Event: Naturally 7 Live in Concert

 

Source: Bahamas News

Bahamas In Financial Hole

By ROGAN SMITH

The Bahamas is in a "deep financial hole" and will need at least five years to get out of the financial "mess" it is in, according to veteran banker, Al Jarrett who responded to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recent prediction that The Bahamas' recession recovery will not be as robust as the Caribbean's.

In an interview with the Bahama Journal recently Mr. Jarrett said as a result of the $1.56 billion worth of cumulative deficit that the government has created in the last two-and-a-half years, The Bahamas’ economy would have to grow by five per cent per annum for five consecutive years just to match its 2007 or 2008 numbers.

"The IMF will tell you that the 2008/2009 numbers came in with a negative GDP of five per cent and if we continue

Butler's Food World Announces Tentative Opening

Jeffrey B. Butler Sr., of Butler’s Specialty Foods and Shenanigans Irish Pub, has confirmed that the lease agreement with the owner of the building that also houses The Home Center has been signed.

This action confirms Mr. Butler’s confidence in Freeport and Grand Bahama at a time when many businesses are pulling back. Mr. Butler stated, “With the signing of the lease the final stages of the $3 million Butler’s Food World have begun”.

Bradley Scott, General Manager for the new store, states, “This will be a new shopping experience for Grand Bahamians with Fresh Meats, Fresh Produce, Fresh Bakery,

Crisis in Paradise: The Bahamas at the Start of the Post-Tourism Era

Dr Dexter Johnson’s new book (Crisis in Paradise - The Bahamas at the Start of the Post-Tourism Era) offers his proposals to address the country’s problems, but they are based on conspiracy theories and predisposed to bigger government.

Dr Johnson certainly turns a few good phrases - like referring to the tourism industry as the "plantation", and suggesting that successive governments have used it to control Bahamians.

He makes the point, repeatedly, that farming and fishing are the ways to broaden our economy from the twin pillars of tourism and banking.

But over the years taxpayers have built fish houses and packing houses, while farmers have received public subsidies, all of little or no avail.

There may well be a crisis in paradise, but it's more than likely because of too much politics and government, not a lack thereof.

Can farming or fishing help broaden the economy? Of course. Fishing is already the third pillar, so farming could probably be the fourth. Should they be subsidised with taxpayer dollars? Absolutely not.

In any event, no amount of sweet-talking by politicians or grant money from the taxpayers will make that happen. Unless and until entrepreneurs decide they can make money at it, there's little hope of success.

In 2002 The Nassau Institute released a newspaper supplement in response to the labour laws that were being implemented at the time, and it started out by listing six main components of the "Jamaican Road to Prosperity".

The points were:

Government controls economic decisions. Politics overshadows business and

Rotary Lucaya and Guardian Fencing Help Secure The Children's Home Premises

Freeport, Grand Bahama – Thanks to the efforts of Rotary Lucaya the Grand Bahama Children’s Home is a little safer this year. Recently the home had been plagued with trespassers and the Children’s Home management was concerned about strangers entering the peaceful shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children.

“We were rather desperate for more security” said Jean Hivert, GBCH Executive Board Treasurer, “we are so very grateful to Rotary and Guardian Fencing for helping us secure our premises and making us feel safe again.” The home is now completely fenced in, with Guardian Fencing putting up fencing and movable

Editorial: Ship Bradley Roberts Off With The Next Dog Shipment

A non-profit group – the Grand Bahama Humane Society -- saves the lives of eighty-eight Bahamian dogs by having them shipped to the United States – a noble and humanitarian act – and the best the PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts can do is to whine like a potcake over the foreign media coverage?

Quoting Mr. Roberts in the Tribune (April 19, 2010):

"This is a total disgrace… Pets are an integral part of any modern society, and if you allow the world to look at us as a nation without policies and procedures to manage the affairs of pets, you will be looked at as an uncaring nation…The story sheds a very bad light on the Bahamas…How can it be that a group of volunteers along with a crew of reporters from a foreign television news station, just dance in on an island like Grand Bahama, ups with 88 dogs and leave without consulting any government authority? Then go on to make such serious allegations about the people not being able to take care of themselves, let alone pets, and that there are only a few good homes on the island…”

Excuse me Mr. Roberts, but the choice given was to send those healthy animals to the U.S. or kill them. Mr. Roberts those foreign reporters were reporting the truth. If you did your homework, and spoke to the executive director of the Grand Bahama charity Elizabeth "Tip" Burrows who would have shared with you these important

More NEW HOPE for Grand Bahama

Freeport, Grand Bahama – On Monday, April 12, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiff and the Grand Bahama Yacht Club came out of receivership, giving this $600 million dollar project new hope!

“Some 18 months have now passed since this all started,” noted Preben Olesen, partner and CEO of GB Yacht Club.” It’s wonderful to be back in our offices and we are looking forward to a great future again in Grand Bahama.”

Olesen has now resumed control back of the company after winning a Supreme Court judgment. September 2009 Justice Estelle Gray-Evans rejected a bid by Gonzales,

Closing of the Crawfish Season

Nassau, Bahamas -- The Department of Marine Resources wishes to remind the public that closed season for the capturing of crawfish is the period of April 1 through July 31, 2010.

During this period it is an offence for persons to take, capture or have their possession, kill or offer for sale, any fresh or live crawfish without the written permission of the Minister.

Persons possessing crawfish trapping permits, crawfish exporter’s licenses and permits authorizing the use of air compressors are reminded that these permits expire March 31, 2010. At this time all crawfish traps must be stored on land

Commentary: The Bahamas Needs Markets Free From Government Intervention, Not a "Plan" For Recovery

In his column of March 18, Dr. John Rodgers offers a four point plan for helping the Bahamas emerge from the current recession. His plan is a mix of a few good ideas, some not so good ideas, and an overarching but misguided faith in the ability of government to guide the process of recovery and growth. In particular, Rodgers refers at the start to “the failure of the free market system” as a cause of the current recession. Nothing could be further from the truth, as several of his own arguments illustrate later in his article. In fact, the path toward economic recovery involves releasing the forces of free market capitalism from the government shackles that have prevented the Bahamas from having the sustained economic growth that Rodgers hopes to achieve. Below, I offer some criticisms of his plan as well as some alternatives that Bahamians might consider as they debate these important issues.

The most important and correct point that Rodgers raises is proposing an end to the exchange controls on the Bahamian economy. As he notes, the Bahamas is one of the few places in the world that still has such controls and they have a dramatic negative effect on trade, especially internationally. Exchange controls do indeed increase the cost of raising funds from outside the country, forcing entrepreneurs to pay more, and have to look hard to find, local sources of funding. The Bahamian economy also sits atop