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$8K PER MONTH LOSSES CLOSE GB'S 'FAVOURITE EATERY'

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor A well-known Bahamian businessman yesterday told Tribune Business he had closed "Freeport's favourite restaurant" because it had been losing between $6,000-$8,000 per month for the past two years, adding that rent

URCA 'u-turn' over third cellular player

URCA 'u-turn' over third cellular player By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor The Bahamian communications regulator has reversed course by deciding not to reserve space in the key 700 MHz radio frequency spectrum for a third cellular operator, while

ROYALSTAR INVESTORS GET '200% PAY OUT'

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor RoyalStar Assurance is expecting to generate a $2-$3 million net profit for 2011 despite enduring a tough year, its managing director yesterday saying the company had to-date "paid out almost 200 per cent" of the

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Baha Mar avoids damages on $10m 'credit letter'

Baha Mar has reached a legal settlement that prevents a former hotel partner seeking specific damages against it for trying to draw down a $10 million Letter of Credit, although arbitration proceedings remain alive.

GB Power seeks ‘unique’ energy storage solution

Grand Bahama Power Company is planning to launch a tender for energy storage technology that is “maybe unique to the world”, in a move that could reduce operating time for at least two generation units.

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Wind farm targets 2013 'commission'

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor A renewable energy provider is looking to "commission" its Eleuthera wind farm by early 2013, having invested $250,000 in completing the first project phase involving the construction of a Meteorological tower. Th

AML chief: ‘Size of pie yet to be seen’

* Uncertainties over Xmas spending * Hopes December ‘uptick’ will persist  * All retailers see October/November fall-off

BISX-listed AML Foods has warned that “the size of the pie” remains unknown when it comes to Bahamian consumer spending this Christmas. Gavin Watchorn, the group’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business that while it was “very confident” of gaining its due share, the extent of holiday expenditure was difficult to predict given continued economic uncertainty and fragile confidence.

Leading importers face ‘major’ VAT uncertainty

Major importers were yesterday said to be facing “major” uncertainty over how Customs will calculate duty rates post-January 1, a factor that is preventing them from making essential computer system adjustments.

IDB to combat 'stodgy' image

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor The Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) country representative yesterday pledged to reach out more effectively to the Bahamian private sector, admitting that the institution was perceived as "too stodgy and bu

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Gov't pushes deficit elimination forecast back three years

The Government has pushed back its original projections for eliminating the fiscal deficit by three full years, and is now pinning its hopes on a $449 million, four-year 'swing' into surplus.

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CWC: BTC ‘lags’ region despite $75m investment

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) controlling owner yesterday conceded that its network quality “lags” much of the Caribbean and wider world, despite increasing its capital investment by 47 per cent last year.

Green economy gives ‘opportunities galore’

The Government would help create a “far greater” number of “meaningful” Bahamian jobs if it abandoned its current development approach in favour of the ‘green economy’, a well-known QC believes.

Banks to ‘double’ VAT recovery.... to just 10%

The Bahamian banking industry is hopeful it might be able to recover ‘double’ the amount of Value-Added Tax (VAT) inputs than previously thought, as one institution yesterday revealed its total tax burden will increase by $6-$7 million in two years.

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Gov’t urged: Don’t lose momentum on ‘sole tax panacea’

The Government has been urged to set a date for the Central Revenue Agency’s (CRA) creation, the Tax Coalition’s chair fearing that momentum on a tax compliance “panacea” may be lost.

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BIA chair warns on Brexit's potential to impact FDI, banking

The Bahamas Insurance Association's (BIA) chairman yesterday warned it was currently impossible to predict how the UK's European Union (EU) exit will impact the Bahamas, adding: "The only certainty is uncertainty".

Gov't 'dragging on everything'

The Tax Coalition’s co-chair yesterday said there ad been no contact with the Government since the Budget’s unveiling more than a month ago, complaining that the Christie administration was “dragging their feet on everything” vital to the private sector.

BROKERS 'CUT OUT' OF HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE MARKET

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor The outgoing Bahamas Insurance Brokers Association's (BIBA) president has again complained that ties between commercial banks and large brokers are "cutting everyone else out" of the homeowners insurance market, w

S&P: Gov’ts fiscal, economic reforms ‘will take time’ to work

* 1.5% average growth forecast lower than IMF’s * Grand Lucayan closure takes out 7% of rooms * Debt to rise through 2020 to 52% of GDP

THE Government’s fiscal and economic reforms will take time to “pay dividends”, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) warned yesterday, as it took a more ‘bearish’ view of the Bahamas’ growth prospects. The rating agency, in its latest Bahamas country assessment, expressed confidence that the Minnis administration’s fiscal reforms will “arrest the deterioration” in the Government’s deficit and the national debt.

$60m project 'hits the pedal'

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor An eastern New Providence real estate development is set to take its full capital investment to $60 million by year-end, after its weekend 'open house' produced a "phenomenal turnout" of 400 visitors and five prop

$60m project 'hits the pedal'

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor An eastern New Providence real estate development is set to take its full capital investment to $60 million by year-end, after its weekend 'open house' produced a "phenomenal turnout" of 400 visitors and five prop