By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
NEW Providence’s property market is “ramping up”, a prominent realtor asserted yesterday, with contracted home sales having beaten prior year comparisons in every quarter during 2024.
David Morley, broker/ owner of Morley Realty, told Tribune Business his firm’s analysis of industry sales data confirmed the sector’s strong “momentum” heading into 2025 as completed residential home sales for the 2024 fourth quarter increased by 65.8 percent year-over-year.
Using figures derived from the Bahamas Real Estate Association’s (BREA) Multiple Listing System (MLS), which is estimated to capture 60 percent and more of industry sales and thus provide a good indicator of overall market activity, Morley Realty’s 2024 fourth quarter report also noted that contracted
Electronic visitor stay halt ‘just adds to pain’
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
THE suspension of electronic processing for extended tourist stays in The Bahamas “just adds to the pain” for visiting boaters and local marinas, the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) chief asserted yesterday. Peter Maury, the ABM president, told Tribune Business that the move unveiled yesterday “is going to add to the inconvenience” for boaters and yachters as they will now seemingly have to visit Immigration offices inperson to extend their stays
New Providence home sales for the three months to endDecember were almost 20 percent ahead of 2023.
And, with completed New Providence home sales hitting their highest levels since the 2023 third quarter, Mr Morley told this newspaper that the data shows “2024 was a better year” than its predecessor for real estate-related activity on an island that is home to 70 percent of The Bahamas’ population.
and economic impact in The Bahamas.
He added that this has occurred in a climate where visiting boats and charters were already struggling to be admitted to The Bahamas for more than 30 days despite previous pronouncements by Chester Cooper, deputy prime minster and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, that the $200 non-refundable fee for the processing of visitor ‘stay’ extensions did not apply to the sector.
The Department of Immigration, in an e-mailed notice, said: “Please be advised
“There’s some interesting situations if you actually look at it,” he said of the analysis performed by his firm. “For example, it talks about how for quarter four the numbers may have dropped on certain of the indicators from the previous quarter. But, more importantly, if you look at the each of the quarters for 2024 and compare them to the same quarter in 2023, last year was a better year.
“Even if look at sales only for the fourth quarter in 2024 versus the fourth quarter in 2023, the number of new listings, new contracts, all that data shows a better market than we had in 2023.... Overall, it was an encouraging wrap-up for 2024 and for continuing that momentum going into 2025.”
Pointing to New Providence specifically, Mr Morley added: “If you look at the fourth quarter’s contracted sales for homes, it was higher than in
that the electronic visitor’s extension service has been suspended. For this, or other services, please visit our offices in New Providence and the Family Islands.” No explanation was given for the suspension or when it would be lifted.
In response, Mr Maury said: “To be honest, it’s the same old story. It’s going to make it more difficult but our numbers are already down. It just adds to the pain for sure. It’s like the SeaZPass portal. We wanted boaters to pay their
Exuma developer threatens pullout over nearby resort project
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
AN Exuma resort developer
yesterday warned he is prepared to halt his $75m project and pull-out if a neighbouring development is allowed to proceed without resolving environmental concerns.
Robert Coughlin, the Turtlegrass Resort and Island Club’s principal, said it was “disheartening” that the adjacent $200m Rosewood Exuma project on Sampson Cay plans to dredge almost 240,000 cubic yards of fill to create two marinas as well as install an employee dock and seawall in front of his property. He disclosed that he is ready to stop his project at the $25m first phase, with only one-third of its capital investment spent, and abandon his ambitions if the
nearby mega resort is allowed to significantly alter the environment shared with his sustainable eco-property. Such an outcome would potentially cost The Bahamas around 50 jobs a year from now.
“I think what’s going to happen potentially, DEPP (Department of Environmental Planning and Protection) is going to go: ‘You can’t dredge the bay, but you can put an employee dock there’, and I just have to say publicly, if that’s the outcome, what you’ve seen is what we’re going to do, and we’re packing up and leaving,” said Mr Coughlin.
“That’s the 50 jobs that should be here a year from now won’t be here any more because it’s not fair. We made the commitments, we’ve done what said we were going to do. We’ve been
Super Value chief urges Gov’t:
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
SUPER Value’s owner and other food retailers yesterday urged the Government to clarify what the Prime Minister means by “eliminating the middle man”, as he asserted: “We’ve been ahead of them for years.” Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that he and all other food stores spoken to “don’t understand” what Philip Davis KC is referring as he called on the administration to “explain”, for instance, whether this means eliminating the Bahamian wholesale industry that is responsible for distributing and supplying hundreds of international brands throughout The Bahamas.
Pointing out that no specifics on who the Government is targeting, or how such changes will work in practice, have been provided, he added that his 13-store supermarket chain has been sourcing goods directly from suppliers based in countries ranging from Brazil to Turkey and thus needs no assistance.
And Mr Roberts, who said he has been battling to reduce the cost of living for Bahamian consumers for 70 years, hinted at scepticism over the Government’s seeminglyplanned intervention in long-established supply chains by arguing that it is “never as efficient as private enterprise” when it comes to logistics.
With Mr Davis’ repeated comments on the subject “all over social media”, the Super Value chief told this newspaper: “That’s wonderful if they are going to bring the cost of living down. I’ve been trying to do it for 70 years.
“This thing now.. by eliminating the middle man, are they going to eliminate D’Albenas? Are they going to eliminate the US? I don’t understand it. What do they mean? Are they going to eliminate chicken going through America? We buy direct. We don’t buy from the US; we buy from Brazil.
“I wonder who they are going to eliminate? We don’t understand it. We buy from China, we buy from the countries we know produce the product. We buy bathroom tissue from Trinidad. We don’t buy it from the US. We don’t ship it from the US or buy it from them. We don’t understand and would like them [the Government] to explain.
Ever since unveiling the 50 percent VAT rate cut on most food items, which is due
Eco-resort targets $1m per month spend through 2025
By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net
AN EXUMA eco-resort project yesterday revealed it plans to invest $1m per month throughout 2025 in a bid to complete the first phase of its full
ture as part of the $25m first phase. He pointed out
Bahamian, 100 percent. We have a construction manager from Nassau, he has a small crew. We have 12 to 15 employees from Black Point, and then a few from Staniel Cay. All the vendors that we have, our engineers, our architects, except for a few specialty items, everything’s Bahamian,” said Mr Coughlin. “Right now, as you look at this calendar year, we’re pacing for about $1m a month of
I’d say 80 percent of it, even with equipment that we’re
All of them are
DAVID MORLEY
RUPERT ROBERTS PHILIP DAVIS KC
ROBERT COUGHLIN
LPIA TO BE RESTRICTED TO ONE RUNWAY OVER $10M UPGRADE
THE Bahamas’ major aviation gateway will be restricted to just one operational runway for two months due to a $10m upgrade essential to compliance with international safety standards.
The Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), Lynden Pindling International Airport’s (LPIA) operator, said in a statement that a major pavement rehabilitation project on Runway 14/32 will begin on February 3, 2025, as part of efforts to maintain safety and operational efficiency at the facility.
The two-month project involves a $10m investment and is expected to conclude before the peak Easter travel period. Bahamas Hot Mix (BHM), a Bahamian-owned company that completed the rehabilitation of Runway 10/28 and Taxiway Papa in 2019, both on time and within budget, will perform the work.
Jonathan Hanna, NAD’s vice-president of operations, said: “This scheduled maintenance on Runway 14/32 is essential to maintain LPIA’s status as a safe and efficient airport that meets all local and international safety standards.
“We have developed contingency plans to minimise disruptions and are working closely with key airport partners to manage air traffic flow. While minor delays may occur during peak operational periods, our goal is to ensure smooth operations throughout the project”.
Runway 14/32 will “undergo critical enhancements to support LPIA’s current operations and the airport’s future growth”. It was last overhauled in 2006. Once completed, the upgrade will include the replacement of approximately 484,000 square feet of asphalt pavement, thereby extending the runway’s life and improving the
safety and reliability of the airstrip.
Throughout the project, all flight operations will transition to Runway 10-28, which will be the sole runway available
for landing and take-off.
Motorists travelling on Windsor Field Road near LPIA were warned to remain alert due to heavy equipment movement in the area. Work will be
‘CONSIDERABLE UPDATES’ TO BAHAMAS ENERGY LAW LIKELY
By FAY SIMMONS
A CABINET minister says future energy reforms will focus on electricity tariff rates and consumer protection.
JoBeth Coleby-Davis, minister of energy and transport, speaking at the opening of the University of the Bahamas Legal Week 2025, said Bahamian law will likely have to be revised and adapted to changes in the constantlyevolving sector.
She added that reforms will likely focus on electricity prices and consumer protection initiatives targeted at the most vulnerable in Bahamian society given concerns over the
cost of energy and the role it plays in high living costs facing many.
“I believe that future legislative enhancements might also focus on electricity tariffs and consumer protection. Currently, there is much chatter and concern about inflation, especially prices in the energy sector,” said Mrs Coleby-Davis.
“As most of you are aware, the Davis administration has used the provisions of the Electricity Act 2024 to lower the base rate for residential customers of Bahamas Power & Light (BPL). And so, in the future, I believe that we will continue to see energy legislation being used to protect consumers – especially those in vulnerable communities.”
Mrs Coleby-Davis said that, as the tourism industry expands, cruise ships will have to access shore power, which will also have to be regulated by new energy legislation. “We continue to see the expansion of our ship registry and tremendous growth in the cruise tourism industry. As larger vessels continue to call on our port, the need for shore power is important,” she added.
“Shore power is the provision of shoreside electrical power to a ship at berth while its main and auxiliary engines are shut down. Shore power saves consumption of fuel and eliminates air pollution. It is my assumption that the implementation and use of shore power may require specific regulations in the
future. And so, in a nutshell, I expect there will be considerable updates to our energy regulation regime in the future.”
The minister highlighted that many countries have embraced alternative forms of energy, such as nuclear and geothermal, and while those may not be applicable in The Bahamas there is a need to modernise this nation’s energy sector.
“Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. As of November 2024, there are 415 civilian fission reactors in the world, with overall capacity of 374 gigawatts. There are currently 66 reactors under construction and an additional 87 have been planned,” said Mrs Coleby-Davis.
conducted primarily during daylight hours, and motorists are encouraged to observe all signs in the area.
“Upgrading Runway 14/32 is a significant step in enhancing LPIA’s
operational efficiency today while positioning us to meet future demand,” added Mr Hanna. “Our priority remains the safety of our passengers, which starts with maintaining and upgrading critical airport infrastructure.
“While there is no perfect time to remove one runway from service, it is prudent for the project to take place before the rainy season and before the peak summer travel period.” As a result, over the next two months, residents may notice increased air traffic over the western and eastern areas of New Providence.
NAD said it is working closely with the Bahamas Air Navigation Services Authority (BANSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airline partners to minimise disruptions. Crane operators in these areas are being asked to notify the airport of any planned operations to avoid interference with flight paths.
“Interestingly, the US has the largest fleet of nuclear reactors, and the Trump administration, based on its executive order, seems eager to expand nuclear power. To be clear, I am not advocating for geothermal and nuclear energy use in
The Bahamas. Those forms of energy might seem a bit foreign to us, but I reference geothermal and nuclear energy sources to drive home the point that the energy sector is constantly evolving.”
LYNDEN PINDLING INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LPIA)
JOBETH COLEBY-DAVIS
CUSTOMS CHIEF: WE WANT TO ‘PUT OUR BEST FOOT FORWARD’
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business
BAHAMAS Customs’ top official yesterday said “we must all realise we work for the Bahamian people” as he addressed grievances voiced by the Bahamas Customs Immigration & Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU).
Ralph Munroe, the agency’s comptroller, reiterated that less than 5 percent of Customs officers did not show up for work during the mass union sick-out that occurred two weeks ago. This contradicts union president, Deron Brooks, who asserted there were numerous and impactful call outs during the industrial action.
“He knows nothing about Customs,” Mr Munroe said of Mr Brooks. “I can give you the names and the port, which was less than 5 percent of our people. Less than 5 percent. Grand Bahama had the largest number of call-ins and Grand Bahama only had 13. New Providence didn’t even have 13. And we got over 700 Customs officers.
So don’t let them fool you with that.
“I ain’t got no axe to grind with anybody…I like for the facts to be recorded. I work for the Customs Department. I don’t own the Customs Department. It is a department within the Ministry of Finance and I think we must all realise we work for the Bahamian people. And the question is why - and it’s a union question - why do they want to strike? What do you get by striking?”
Referencing the union’s argument over delayed overtime and transportation payments, Mr Munroe added: “If your country said ‘look, we owe you and we’re going to pay you once it’s ready,’ what do you strike for? I’ve been there. Like I said, I’m not a stranger to this. I started here at 18 some 45 years ago. I waited until overtime paid off and transportation paid off.
“I don’t know what I got to buck my head up against the wall about. Every payday the Government of The Bahamas- and it’s been under every single administration from Pindling, Ingraham, Christie, Minnis, Davis - they tell you what pay days are and
the Government of The Bahamas has always paid. The overtime that we work is extra time the Government and the people of The Bahamas promise to pay, and they have paid us.
“So what is this noise about going out on the street or staying home? About what?” he continued. “So my mom can get certain things, or my brother or my sister or my children or my cousin or my aunt? What does it affect? Over what? You think it makes sense? Maybe to them. To me it doesn’t. I don’t know what it’s all about. What would you accomplish by going? You’re going to get it quicker? How? And they still got to process the bill. I don’t understand it, you know.
“I just think it’s a load of noise over nothing and people being unreasonable. That is not a statement against the union. I’m saying we got to be reasonable. As a matter of fact, all my life I never participated in no union under no government because for me it just don’t make sense. I know to them it does. And it’s a constitutional right, and I encourage people to exercise that right.
“But in the environment, the context in which we live in The Bahamas as part of the public service, I think we can do more for our people by being more reasonable, more civil and get the work done. It is public service. That’s what it is,”
the Comptroller continued.
“I have committed my life to giving my best to better the lives of Bahamians. I don’t have to be here as an attorney, but I show appreciation because I got free education from them and I try to give back so that I could better this country.
“As Kennedy say: Ask not what the country could do for me, but what could I do for this Bahamas. So I don’t belly ache and row and cuss and carry on. Over what? You’re going to get it. Let’s look at the country as a whole. The Government know that they owe you.”
Speaking to other outstanding union matters, Mr Munroe told Tribune Business that “unions must spend more time probably trying to prepare their members rather than coming out with these talks”.
“When we talk about succession planning, I’ve
been in public service for 45 years,” Mr Munroe said. “I’m a consular attorney-atlaw. I grew up in this place. You could plan all you want just like in any business. Even the private sector they have what they call succession planning.
“And from time to time, when you see the private sector still got to go to the outside to bring in the expertise that they need, they do it, right? You know why? Because what they’re looking for is not available on the inside...
“Every organisation is like that. So unions must spend more time probably trying to prepare their members rather than coming out with these talks. I was a part of the department. They taught me I had to prepare myself. No one prepared me enough. I had to take an interest in my work every day, listen to what my supervisors or my superiors say, know what the public service was all about and prepare yourself,” Mr Munroe added.
“Now people like to find excuses rather than simply prepare themselves. Every public officer, in my view, is responsible for themselves... I think we have a good position in Customs.
We’re doing very well and I believe the organisation is going to be in good hands. But at any place we challenged along that line as well.
“Why would you want to promote someone in the public service of The Bahamas who you know is incompetent? Wouldn’t that be irresponsible of the department in doing that - to unleash people on the Bahamian people who they know are incompetent? For instance, you don’t come to work, you don’t perform. Why should the head of department recommend you for a promotion? Tell me why.
“And everybody knows the public service. There are good ones and there are bad ones. And if you’re not doing what you ought to do, then clearly those persons who below you who can perform should supersede you. You don’t think that’s fair? That’s all it is. So I don’t know what this noise about. This isn’t anything new. That’s what the law make provision for. We want our best foot forward. That’s all it is.”
CUSTOMS HEAD REJECTS UNION’S OVERTIME PAY DELAY RATIONALE
By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter
anixon@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMAS Cus-
toms’ top official yesterday rejected union concerns over the the reasons why overtime and transportation payments due to officers have been delayed.
Ralph Munroe, Customs comptroller, challenged where Deron Brooks, president of the Bahamas Customs, Immigration & Allied Workers Union (BCIAWU) had learnt that “errors in billing and verifying the authenticity of the bills” submitted by officers. He suggested the union chief may have suffered “a lapse of memory”.
“The truth be told, I don’t know who would have told him that,” Mr Munroe said.
“He was in a meeting with me on August 16, I believe it was at the Ministry of Finance, and it was there made plain and clear to him then that the real issue was because of staff constraints.
The reason why they have to wait late, and they have to wait on overtime, is because the amount of work that the accounts section has now has increased.
“Clearly everybody would know from the mere fact that you’ve got an increase in the economy.
You look at 2016’s Bahamas economy compared to today; it is clear as night and day. It is massive growth in the economy. It’s the same thing. Customs’ work has increased, but there’s no increase in the staff in that area.”
Mr Munroe confirmed that Customs officers will receive some overtime
payments this week, as well as transportation reimbursements, adding: “As a matter of fact, they get transportation every month.”
“Transportation is literally paid every month,” Mr Munroe said. “You’ve got Inagua, Exuma, Long lsland, San Salvador, and all of them. They’ve got their own bills that they’re sending in. And so some of the bills would be ready. Some may not be ready. Some may have come in on time. Some don’t come in on time.
“Some people send the bill three months, four months late, five months late. I have bills coming almost a year late. So it depends on when the bills come in. When they can be processed will determine when they pay. But every single month we have transportation fees being paid. Every month.
“There’s backlog in both. But it’s not as bad. For instance, overtime, it would be paid probably every other month or every two or three months,” Mr Munroe added. “Transportation is literally being paid to officers every single month. Some people’s transportation may not be paid because they haven’t submitted the bill. Some people’s transportation may not be paid because, when we look, we can’t justify why they are asking.
“We can’t just, every time a customer officer says pay me $50 for this or pay me $80 for that, jump up and pay them. Where’s the proof? We have many cases where the persons send bills to us and we had to reject it. So we got to verify this thing. But every month we find out that a
number of the persons are being paid. Many of them are being paid. Some of the ports, like I said, may not be every month.”
Mr Munroe detailed the process of getting payments signed and out to officers, stating that it is “lengthy” and sometimes sent to him late, resulting in delayed reimbursements.
“We have more overtime bills today than we would have had in those years,” Mr Munroe said. “And every single bill has to be dealt with and it’s scrutinised. [We] got to make sure that they’re authentic. It has to be checked to be sure that it’s authentic. Make sure there’s no error, make sure there’s no double billing.
“The process is long because when the bill comes in it will go to the accounts section. The accounts section has to send it to the comptroller. I would then send it out to one of the executives for them to verify. Executives verify the bills across the country. That includes New Providence. They would verify it and then they would have to send it back to the accounts section.
“The accounts section then goes into verifying whether the amounts are correct. That is whether the rate is correct, whether the hours are time-and-a-half or double time, whether that is correct. And then they themselves are going to have to make sure that the actual calculation is correct. And that’s on every single bill,” Mr Munroe continued.
“The verification with the executive is to ensure that all the corresponding support documents are included. Because if you
Eco-resort targets $1m per month spend through 2025
FROM PAGE B1
buying, everything is being spent in The Bahamas.”
The $2.5m pre-construction infrastructure installed on the island includes a septic tank, electricity, water, worker housing, renovated front docks, beach restoration, heavy construction equipment purchases, the installation of a RoRo dock, engineering and architecture.
The $25m first phase also includes solar panel installations, water processing, waste management and the construction of beach cottages and common areas. Mr Coughlin said the resort is aiming to have a low eco-footprint and will generate its own electricity and water.
“I’m 100 percent solar. I even built enough so I don’t need to generate. We’re building our system so
we can expand it as we go through each phase of our project,” said Mr Coughlin. The first phase is expected to accommodate up to 20 guests and scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Mr Coughlin said he also plans to construct a conference centre that will be able to accommodate about 100 guests for events. He added that while Turtlegrass will not be able to provide accommodations for large groups, having a meeting centre in Central Exuma will allow other nearby resorts to benefit.
“The idea is to have groups of up to 100 in that facility, so when somebody wants to have a wedding or event we may not have enough beds but that’ll help the other resorts in Staniel Cay and elsewhere. We’ll be able to work with our resort partners if somebody’s having an event at Turtlegrass,” said Mr Coughlin.
The developer said the resort will appeal to the eco-tourist and feature activities such as snorkelling, bird watching and hiking.
were to go to a location to do work for someone, that is they asked you to come on an attendance request, the attendance request would have to be there. The officer would have to show proof where the money was collected and paid into the Treasury.
“All of those would form some of the attachment to verify the authenticity of the bill. And then, once the bill has been done by the accounts section, the accounts section then sends it to the head of the accounts section, who then has it and they got to post it. And before posting, they send it back to the comptroller, who is the principal accounting officer for this department, to sign off on. So that’s a rather lengthy process. When we pay government money, we want to be sure. It isn’t something we just jump up and do. And bills are continuous.”
While hiring more staff is not his responsibility, Mr Munroe explained that the only thing he can do - and has already done - is send a request to the Ministry of Finance for new hires. He
told Tribune Business that the Department’s need for more officers and accounting staff is on the Ministry of Finance’s radar.
“Customs is a department within the Ministry of Finance,” Mr Munroe said. “All we do is we make the request known. We have a need of staff. For instance, we need officers right now. And the Government has to wait until they can get clearance. But I guess they’ve got to consider all things; whether at this time they can increase staff salary... That isn’t a Customs decision.” Mr Munroe also addressed Mr Brooks’ comments about not being able to meet. Mr Brooks told Tribune Business on multiple occasions that the union has requested a meeting with him in the past but to no avail, resulting in them meeting with other parties, including persons from the Ministry of Finance. However, Mr Munroe advised that the union should be “reasonable.”
“He says that he went to the financial secretary because he couldn’t
get a meeting with me,” Mr Munroe said. “He did request a meeting with me, but if he requests a meeting with me, you would have to wait until the comptroller have an opportune time to meet with you. I just can’t jump up because someone asked to meet with me.
“I would want some of my executives to be in the meeting, and then I’ve got to put it on a schedule as well. Well, I guess he wanted to demand a meeting with me. Demanding is one thing, but you must be reasonable until the comptroller responds to you and tells you this is a convenient time, which we would always do.
“Because the truth is that the comptroller has more interest in Customs than any union, and certainly more than an executive or president who represents the Immigration Department. These are the people I grew up with. These are the people I represent. I have greater interest in the Customs officers than anybody else in this country, I dare say, because this is basically family for me.”
Super Value chief urges Gov’t: Clarify ‘middleman elimination’
to take effect from April 1, the Prime Minister has repeatedly sought to blame The Bahamas’ postCOVID cost of living crisis and high prices on the private sector by suggesting this has been caused by a lack of competition in certain industries.
He has also suggested that prices and costs for Bahamian consumers are too high because of the involvement of unidentified “middle men” in the supply chains that bring goods to this nation, which imports at least 90 percent of what it consumes due to minimal local production and manufacturing capacity.
“We must also look outward, seizing new opportunities,” Mr Davis told the Bahamas Business Outlook conference. “The US has always been our most reliable trade partner, and that relationship will
remain strong. But let me be candid: Too many of the goods are imported through middlemen, who are importing from other countries. We’re paying for the middleman, and it is driving up costs for Bahamians.
“We are building a programme to connect Bahamian businesses directly to new markets, cutting out the middleman entirely. This will help you, the businesses of our country, be more cost competitive and create more supply efficiencies.”
Mr Roberts yesterday questioned whether this meant eliminating D’Albenas, Asa H Pritchard and multiple other Bahamian wholesale agencies who hold exclusive distribution rights for hundreds of international brands that Bahamians have come to rely on. He added that these wholesalers can be relied upon by retailers for fresh supplies
whenever they are running low on stock. “I don’t know what they’re going to do,” he reiterated of the Government’s stance. “Is Brazil going to put a warehouse in Freeport? We don’t know anything. There’s been no clear details other than eliminating the middle man and bringing down prices. We’re equally looking forward to that and offering consumers lower prices.
“I think we’re ahead of them. We’ve been doing this for years. We’ve been to China, we’ve been to Brazil. We’ve been all around the world. We’ve bought bathroom tissue from Turkey. We’ve gone to these countries. We’re buying direct now. Any retailers that I’ve talked to cannot figure out what they are doing and saying.
“If we need to do it, let’s do it and bring down prices. Tomorrow morning, Monday morning, let’s bring
in better prices. Maybe the smaller stores, which don’t have the volume, maybe they take it from different countries.”
Supply chain intervention, though, is not a new concept. Michael Halkitis, minister of economic affairs, said several years ago at a briefing given by the Prime Minister’s Office that the Government was studying the supply chain and logistics industry in a bid to lower prices and costs at the height of postCOVID inflation.
But Mr Roberts argued: “We know governments are never as efficient as private enterprise and can never do it as easily as private enterprise. I hope they’ve found something that we haven’t been able to discover in the last 70 years or they haven’t in the last 50-55 years. I hope they’ve opened up something that we didn’t realise but I don’t think so.”
New Providence home market is ‘ramping up’
the 2023 fourth quarter.
If you look at the number of contracted sales for the whole of 2024 it was higher than it was in 2023.
“To me, overall it’s showing a ramping up of contracted sales, which means the demand is still there. And it’s encouraging that there’s new inventory out there. We don’t have a shortage issue here on inventory. Obviously the demand is still good, and buyers still have some choices out there.”
MLS data showed there were 135 new home listings on New Providence during the 2024 fourth quarter. While this represented a 5.5 percent increase over the third quarter figures, this number was still some 25.4 percent down on prior year comparatives from the 2023 fourth quarter.
“The volume of new listings remains lower than late 2023 levels. Despite a small quarter-overquarter increase, overall inventory is not as large as at the start of 2024,” Morley Realty said in its report.
However, as with the prior seven quarters going back to early 2023, new listings in the final three months of 2024 still matched combined contracted and completed sales to affirm a reasonable number of properties are available for sale.
“The volume of contracted sales has shown a
slow increase, as indicated by the year-over-year rise,” Morley Realty added of the New Providence homes market. “Although there is a quarter-over-quarter decrease, this is typical for the fourth quarter. The volume of completed sales continued its upward trend from the 2023 fourth quarter, with more home sales being completed, similar to volumes seen in early 2023.
“The list-to-sale price ratio increased, nearing its highest level in the past eight quarters, indicating sellers are achieving prices closer to their asking prices. Homes sold nearly a month faster in the fourth quarter 2024 compared to the 2024 third quarter, with days on the market decreasing both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter.”
The list-to-sale price compares the original sales price against the last listed price to measure how close sellers are to achieving their initial asking price. The 96 percent ratio for the 2024 fourth quarter, which represented increases of 2.4 percent and 5.6 percent year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, indicates sellers are largely receiving what they are seeking. And the average 102 days that New Providence homes spent on the market during the three months to end-December 2024 was a 10.1 percent and 23.9 percent year-over-year, and
month-over-month, decline respectively signalling that properties are moving quicker once listed.
“The sellers are betting better prices and their properties are on the market for a shorter period of time,”
Mr Morley confirmed. “2024, for my company, it was a great year. We were higher than we were in 2023. All my seasoned agents who have been with me for at least two years, their performance had increased. They had a lot more sales than in the previous year. Each of them, their productivity level had increased in 2024.”
As to what this means for the current year, he forecast that The Bahamas will follow US real estate trends by matching or exceeding 2024’s performance. “I think it’s going to be just as good if not better than last year,” Mr Morley told Tribune Business
“From The Bahamas’ perspective, if you look at the volume of inventory that came on to the MLS in 2024 compared to 2023, it’s a lot higher than actual sales. I think that we’re set up with good inventory to meet the demand that’s out there from people who are actively looking.
“Bahamians are being more easily qualified by the banks because we’re now far away from the pandemic and there’s stabilisation in the economy. I’m predicting it’s going to be a good
year if not surpassing 2024, which wouldn’t surprise me. The Bahamian economy has traditionally done far better under a Republican government than a Democrat government in the US, so I’m telling all my colleagues: ‘Bring it on. Let’s go’.
“I don’t foresee anything on the horizon that would otherwise cause any issues with regard to local investors or international investors investing in The Bahamas. I think The Bahamas has proven to be a very solid ground for real estate investment.”
Mr Morley said his firm’s analysis of the MLS data showed that the five major islands - New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Exuma and Eleutheraeach have to be treated as separate real estate markets rather than one unified Bahamian market given the divergence in trends and activity between them.
“Even if you look at Grand Bahama’s report for the fourth quarter, and go back and look at it yearover-year, you are seeing increases in activity in Grand Bahama,” he added. “You have to treat each one of those markets as its own unique market, which is what it is.”
Morley Realty, in its market analysis, said: “In the 2024 fourth quarter, The Bahamas’ real estate market demonstrated many
Super Value’s owner was backed by Philip Beneby, the Retail Grocers Association’s president, who told Tribune Business of the Prime Minister’s statements: “I don’t know the meaning of it. I guess it’s just a vague statement or thought, or he’s just thinking aloud.
“To put any meat on the bone, none of that has taken place. It’s just a skeleton statement as far as I can say. I guess time will tell what the meaning of it is. They’ll [the Government] probably give us more clarity on it.”
The Government’s supply chain reform efforts todate have largely been channelled through the Bahamas Trade Commission and its National Trade Diversification Programme.
Barry Griffin, the Commission’s vice-chair, said late last year that it had been working with international partners to secure lower
mixed trends, with notable variations across the island markets and property types. While certain areas exhibited strong growth, others faced declines, showing the shifting dynamics as markets adapt to evolving buyer and seller behaviour.
“New listings showed significant declines in some island markets, such as Abaco and New Providence/Paradise Island, but areas like Exuma and Eleuthera experienced small growth year-overyear. Quarter-over-quarter, however, there was significant growth for new listings in Exuma, suggesting heightened seller activity.
“Contracted and completed sales revealed further differences. Exuma and Grand Bahama/Freeport showed substantial gains in completed home sales compared to the prior quarter. On the other hand, New Providence and Abaco experienced mixed performance, with Abaco experiencing an overall decline in properties going under contract and being sold. This indicates differing levels of demand across islands and property types,” Morley Realty added.
“Sales prices painted a similarly varied picture. Both median and average home prices surged in Exuma, Grand Bahama/ Freeport and Eleuthera, reflecting growing interest in these areas. Conversely, Abaco’s median home price dipped, while land sales in this region saw impressive
prices and offer logistical support for a more efficient distribution system.
“In recent months, we have been working with regional and international partners to secure better prices for essential agricultural and fishing supplies, such as seeds, fertilizers, feed, boxes and storage and fishing gear. By collaborating with suppliers and negotiating directly for bulk orders, we’ve been able to reduce the costs of these inputs, which directly impacts the bottom line for local producers,” said Mr Griffin.
“However, it’s not just about getting cheaper supplies. We’re also focused on ensuring that these savings are passed on to farmers and fishermen. One of the ways we’re doing this is by creating more efficient distribution channels and logistics support, which reduces middleman costs.”
price growth, potentially influenced by higher-value transactions.”
Further highlighting the differences between islands, Morley Realty added: “Days on Market (DOM) trends highlighted lengthening sales cycles in several markets. Notably, Grand Bahama/Freeport saw significant decreases in DOM for both homes and land sales quarter-overquarter, signaling cautious buyer behaviour.
“Meanwhile, Exuma and Eleuthera homes during the 2024 fourth quarter sat on the market for slightly longer as there were both quarter-overquarter and year-over-year increases. The average listto-sale price ratio remained relatively stable, with many of the islands experiencing declines.
“Sellers in Abaco were a lot firmer on home and land prices, while Eleuthera saw a slight decrease in the ratio for homes and land, suggesting a bit more flexibility in the sales price for the Eleuthera market. Overall, the 2024 fourth quarter highlighted a dynamic and differing market landscape across the islands,” the company added.
“Increases in sales and prices in island markets like Exuma and Eleuthera contrast with the cooling activity seen in Abaco. As markets continue to adjust, localised conditions will play a big role in shaping trends moving forward into the new year.”
THE RESILIENT MONKEY INTERNATIONAL LTD.
Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Registration Number 207855 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)
Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 23rd day of January A.D. 2025.
Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar. The Liquidator is Mr. DAULINS RENI EMILIO, whose address is Rua Pensilvania 114, APT 141 H CEP 04564-000 Sao Paulo - Brazil. Any persons having a Claim against the above-named Company are required on or before the 23rd day of February A.D. 2025 to send their names, addresses and particulars of their debts or claims to the Liquidator of the Company, or in default thereof they may be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such claim is proved.
Dated this 29th day of January A.D. 2025.
DAULINS RENI EMILIO Liquidator
Electronic visitor stay halt ‘just adds to pain’
FROM PAGE B1
fees online, and they [the Government] said come back in and give us cash.
“Of course it’s going go add to the inconvenience, but we’ve already seen a big loss in occupancy. At the rate this is going, we were already having problems with boats getting more than 30 days anyway.” Mr Cooper last November had sought to clarify that the $200 non-refundable fee that must be paid so that non-Bahamians can extend their stay in this nation applied only to long-term work permit holders - not tourists.
“Firstly, there is misinformation on this issue. I have spoken with the minister responsible for Immigration, and the director for Immigration, and they have released a clarifying
memorandum for all Immigration officers across the country that this doesn’t apply to tourists,” he said then.
“This does not apply to home owners, this does not apply to cruising permits. This was designed really for the renewal of work permits, long-term work permits in particular. So we must be sure that we get the understanding out that this is not an impediment for short-term stays, this is not an impediment for tourists in any way; cruising and stopovers; that this applies only to long-term work permit applications.”
However, separate and apart from the fee, several sources also informed this newspaper at the time that “there seems to be an unwritten, informal but active policy of some Immigration officers of limiting
Exuma developer threatens pull-out over nearby resort project
truly environment and there’s no reason why they’re trying to put this square peg in a round hole. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Mr Coughlin said Turtlegrass is currently the second largest employer in central Exuma, and should have completed Phase one and increased its workforce, but he is wary about doing so as the plans for Rosewood Sampson Cay would
affect the viability of his project.
“We’re the number two employer in the central Exumas right now, and we’re providing high-paying jobs to our associates. We’re not cutting corners on taking care of our staff. So, yeah, I feel like we’re having real impact. We have a good vision for what we want to do, but I’ve said we’ve got to resolve the fact that we’ve got the situation
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that DEREK JOSEPH of Blue Hill Heights, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that ELIZABETH THERESA PINDER of P.O. Box CB-11411, #24 Marine Drive, The Grove, West Bay Street, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that TREVOR CHARLES HIKER of Love Beach, West Bay Street, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 16th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
the length of stay when they first come in to 30 days. Cruising permits are for three months or a year”.
Mr Maury confirmed this misalignment between length of stay and cruising permit continues to cause the sector problems. “If a boat is coming in for 90 days, Immigration officers are stamping it for 30 days,” he added. “At the port of entry they are making it 30 days. I’ve had lots of complaints that people have to get a renewal. They are only giving 30 days if a boat is coming for 90 days.
“He [Mr Cooper] has no control over what Immigration officers do. That’s the feedback we get. They say this thing and how it’s supposed to be, but that is not how things work here. This is the reality and what happens.”
in front of us here,” said Mr Coughlin.
“We should be engineering and architecting the clubhouse right now. In fact, we should be done and we should be moving up our number of employees and building employee housing, but I’d never get a return on investment. And it’s not going to be a good guest experience, and it’s going to be dangerous if somebody puts that in front of us.
“I’m getting painted as the person who doesn’t want development. There is a PR campaign from the other side to try to convince people that I’m being difficult in this scenario.”
Mr Coughlin said numerous government officials
Prime Minister Philip Davis KC had warned the measure was coming when he unveiled the 2024-2025 Budget at the end of May.
“The Immigration Department will also implement a Visitors Stay extension application fee of $200. This will cover the costs of issuing a visitors’ card,” Mr Davis explained, explicitly stating that it would impact tourism.
Again pointing to the reduced business being experienced by Bahamian marinas, Mr Maury added: “It’s winter time. Typically the boats in the US northeast and Mediterranean cannot be there, and they come to the Caribbean and The Bahamas.
“Lately Saudi Arabia and Dubai have been making a big pitch to get them into those areas, and we have other jurisdictions like
have been made aware of his concerns, but he has yet to receive a commitment to resolve them. Yet he remains hopeful the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) will step in and offer Rosewood Exuma alternatives that will be more environmentally friendly.
“I am to the point where I don’t know what to do, so I’m trying to do the right things here and I’ve been totally ignored by the Government and by Yntegra in this process. I’m hopeful still, because I don’t want to leave it on a negative tone, that DEPP who I appreciate and respect, will say, ‘look guys, you have alternatives,
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that REBERT MERIUS of Soldier Road, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that DYKE DURRANY PASSARD of #65 Adelaide Road, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that RASHAAD RENARDO RIDDLE of General Delivery, Betsy Village, Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that SHERLEY CADET of Lazaretto Road, Carmichael Road Nassau, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147,
why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
Colombia, Puerto Rico coming on stream and opening up new marinas. It gives people a reason to go somewhere else. To me, it doesn’t seem like it makes any sense.
“We’ve had meetings with the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Finance, and brought up the economic impact and we didn’t get any changes. I don’t understand it myself. It’s very difficult.”
Mr Maury on Monday said this week’s annual Bahamas Charter Yacht Show, which is scheduled to run from today to February 2, has been impacted by the fall-out with the number of vessels on display forecast to be down by 37 percent year-over-year while there could be an up to 80-strong decline in visiting brokersa reversal of the consistent
you need to shrink this a little’. There’s been a lot of opposition to the density of this project,” said Mr Coughlin.
Miami-based Yntegra Group is Rosewood Exuma’s developer. He added that his concern over their project relates not to proximity but the scope of their plans and how they will alter the pristine environment that is a huge selling point for Turtlegrass.
“One government official said to me once: ‘This is just two developers having a dispute being next to each other’. What makes this different is the only way to get to their resort is through my front door. So, if this was Baha Mar’s swimming area and, all of a sudden, somebody puts something next door and a barge was coming through, I don’t think they’d be very happy about it,” said Mr Coughlin. He also criticised Rosewood Exuma for marketing themselves as a sustainable development while proposing to build docks and marinas in locations that will potentially damage the waters surrounding Sampson Cay.
“You got a group that, if you look at their history, Yntegra has never built anything. They weren’t a development company; they were a fund raising company,” said Mr Coughlin.
annual growth seen in previous years.
Reiterating that the rest of the Caribbean is benefiting from the struggles now being endured by Bahamian marinas, Mr Maury also told this newspaper that marina occupancies in the southern Bahamas have fallen by as much as 60 percent while those for the central Bahamas - including New Providence - are off by an average 30 percent. He added that some marinas, including larger ones, had been forced to discount rates and prices in a bid to attract business since the 2024 second quarter ended, and suggested: “I guess we have to get to rock bottom before anyone does anything.
“They are running ads right now on Instagram telling you why they are environmentally friendly and can try to convince everybody of what’s going on here and they’re the ‘Second Coming’ to the Exumas. And what do they say? Sustainable development; we’re using sustainable materials, we’re using sustainable this, sustainable that. Their marketing firm is just all over the word ‘sustainable’, but that sits on top of scraped land and scraped reef and scraped sea grass.”
Mr Coughlin said while his project was initially expected to be valued at $75m, there were plans for future expansion including an educational programme where guests and students can learn about the environment and conservation practices.
“In total, this is a $75mplus project to get the clubhouse done, get some more housing. And I am certain that once that gets up and running, there’s projects beyond that,” said Mr Coughlin.
“I didn’t feel the need to walk in and go this is a $200m development to sell anybody on it. My whole theory has always been under-promise and overdeliver, tell people that you’re going to do this much and meet it and meet and exceed expectations.”
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that RICHARD ANTHONY POWELL of P.O. Box SP61175, of Yamacraw Hill Road, Nassau, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that TANISHA JOSEPH of P.O. Box SB52944 Ocean Street Nassau, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that SONY LOUIS of Marsh Harbour, Abaco, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/ naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 22nd day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press
A FEDERAL judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.
The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government — and states and organizations that rely on federal funding — into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.
The order from U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday afternoon. The administrative stay, prompted by a lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups that receive federal funds, lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.
Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants — a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofits — was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump's recent blitz of executive orders.
The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel
production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.
"This sort of came out of the blue," said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, one of countless districts that receive federal funding. Now they're trying to figure out what it means "based on zero information.
Democrats have described the Trump administration's decision as capricious and illegal. They argued that the president had no right to unilaterally stop spending money appropriated by Congress."
Just minutes after AliKhan ruled, Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia filed their own lawsuit seeking to block and permanently prevent the administration from cutting off federal funding.
NOTICE is hereby given that LUELLA SOPHIA COFFEY of P.O. Box SB-63158 8C Honeycombe Suite, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
"There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional," New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
AliKhan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in halting the spending freeze, "It seems like the federal government currently doesn't actually know the full extent of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause."
Jessica Morton, an attorney for the National Council of Nonprofits which brought the suit, said the group has tens of thousands of members around the country that could be affected.
"Our client members have reported being extremely concerned about having to shutter if there's even a brief pause," Morton said.
Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei said the
plaintiffs hadn't identified anyone specifically who would lose funding right away if the pause does go into effect. The White House did not immediately comment on the courtimposed stay.
Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday initially would not say Medicaid was exempted from the freeze, but the administration later clarified that it was.
The effects of the order were being felt far from the
PEOPLE protest against a funding
following a
nation's capital. Organizations like Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, were worried about getting cut off.
"The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos," spokeswoman Jenny Young said. She added that "seniors may panic not knowing where their next meals will come from."
The National Science Foundation postponed this week's panels for reviewing grant applications. Officials in Prichard, Alabama, feared they wouldn't receive infrastructure funding to fix their leaking drinking water system. Republican leaders in Louisiana said they were
of
and
"seeking clarity" to ensure nothing was "jeopardizing financial stability of the state."
"Trump's actions would wreak havoc in red and blue communities everywhere," said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "We are talking about our small towns, our cities, our school districts."
The full scope of the administration's review was spelled out in a 51-page spreadsheet sent to federal agencies and viewed by The Associated Press. Each line was a different government initiative, from pool safety to tribal workforce development to special education.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that FREDERICK JOHN COFFEY of P.O. Box SB-63158 8C Honeycombe Suite, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that ANIA COFFEY of P.O. Box SB63158 8C Honeycombe Suite, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that GREGORY JOHN COFFEY of P.O. Box SB-63158 8C Honeycombe Suite, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that MARCKENSON PAUL of P.O. Box EE-15893, Joe Farrington Road #28, New Providence, The Bahamas, applying to the Minister responsible for Nationality and Citizenship, for Registration Naturalization as a citizen of The Bahamas, and that any person who knows any reason why registration/naturalization should not be granted, should send a written and signed statement of the facts within twenty-eight days from the 29th day of January, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.
freeze
federal grants
loans
push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding near to the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.
Photo:Ben Curtis/AP
Nvidia faces a reckoning as Chinese upstart raises questions about Wall Street’s darling
By STAN CHOE and SARAH PARVINI AP Business Writers
NEW YORK (AP)
— The superstar run for Nvidia's stock the last few years has been astonishing. So was its tumble Monday, which caused $595 billion in wealth to vanish. That's about as much as PepsiCo, McDonalds, Starbucks and Target are worth, combined.
Mostly known only in gaming and crypto circles a few years ago, Nvidia burst into the zeitgeist after seeing its sales surge because customers wanted its chips to train their chatbots and other artificial intelligence products.
Nvidia became a household name as its stock more than tripled in 2023 and then more than doubled in 2024. Investors and analysts lauded CEO Jensen Huang as the "Godfather of AI." Nvidia grew into a $3 trillion-plus behemoth and traded places with titans like Apple to become the most valuable company on Wall Street.
But that all came to a screeching halt Monday, at least for a moment, after
a Chinese upstart called DeepSeek said it had developed a large-language model that could perform like ChatGPT and other U.S. rivals, but by using far less computing power. Here's a look at how it all got to this point: How did it become a market darling?
Nvidia's roots began in gaming.
The Santa Clara, California-based tech company's invention of the graphics processor unit, or GPU, in 1999 helped spark the growth of the PC gaming market and redefined computer graphics. Now Nvidia's specialized chips are key components that help power different forms of artificial intelligence, including the latest generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.
Huang has dubbed AI "the next industrial revolution," and Nvidia's GPUs are designed to perform artificial intelligence tasks faster and more efficiently than general-purpose chips like CPUs. Tech giants are snapping up Nvidia chips as they wade deeper into
AI — a movement that's enabling cars to drive by themselves, and generating stories, art and music.
The demand helped Nvidia's revenue grow by eye-popping levels, quarter after quarter. On Feb. 23, 2023, after Nvidia breezed past analysts' expectations for quarterly profit, Huang said that "AI is at an inflection point, setting up for broad adoption reaching into every industry." The company's quarterly revenue at the time was $6.05 billion.
That ramped up to $7.19 billion just three months later and then nearly doubled to $13.51 billion three months after that. Revenue has since vaulted to $35.08 billion in the three months through October 2024.
The company's stock price has similarly soared, and its total market value quickly passed rivals like Intel, Microsoft and others. Nvidia alone accounted for more than a fifth of all of the S&P 500 index's total return last year. No other stock came close, and it had more than triple Apple's impact.
Buy an S&P 500 index fund today, and nearly 6 cents out of every $1 will go only into Nvidia. That leaves 94 cents for all the other 499 companies.
Is it still a darling? Unlike the dot-com boom, real money was behind Nvidia's surge, and its stock price rose on expectations of ever more to come. Those expectations came into question on Monday.
DeepSeek and its seemingly lower-cost operations raised worries about whether companies would need to spend as many dollars on Nvidia chips as previously thought. The concerns dragged down stocks across the AI industry, including suppliers to the chip industry and the power companies hoping to electrify the vast data centers that were expected to get built to run those chips. But Nvidia was in the spotlight because its stock has become the brightest symbol of the AI bonanza.
Some on Wall Street saw Monday's nearly 17% plunge for Nvidia's stock as an opportunity rather than a signal of pending doom,
saying the stock became more affordable. If AI does become cheaper to run, it could open the door to new kinds of customers and software innovations that could ultimately help the industry in the long term.
"As for Nvidia itself, this isn't the first time a major tech stock has faced existential questions," said John Belton, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. "We've seen similar situations with Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Netflix — companies that were once doubted but ultimately rebounded."
DeepSeek's entrance certainly adds uncertainty to the entire AI ecosystem, but it doesn't change the overwhelming momentum behind the movement, according to Brian Colello, strategist at Morningstar.
"We believe that AI GPU demand still exceeds supply," he wrote in a report. "So, while slimmer models may enable greater development for the same number of chips, we still think tech firms will continue to buy all the GPUs they can as part of this AI 'gold rush.'"
MARINE FORECAST
A SIGN for a Nvidia building is shown in Santa Clara, Calif., May 31, 2023. Photo:Jeff Chiu/AP
