THE NEWS CONTINUES TO BE GOOD ON THE FINANCIAL FRONT

Michael Halkitis, the Economic Affairs Minister, was in New York last week on a side trip.  The side trip was on the side of the Washington annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  The Bahamas was being honoured in New York by the international financial community for the deal of the year in its agreement for a debt for nature swap. The Bahama Journal’s Gerinno Saunders reported the comments of Prime Minister Philip Davis in the House of Assembly on Wednesday 23 April 2025. He wrote:
“The Bahamas Debt Conversion Project for Marine Conservation has been
recognized by international news and data service Global Capital as the
‘Environment Social and Governance deal of the year’ at the Latin America
Bond Awards 2025.
In November 2024 the Government of The Bahamas, the Nature Conservancy,
the Inter-American Development Bank and several financial partners
completed a Nature bonds project to refinance some $300 million of the
nation’s external commercial debt to help the country improve ocean
conservation and management of its marine protected areas (MPA’s).
The project registered a number of firsts. It was the first time that a private
investor, Builder Vision provided a co-guarantee with a multilateral
development bank (MDB); the first time a private insurer AXA XL provided
credit insurance alongside an MDB in support of a sustainable issuance for
nature and climate and the first time that climate-smart MPA (marine
protected areas) commitments are included explicitly in the conservation
outcomes to support the climate mitigation and adaptation goals.
The Latin America Bond Awards program celebrates the leading names in the
Latin American debt capital markets.”