like Hong Kong because of the effect of main land china new hostile policies and get them to relocate their business to the Bahamas preferably in the green economy sectors.
Ms Dukharan is right.

IFM intervention is still a far ways off. Minnis did not put us in this situation, neither did Brave. This nation's finances were screwed up well before either.

Right now, the government needs to trim the expenses. We are not going to be able to tax our way out of this, nor seemingly bring in enough investment to keep up with the massive expenditures. We have no choice but to trim the budget. In all fairness, nobody ever expected COVID or Dorian to set us back as far as they did, but we are not a G7 nation that can afford to have huge welfare schemes or a large population employed in the civil service.

The UBP left behind a 10mil surplus (close to 80 mil in todays currency) when they left office in 1967. Righting our economy can be done, will the government 1.) have the balls to do it and 2.) do it in a way that doesn't financially wreck the average Bahamian is the question.

1) no and 2) they will do that anyway

I am a wealthy American. A lot of people like me around the world would invest heavily into your economy for a second citizenship. I'd gladly buy $300k of your Bahamian bonds at a low (say 1-1.5%) interest and hold them for five years for that passport.

Right now, Turkey has a program where if you invest $250k in real estate, you get a passport. Unlike the other Caribbean countries, it is a real "citizenship by investment" program - instead of just a "passport for a fee". There have been over 20,000 people to do this in Turkey.

Bahamas has a much stronger passport than Turkey. If the government would implement such a deal, and require investors to buy and hold bonds or real estate for citizenship, you'd have $5-10 billion dollars flow into your country in the next few years. Crisis solved!

In addition to the benefit of an easy refinance/restructure of the debt, it would cause heavy capital inflows from wealthy people coming to the Bahamas who would want to build second houses, invest in businesses, and so on. Think about the increase in property taxes from RE values going up - most of that could be paid by us foreigners, who are happy to do it.

Problem **not** so easily solved.

You cannot change a single variable in an economy and expect everything to be peachy. That is why economists get the big bucks, its **never** "simple"

After foreign investors were given the right to hold land, the cost of living soared for Bahamians. The sellers realized that they could sell the same property that a Bahamian might have gotten for 50,000 to a rich foreign investor for millions. Tradesmen realized they could earn more behind the gates. The same is happening with air bnb. Sellers see a foreign market willing to pay crazy prices for tiny rental spaces, the spaces low income Bahamians used to access now affordable apartments are becoming scare.

Locals are being priced out of a middle class living and slowly cornered into poverty. This is not good for any society, check all your historical revolts. Some Bahamians might say what you propose is ok because they havent felt a single pinch of the poverty pandemic, its swept Haiti, its in our inner cities and its spreading to middle income neighbourhoods.... Zombie revolutions are just a bunch of hungry deprived people. Zombies destroy everything and gates dont stop them.

It behooves everyone to ensure that there is societal balance, abmnd there are no ginormous gaps between rich and persons at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Mr: Bowe is correct he is a brilliant man. I trust he will advise the Government . The
Bahamas need all hands on deck. The Bahamas is all we have.