Neil Hartnell

The Opposition yesterday said it will demand “answers” from the Government on why the “ballooning” national debt is increasing at a much faster rate than its annual fiscal deficits and its continued reliance on borrowing amid record revenues.

The Bahamas’ former ambassador to Bahrain has been banned from holding any meaningful post in this nation’s financial services industry for 20 years after confessing that he “misappropriated significant client funds”.

The Bahamas “is fiscally improving but structurally under-powered” as it enters tomorrow’s Budget, a well-known financial commentator is asserting, as he called for a revision to the 50 percent-debt-to-GDP target’s timing and the start of an “honest conversation” about taxation.

A Bahamian excursion destination and boat operator are both urging dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a US tourist over the loss of both her legs to a vessel’s propeller after staff allegedly told her to jump into the sea to urinate after being “plied with unsafe amounts of alcohol” and drugs.

Bahamian taxpayers are scheduled to pay more than $50m for the Government’s Eight Mile Rock administrative complex, built by a contractor and developer linked to the general election day plane crash drug suspect, due to a 48.8 percent surge in costs and a near-$17m interest bill.

The Bahamas would have seen “a phenomenal amount of jobs” created with the economy growing by almost 4 percent in real terms during 2025, a senior banker has suggested.

A grandson of Sir Milo Butler, the first Bahamian governor general, yesterday disclosed he is “extremely crushed and disappointed” but still “holding my head high” after the prohibition on him practicing as an attorney for “misappropriating” $862,287 from AML Foods was upheld.

The Government is targeting a $470m revenue increase for the 2026-2027 fiscal period despite this year’s collection pace lagging 2024-2025, it was revealed yesterday, as it cut the forecast Budget surplus by 24 percent.

Tax arrears owed to the Government under some of its most important revenue streams grew by $382m or 26.7 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year to hit $1.812bn at end-March 2026, Budget documents released yesterday revealed.

The Government yesterday moved to revive long-awaited public sector pension reform in a bid to halt growth in unfunded liabilities that now stand at $3bn through the creation of a scheme where civil servants will help finance their own retirement.