This article should be titled “Dumbest most inaccurate economic analysis in the history of the Bahamas”. Mr. Bell is totally wrong and should keep his mouth shut rather than speak and plainly show the world how illiterate and incompetent he is doing economic analysis. This is a great deal for the Bahamas. Where was the government going to find $325 million to redevelop this port, what expertise do we have in this area? If managed by the government how much of these contracts would have been siphoned off and given to cronies? What would the quality of workmanship have been? This port will lead to the revitalization of downtown Nassau and hundreds of millions of dollars in government revenue he is not accounting for. We need growth in number of tourists and in the revenue they will spend in the Bahamas, growth this port makes possible that increases the government’s tax revenue in a multitude of ways. Not to mention 51% of the equity of this project is owned by Bahamians.

This is simply not true Birdie, these shares were not given to any families. These shares were filled from the bottom up (smallest orders filled first to ensure the largest shareholder base possible) and distributed to the over 3000 Bahamian shareholders who want and got their deserved share of the wealth creation of this beautiful country. Please stop spreading falsehoods and speak the truth.

Maybe you have a problem with reading comprehension? Nothing to do with hotels or supermarkets. I simply said one branch in an underserved community for each bank in the entire country. Certainly that is not unreasonable, particularly for some banks which are earning a $100m plus net income from the Bahamian people.

The answer to this vexing situation is not that hard, just a terrible lack of vision and regulatory oversight. The central bank should identify the 8 most needy, underserved family island banking communities and mandate as a requirement to hold a business license in the Bahamas that each of the 8 commercial banks have a physical presence in one of them. Just one branch for each bank. First Caribbean Bahamas just reported a net income of $60mill in the first two quarters, do we think for one moment they would jeopardize their business license and not comply?

As a Bahamian, I care. This project will be 49% owned by Bahamians of which I intend to be a one happy shareholder.

Where is Adrian Gibson?

Not theoretical, it’s fact, reality.

In 2021/2021 Bahamas govt revenue as % of GDP was just 20.2%!

We are unquestionably undertaxed. Read Bahamas!

https://www.bahamasbudget.gov.bs/media/…

While vital within the context of the Government’s fiscal strategy, a revenue to GDP revenue ratio of 25 per cent is not unreasonable in and of itself or when viewed internationally. Within the advanced G7 nations, the revenue ratio amounts to some 36 per cent; in the Euro area it averages roughly 46 per cent. Latin American and Caribbean countries post an average ratio of 27 per cent with regional rates of 30-31 per cent in Jamaica, Barbados and Belize.

I always say we want and expect first world services but only want and expect to pay third world taxes. Reality is that we are under taxed. The % of government revenue as a % of GDP is low even compared to other Caribbean economies much less first world economies. With all the corruption and inefficiencies in the public sector, govt revenue is woefully inadequate to provide the level of services we desire, hence our never ending budget deficits. We need an increase in govt revenues (taxes) that fall more on the rich ( very hard to do) and of a less regressive nature than we currently have. At the same time we need to downsize the public sector, get rid of or reduce subsidies to public corporations and then demand increased productivity from our reduced civil service, along with a zero tolerance of corruption.