CENTRAL BANK SWIMMING IN CASH

John Rolle, the Governor of the Central Bank, despite the bank’s unpopularity with consumers in The Bahamas, seemed a happy man during the past week as he announced that at the start of May 2022, the reserves in The Bahamas reached the princely sum of US 3 billion.  This is a first for the country.  This is the highest ever.  He also said that in the first quarter, there was a net increase in the reserves of 524 million dollars.  That also must be a record.

The Tribune’s Business Section, usually a font of doom and gloom , was forced to point out that the previous doom and gloom report, the economist Marla Dukharan. from Trinidad and Tobago who used to work for the Royal Bank of Canada, had done an economic forecast for The Bahamas. This most recent forecast did not  include what she had included before in ones from the recent past that the  experts expected The Bahamas to be in an IMF structural adjustment programme within two years.

Remember when the economist made that last forecast, Michael Halkitis, the Minister for Economies Affairs answered back: not on my watch.

Meanwhile the Minister of Tourism Chester Cooper was able to announce that the British Colonial, recently branded a Hilton and which closed its doors in February will reopen shortly under a new name.  He also announced that the hotel in Freeport, the white elephant bought by the FNM, would soon be sold and open.

What a difference, a day, a week and a year make.  We also all know that 24 hours in politics is a lifetime.

The point is while much can change, there is good news in the economy.  On Saturday 7 May 2022 there were job fairs in both New Providence and Grand Bahama.  Looks like the demand for jobs is high.

Let’s hope this continues.   Let us wish Prime Minister Philip Davis well as we witness the fix of this economy.  Let us dispatch the curmudgeon Hubert Minnis to the scrap heap of history.