By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival must generate increased tourism spending otherwise it will merely amount to wealth redistribution within the local economy, a University of the Bahamas (UoB) economist argued.
Rupert Pinder, addressing the Rotary Club of West Nassau, said: "Junkanoo carnival adds nothing to the Bahamian economy because basically it's nothing more than recycled money.
"Unless you can show that you have tourist expenditure linked to it, it's nothing more than recycled money. If the people are not at Arawak Cay it means that they are not Over-the-hill, not at Wendy's or Mcdonald's. All it is is a displacement of money within the economy. The economy grows by way of new injection or new monies coming into the economy."
Michael Pintard, minister of youth, Sports and culture, recently said that while Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival will not take place in the same format it has over the past three years, it will be held in 2018. An audit of the prior years is now underway.
The inaugural event in 2015 was said to have cost $12.9 million. The Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) reported that the 2016 carnival cost $9.8 million, of which $8.1 million was subsidised by the Government. This year's Carnival report has yet to be released, but Paul Major, outgoing BNFC chairman, said $4 million was spent on the 2017 version.
Comments
stillwaters 6 years, 11 months ago
Put this trash where it belongs.
BahamaPundit 6 years, 11 months ago
We still don't get it. No country does carnival for the money. They do it because they love it and it's a part of their culture. Duh. Money should always be a byproduct and not an end goal for a cultural event like carnival. We must be the laughing stock of the world -- even are so called schollars are complete idiots.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 11 months ago
We do get it.
No one does Junkanoo for the money, we do it for the love of it. Every band who does carnival does it FOR THE MONEY. It's a part of their marketing campaign, "we're doing it for the money". The scholar seems to have hit the nail on the head. It's recycled money.
carnival is NOT a part of our culture, it was sold to the public as a Bahamian parade with the WORD "carnival" just being used for marketing. What we got was an imported parade that someone who loves Trinidad carnival attempted to assimilate with Bahamian culture.
The funny thing is, if they watched Junkanoo, which IS our culture, they would have seen the way to do it, take elements that fit with what we do, don't overpower what we do, enhances what we do and makes it better.
I don't see anyone en masse protesting Junkanoo.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 11 months ago
Will we ever know WHO made money from BJCarnival in The Bahamas?????? ........ Those fudged numbers put out by Major were not worth the paper they were written on.
Has this travesty been investigated by the Auditor-General to date????????
JohnDoe 6 years, 11 months ago
I have never heard such utter nonsense coming from a supposedly economist in my entire life. Maybe he should re-acquaint himself with econ 101 as to how economies grow. Economies grow through investment, spending, innovation and technology, increasing our human and productive capacity and creating jobs Mr. Pinder. This spending/investment can be domestic and/or foreign. This myth that our economy can only grow from FDI is beyond silly.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 11 months ago
Where did he say that the economy can "only" grow from FDI?? In fact the very thing you're railing about is exactly what he's said on several radio programmes. I've heard him stress that we MUST invest in human capital, that was just a few weeks ago on Bahamas at sunrise, he's very big on Bahamians owning more boutique resorts in the family island, he's talked about developing the ICT sector. LOL this beyond funny, he's in fact proposed exactly the things you said and you call it utter nonsense.
In reference to FDI when I heard him on Zhivargo's show what he said was it was a "necessary" component, that's how he characterized it, he never once said it was the "only" way.
Now, "US dollars" is a separate thing, there's no economy in the world that is growing that isn't doing trade in some form with the outside world, otherwise it's recycled money. When we build this tech sector with the "nano and bio" technology firms promised by Dr Minnis, who you think you hoping to have as customers?
Since the government spend exceeded any money brought in by the 300 tourists, this doesn't seem the way to go. And I supported the "bahamianized" versionin the first year. After three years it's no longer a test case any "economist" will tell you that. In fact Psul Major to,d you that, "give it three years"
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