02112025 BUSINESS by tribune242

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

A BAHAMIAN investment bank yesterday predicted its mutual funds will beat 2024’s returns even with “no blow-out” as it bids to slash investor redemptions from one month to a week by mid-year.

David Slatter, RF Bank & Trust (Bahamas) vice-president of investments, told Trib-

une Business he is forecasting investor returns for its two Bahamian-dollar ﬂagship funds - the Prime Income Fund and Targeted Equity Fund - will jump closer to historical performance in 2025 with the former “hitting the halfa-billion dollar mark for sure” in assets under management.

He projected that the Targeted Equity Fund, which has around $130m in assets under

By FAY SIMMONS

THE proposed $200m expansion of The Bahamas major aviation gateway is unlikely to start until “2026 and beyond” as its operator ﬁrst need to complete the “reﬁnancing” of existing debt.

Vernice Walkine, Nassau Airport Development Company’s (NAD) president and chief executive, said plans for the overhaul of Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA also remain to be ﬁnalised along with the ﬁnancing for the project.

“We haven’t finalised all of our plans yet. We’re actually actively planning now. It will require some refinancing. So, we’re probably talking about 2026 and beyond for anything to get started. We haven’t finalised the refinancing yet,” she said. Ms Walkine added that the expansion will seek to reduce airside congestion among aviation traffic, and integrate technology to

management and is weighted heavily towards investments in stocks and shares, will grow by between 7-9 percent in 2025 to come close to its ﬁve-year average of 9.7 percent annual returns.

Disclosing that the fund delivered just a 5.7 percent return to investors in 2024, Mr Slatter explained

and beyond’

process travellers and cargo faster.

Speaking to reporters at the Routes Americas conference, she said NAD will use the event to discuss its LPIA expansion plans and ensure airlines consider the destination when making plans for their limited capacity.

“We will be talking to them a little bit about our plans for expansion, because we know that the peak is pretty stressed, but we’re managing through it and we’ll be using more forms of technology to help

it had been weighed down by a “sub par” stock market. And the Prime Income Fund, which is primarily invested in ﬁxed-income securities such as government debt, preference shares and corporate bonds, is forecast by RF Bank & Trust (the former RoyalFidelity) to see

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor

THE Bahamas’ record annual $4.274bn trade deficit for 2024 is not something “to be alarmed about as yet”, a local economist told Tribune Business yesterday. Rupert Pinder, assistant professor of economics at the University of The Bahamas (UoB), told Tribune Business that the deficit - which measures by how much physical goods imported to the country exceed this nation’s exports - only becomes worrying if the external reserves are being drained to finance it and there are no signs this is occurring.

its net asset value (NAV) increase by between 4.2-4.4 percent in 2025 as opposed to 3.2 percent growth for 2024. The expected improvement will be aided by further reductions in its cash holdings earning zero returns.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout year. I think it’s going to be a good year for the funds,” Mr Slatter told this newspaper. “I hope for the Targeted Equity Fund that it’s incredible, and I hope we have another 15-17 percent growth year, but my expectation is a little more subdued - between 7-9 percent.”

Speaking after the Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) unveiled the 20204 annual and fourth quarter trade data, he pointed out that the statistics only relate to one aspect of The Bahamas’ balance of payments which is called the current account. This measures the country’s trade in physical goods, and how much imports exceed exports, resulting in a deficit that broke through the $4bn mark for the first time last year. This represents a 22.6 percent, or close to $750m year-over-year increase, on 2023’s trade deficit.

However, it does not incorporate the capital account, which measures The Bahamas’ services

Acknowledging that this fund’s investor returns will largely be determined by how Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) listed stocks perform, he added that this will be heavily inﬂuenced by a wider national economy which - like the rest of the world - is dealing with the considerable uncertainties surrounding US economic policy as a result of Donald Trump’s tariff impositions and threatened global trade war.

“There’s a fair bit of uncertainty out there at the moment,” the RF Bank & Trust investments chief added. “Is it going to be 25 percent tariffs on everything? Will other countries retaliate? There’s a one-time price increase as a result of tariffs but an ongoing reduction in demand. Basic economics. Higher prices lower

export earnings from its two largest industries, tourism and financial services. These inflows are what finance an annual Bahamian multi-billion dollar trade deficit created by the country’s economic model, which sees it import virtually all of its consumption needs. And Mr Pinder told this newspaper that the trade deficit is further offset by foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into both real estate purchases as well as resorts and other projects. He added that the trade deficit also includes the importation of capital goods by both Bahamian and foreign investors, with the largest import category for the 2024 fourth quarter being ‘machinery

and transport equipment’ valued at a total $287m. Still, the $4.274bn trade deﬁcit for last year sets a new annual record, exceeding the six-year high of around $3.487bn in 2023 which was itself a 7 percent or $233m jump on the ﬁgures for 2022. The Bahamas in 2024 imported close to $5bn worth of goods, the actual number standing at $4.944bn, while exports in comparison stood at a relatively meagre $669.949m.

US ‘watchdog’ backs Sarkis over CCA examiner probe

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SARKIS Izmirlian’s bid to appoint an examiner with powers to investigate the business dealings of Baha Mar’s main contractor yesterday received a boost from a watchdog attached to the US Justice Department.

Andrew Vera, the US trustee covering federal bankruptcy courts including that in New Jersey,

where China Construction America’s (CCA) US arm has sought Chapter 11 protection from Baha Mar’s original developer, suggested that the circumstances could well meet the qualifying threshold for an examiner to be appointed.

In legal ﬁlings with the New Jersey court yesterday, he pointed out that the bankruptcy code mandates that an examiner be appointed where a debtor’s “total ﬁxed, liquidated and unsecured debt” - other

than sums owed for goods, services and taxes, or to company insiders - exceeds $5m. Mr Vera said this ﬁts CCA Inc’s Chapter 11 case, where it lists debts/ unsecured creditor claims worth $1.769bn. Of this sum, some $1.642bn - or 92.8 percent of the total - represents the damages awarded to Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle by the New York

Bahamasair slashes losses 20% to $24m

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business

BAHAMASAIR’S managing director yesterday said the airline had slashed its annual losses by 20 percent to $24m for the 2023 ﬁnancial year as it moves to launch new airlift into Grand Bahama.

Tracy Cooper, the national ﬂag carrier’s managing director, said the airline will introduce

a new direct ﬂight from West Palm Beach in the 2025 second quarter to

accommodate increased demand for the island.

Speaking to reporters at the Routes America 2025 conference, which is being held on Paradise Island, Mr Cooper said that Bahamasair will support the Government’s bid to drive increased tourist trafﬁc and economic activity to Grand Bahama through foreign direct investment (FDI) by expanding airlift and travel connectivity.

“Especially as the Government is concentrating

on Freeport, with the hotel and other areas, so Bahamasair will be concentrating on that as well. I believe it’s in the second quarter we should be starting a new route from Freeport to West Palm Beach,” said Mr Cooper. He added that Bahamasair has also recently acquired a 70-seat ATR 72 aircraft to expand domestic inter-island services, and is working with the

BAHAMIAN TOURISM WILL ‘GROW MUCH MORE’ WITH EXTRA ROOMS

By FAY SIMMONS

BAHAMIAN stopover

visitor growth is “limited only by our room capacity, a senior tourism ofﬁcial said yesterday, adding that this nation can “grow so much more” with additional resorts and Airbnbs.

Latia Duncombe, the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation’s director-general, asserted that hotel occupancy numbers are currently “very strong” as The Bahamas heads into the winter tourism season peak. She

added that there is optimism that new resort and tourism developments will help drive future industry growth by expanding room capacity.

Speaking at the Routes Americas conference, Mrs Duncombe said the industry is constrained only by the number of available rooms to accommodate guests. “From time to time, we would hit a peak, and from time to time, it softens a bit,” she said of the sector’s performance.

“Right now, capacities are very strong, and when we look at the long-term plan, our deputy prime minister (Chester Cooper) has announced a number of

rooms coming on board, a number of projects that are in the pipeline, and so all of this will help to improve our overall numbers, improve our product.

“We’re limited only by our room capacity. We can grow so much more if we have more rooms. So, I’m really happy about the work that the investment team is doing trying to attract more rooms, more investors to our shores, increase our hotel room count in Nassau and, certainly, our Family Islands as well.”

Mrs Duncombe said the Ministry of Tourism is also working to develop routes and air connectivity

throughout Latin America, including destinations such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.“We have a Latin American team, and a representative that’s in Latin America on the ground, and those discussions are ongoing,” she added.

“We’ve had a number of meetings…but certainly we are looking to improve those routes, get more frequency and have a deeper access throughout Latin America. That’s certainly top on our list. Brazil is extremely important. Colombia remains important. Mexico is something that we’re looking at as well.”

Joy Jibrilu, the Nassau and Paradise Island Promotion Board’s chief executive, said the destination is currently dealing with seasonality and expanding into Latin America can help to ﬁll occupancy levels during slow periods. She explained that many in these regions take holidays at different times than persons in the US and Canada, which can be advantageous in ensuring resorts maintain occupancy as room inventory grows.

“We have those periods when our hotels are underutilised, occupancy is not where they would want them to be. When we

look at the diversiﬁcation of source markets from the US and Canada, and the importance of Latin America, we are mindful of the fact that their holidays are different, they are switched [compared] to those of North America and Canada,” said Mrs Jibrilu.

“And so, talk about a great opportunity of being able to attract their families during, perhaps, school vacations, when our hotels are experiencing low seasonality. Even as we look to build inventory, we still have a lot of rooms that we can ﬁll that would boost our numbers tremendously.”

BDB TEAMS WITH SEBAS’ DEALER OVER ELECTRIC VEHICLE FINANCING Aviation conference is ‘dollar that keeps giving’

SEBAS Bastian’s auto dealership has teamed with the Bahamas Development Bank (BDB) to provide small businesses with a solution for ﬁnancing electric vehicle purchases.

EV Motors and the Government-owned ﬁnancial institution, in a statement, said their partnershipwhich is part of the latter’s Green Lending Programme - is targeted at helping micro, small and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs) across The Bahamas.

They will offer financing to support the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) for commercial and fleet use by such firms. Through this effort, eligible businesses can access up to 100 percent financing, enabling them to acquire clean, energy-efficient vehicles that reduce their carbon footprint and lower fuel costs.

Nicholas Higgs, the BDB’s managing director, said: “The Bahamas Development Bank’s core purpose is to support the sustainable economic development of The Bahamas. Our collaboration with EV Motors underscores BDB’s commitment to promoting low-emission transport options.

“We encourage business owners to take advantage of the expanded line-up of commercial and ﬂeet vehicles now available through EV Motors.” BDB executives recently visited EV

Motors on Tonique Williams Highway to explore a range of commercial electric vehicles, gaining an insight into the technology and efﬁciency that each model offers.

Donnovan Klue, general manager of EV Motors Bahamas, said: “We are excited to support Bahamian businesses in transitioning to sustainable, cost-efﬁcient and futureready transportation. As the ofﬁcial distributor for Karry Commercial Vehicles, EV Motors Bahamas offers a growing selection of high performance electric commercial vehicles, including the Karry Cargo Van and the Karry Elephant X7 truck.”

He added that these models are suited for

industries such as delivery, agriculture and trade services, and added: “Looking ahead, we are excited to introduce our 2025 models, featuring ﬂatbeds and box trucks, from Karry Commercial International.

“With our full-service approach - from ﬁnancing through the Bahamas Development Bank to robust after-sales support - EV Motors Bahamas is committed to leading the charge toward a greener future.”

Sumayyah Cargill, the BDB’s executive manager of strategic development and initiatives, added: “This is a collaboration we are truly excited about. Expanding vehicle options for business owners is a signiﬁcant milestone.

“It’s encouraging to see Bahamian entrepreneurs being empowered with more sustainable and costeffective choices. What’s even more inspiring is witnessing the growing embrace of electric vehicles - not just as a business decision, but as a commitment to a cleaner, more sustainable future for The Bahamas.”

The BDB said the initiative highlights its focus on assisting sustainable development while helping companies thrive in an evolving marketplace. By enabling MSMEs to transition to cost-effective, environmentally responsible transportation, the partnership also supports national sustainability goals.

Ransomware payouts ‘double-edged sword’

By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE threat posed to Bahamian businesses and institutions by cyber attacks “is very large”, it was argued yesterday, after the University of The Bahamas’ fell victim to a ransomware assault last week.

UoB, unwilling to disclose details for fear it will expose further vulnerabilities, in a statement said network restoration is underway following the attack. Online classes resumed yesterday in a three-phased approach with the university stating it has “implemented enhanced online security measures to strengthen our defense and help mitigate future incidents”.

“University of The Bahamas is in the process of restoring its network access following a ransomware attack on Sunday February 2, 2025. As we navigate this crisis, we have made the resumption of all learning activities our top priority,” the university said.

“On Monday February 10, 2025, at 2pm, online classes will resume as part of the network restoration being implemented in a three-phased approach. The university has implemented enhanced online security measures to strengthen our defence and help mitigate future incidents.”

The university did not disclose if a ransom was paid, but Mr Bodie, of AJL Cyber Security Consulting, said giving into ransomware attacks can be a “double-edged sword” and a company may never get their data back.

“Some people would pay if they want to hurry, get back online,” Mr Bodie said. “But then it’s a double-edged sword because,

hey, you go ahead and you pay them. How do you know you’re going to actually get your data back? How you know they won’t still expose all your information? How you know they won’t call you back six months later and say, ‘hey, we got through again’?” Mr Bodie added that the ransomware attack could have been the result of clicking on a link in an e-mail. However, “telltales” are usually present as a forewarning that an e-mail may not be legitimate.

“As simple as the ransomware,” Mr Bodie said. “Somebody probably opened up an e-mail, click on that, click on the link and the screen just went blank. And then the malware in the background spreads to everything that is connected to it.

“The telltales are there. The only way you miss them is if you busy and you’re not reading carefully, because you’ll see the grammar mistakes. If your company has your e-mail set up properly, you should have a banner that says this e-mail is coming from an external user. And then, if the e-mail sounds rushed or urgent, that’s normally one of the telltales right there.”

Mr Bodie praised the university for its transparency in alerting Bahamians to the attack, adding that many companies keep such incidents conﬁdential. He said the lack of transparency leads to a lack of information on the topic, pointing out that companies in the US have a certain amount of time to disclose cyber attacks when they are hit.

“Most companies won’t admit that they have been hit. So right now we have limited information on that,” Mr Bodie said. “The US, it’s mandatory that they do disclose that type

of information. They have a time limit. They have probably three days or so to let the public know, the stakeholders know, they have been hit.

“Over here right now, cyber security, everybody just starting to wake up a bit… You’re dealing with people’s private information that has been exposed. You have to let the customer know their information has been exposed.”

According to Mr Bodie, there has been an increase in phishing attacks on Whats App. He said one way to detect this is through security awareness, including a cyber security awareness phishing campaign.”

“Right now we’re having a lot of, what I’ve seen, a lot of phishing attempts like the WhatsApp,” Mr Bodie said. “That’s a phishing attempt where a caller will call you and give you a WhatsApp code. They’ll call you and tell you they want you to set up a meeting, a Teams meeting or a video meeting, and then they’ll ask you to verify the code.

“They go ahead and enter that number inside their phone, and then you’ll get the text, the veriﬁcation text to your phone, and then they’ll ask you for the code. You have to verify that you receive the code, and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll end up giving them the code for your WhatsApp and then your account is gone.

Mr Bodie added: “The ﬁrst thing is security awareness. That’s the number one thing. If your employees don’t have no awareness of the security risk, then everything else fails because simple as clicking on the link or e-mail link or receiving a text and you’re on the company network, once you click on that, you give

the attacker access to your company resources.

“And companies should have what we call a phishing campaign, a cyber security awareness phishing campaign, where they test their users on a regular basis. And then those who fail you make them ﬁt the training cost.”

By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE Government’s aviation chief said The Bahamas will derive both short and long-term economic beneﬁts from hosting the regional Routes 2025 aviation summit on Paradise Island this week.

Dr Kenneth Romer, director of aviation, added that the conference will generate economic impact via direct and induced spending from visitors, airlines and airport representatives, while the long-term economic impact is a “dollar that keeps on giving”.

“What is most important for me with this conference is this isn’t just representing a gathering of industry experts but, in a very tangible and a meaningful way, we’re going to see the economic beneﬁts of this particular conference when we measure the spend - the direct and also the induced spend - by visitors and the airlines and the airport representatives,” said Dr Romer.

“What was attractive to us in positioning the country to host this is the long-term economic benefits. This is the dollar that keeps on giving. So, beyond what we are seeing right now, in terms of the direct spend, I believe, five years, ten years down the road, we will continue to see the benefits of this particular conference.”

Dr Romer said the likes of Bahamasair, Western Air, the Ministry of Tourism, Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD), the Airport Authority and others will be participating in the conference and will collectively meet with more

than 100 representatives from international airlines and airport operators leading to “meaningful, tangible economic beneﬁts”. He added that the conference is an “holistic approach” to managing the destination, and attracting airlines to increase capacity throughout The Bahamas. Dr Romer also teased that “exciting announcements” will be made about new direct international routes into Family Islands such as Bimini, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and Exuma, as well as new inter-line agreements signed by local airlines.

“Western Air is going to be giving some exciting announcements as it relates to inter-line agreements that they have signed. So, in addition to trafﬁc coming into Nassau/Paradise Island, I think that there’s going to be meaningful beneﬁts to the entire islands of The Bahamas,” said Dr Romer.

“We’ll speak about interlines reconnecting our other legacy carriers, who are actually travelling at this time into the Exumas, into Eleuthera, and recording new carriers. I think at the end of this particular conference, there will be some exciting announcements about some direct international travel into, for example, Bimini. We’re expanding airlift into Eleuthera, into Exuma and there are some other surprises that will come out of this conference for Grand Bahama.”

‘No blow-out’: But RF says funds to beat 2024 returns

demand. You get the aggregate demand curve shifting to the left and lower GDP growth.

“Hopefully the tourism market continues to be resilient and that bodes well for this economy. That’s the story. I feel that what is going on in the US is uncertainty with what is exactly going to happen. Will a global tariff war result in slower growth and inﬂation? And will that feed into The Bahamas in terms of lower growth and proﬁt margins? We’ll see.”

Mr Trump’s latest gambit is to impose 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum products imported to the US. Amid concerns that higher prices, both locally and internationally, could undermine both domestic consumption demand and tourism if a full global trade war breaks out, Mr Slatter voiced optimism that the Targeted Equity Fund will

this year start to shrug-off a “mixed bag” Bahamian equities market. Noting that it enjoyed a positive December 2024, with its NAV up 1.5 percent for the month, he added: “For the year it was 5.7 percent, which is deﬁnitely below normal levels. The local equities market had a sub-par year in 2024 and in 2023.” In response, the Targeted Equity Fund has reduced its investment in two stocks, Doctors Hospital and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas), from 40 percent to 24 percent of its total portfolio.

“I think some of the equities got ahead of themselves,” Mr Slatter explained. “The prime examples, Doctors Hospital did very well in COVID and the share price was up as a result. Since then the share price has been ﬂat. There’s been no growth from that stock. Fidelity Bank is another one

going sideways; not a lot of upside.

“We have a mixed bag with the other stocks. FINCO, CIBC Caribbean, the Bahamas Property Fund have all done well. Cable Bahamas and Commonwealth Bank have pulled back somewhat. For the last ﬁve years, the Targeted Equity Fund has averaged 9.7 percent. To be realistic, I tell people that a 7-9 percent return would be a reasonable expectation for 2025.

“One thing that the fund has done is that we’ve been steadily reducing our exposure to Doctors Hospital and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas),” Mr Slatter added. “That’s a function of the fund’s growth. We’ve not been actively selling positions but also not adding to them. We want to make the Targeted Equity Fund’s portfolio less susceptible to changes in those two stocks.

“They’re down to 24 percent of the total portfolio.

At one point, they were 40 percent. The fund has been growing and, as a result, those two positions have been coming down as a percentage by virtue of them standing still and not growing.”

Turning to RF Bank & Trust’s Prime Income Fund, Mr Slatter pointed out that all the investment house’s Bahamian-dollar funds delivered positive returns for 2024. “The Prime Income Fund was up 3.2 percent last year,” he told Tribune Business. “In December, it was up by 0.35 percent. The performance has been trending up, and the expectation for this year is between 4.2 percent and 4.4 percent.” He attributed the improved forecast to “getting rid of the excess cash”, adding: “When COVID hit, we thought there would be an outﬂow [from the fund], so it made sense to have a lot of liquidity. That never happened and we had the

two best years for investor inﬂows.

“We’ve been stuck with a lot of excess cash that we’ve been working down. At one point it was 30 percent of the portfolio with cash, and now it’s down to 9-10 percent. We don’t have much cash left. We’ve got about 10 percent of the portfolio in cash, but 8 percent of that is allocated. We now have $8m-$9m, or 2 percent, in excess cash.

“We do, though, still have a fair bit of liquidity. We did invest some of the cash in 90-day Government of The Bahamas Treasury Bills. That helped to get rid of some of the excess. We are getting 3 percent on those Treasury Bills. If something attractive comes up we have liquidity,” Mr Slatter continued.

“There are just over $480m in assets under management for this one fund. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see those assets under management growing by

Record $4.27bn trade deﬁcit gives ‘no cause for alarm yet’

Mr Pinder, though, reiterated that any alarm over the trade deﬁcit would have been “sounded by the Central Bank” through the imposition of credit restrictions designed to reduce the outﬂow of external reserves that safeguard the one:one exchange rate peg between the Bahamian and US dollars. And the Central Bank, just last week, announced that the reserves grew by $270m to $2.62bn at yearend 2024.

“Generally speaking, in terms of the current account, it’s usually not a concern given the extent to which it’s typically offset by the capital account of the balance of payments,”

Mr Pinder told Tribune Business of The Bahamas’ record trade deﬁcit. “To me, on the face of it, I would only become concerned to the extent to which we are running down our external reserves.”

John Rolle, the Central Bank’s governor, last week said that while the external reserves are forecast to end 2025 below last year’s level there is no cause for concern as this is expected due

to the faster pace of lending by Bahamian commercial banks. And Mr Pinder yesterday reiterated that the trade deﬁcit only measures one aspect of The Bahamas’ balance of payments.

“The other component we must also take into consideration as well, in addition to tourism earnings, is foreign direct investment,” he explained. “The foreign direct investment also offsets some of the deﬁcit we see on the current account, some of which may be due to the importation of capital goods to help facilitate some of that foreign direct investment.

“Clearly we are not producing the capital goods we need to help to propel foreign direct investment. I would only be concerned to the extent to which we see some serious outﬂows by way of the foreign reserves. The Central Bank has not sounded the alarm with respect to the foreign reserves.....

“To me, the biggest concern for an importing country is in terms of the ﬁscal deﬁcit and the extent to which it gives the signal that you have a problem

Bahamasair slashes losses 20% to $24m

FROM PAGE B1

manufacturer, Pratt-Whitney, to resolve “engine issues” with the ATRs that are currently out of service. The latest addition will join the two ATR-72 planes that Bahamasair currently has in service.

with your foreign reserves,” Mr Pinder added. “To the extent there hasn’t been any alarm sounded over the foreign reserves, I suspect a lot of those outﬂows may be due to the importation of capital equipment and, if that’s the case, there are beneﬁts to the economy.

“The long and short of it is that we cannot look at these numbers in isolation. We have to look at the relationships, and how these things are connected. I am sure there are persons who may not necessarily understand a lot of this and may want to create some mischief, saying ‘you have this very large trade deﬁcit’.

“But, on the face of it, I don’t see anything necessarily to be alarmed about as yet. We have to look at foreign direct investment and what is happening by way of capital goods and the importation of capital goods. We have inﬂows of foreign direct investment to ﬁnance those goods,” the UoB economics professor continued.

“I think that if there is any cause for concern in that regard it will come out in the wash over the foreign reserves if we have

airplanes back in service,” said Mr Cooper.

significant outflows to finance the trade deficit. There’s nothing to suggest there are issues with that and I wouldn’t sound the alarm.

“The Central Bank would be the ﬁrst to do that and, in that regard we would have seen - without being alarmist - measures that say we need to conserve foreign exchange and that will come by way of positions that restrict credit expansion. We haven’t seen that so I wouldn’t be too concerned.”

The Bahamas National Statistical Institute, in its trade report for the 2024 fourth quarter, said that - while year-over-year growth in this nation’s goods exports beat the rise in imports by a double-digit ﬁgure in percentage terms - their dollar value was still relatively small compared to what was brought into this nation.

“Data on merchandise trade for the 2024 fourth quarter shows that the value of commodities imported into The Bahamas totaled $1.216bn, resulting in an increase of 16 percent when compared with the same

period last year,” the Institute said.

“The major groups of merchandise were ‘machinery and transport equipment,’ which totalled $287m; ‘food and live animals’ at $212m; and ‘manufactured goods classiﬁed chieﬂy by materials’ which totalled $193m. The combined value of these categories represented 57 percent of total imports.

“Other categories that contributed signiﬁcantly to total imports were ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’, which accounted for $180m; ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ valued at $144m; and ‘chemicals’ at $82m. These groups together represented 33 percent of total imports,” the Institute added.

“Categories that showed an increase when compared to the same quarter last year were ‘manufactured goods classiﬁed chieﬂy by materials’ and ‘machinery and transport equipment’, which increased by 38 percent and 31 percent, respectively.”

As for Bahamian exports, the Institute said: “Fourth quarter 2024 data shows

between 6-8 percent this year. It may be a little conservative; I’m not quite sure. That will be a function of [new money] inﬂows and returns. We will hit the half-a-billion mark for sure this year. That’s my expectation.”

Mr Slatter, though, revealed that RF Bank & Trust is moving to make its investment funds even more attractive for Bahamian investors by reducing the payout period once they give notice that they want to cash in their holdings.

“I think in the local equity market liquidity can be an issue if persons are holding securities investments individually,” he added, “but if in a fund with monthly redemptions liquidity becomes less of an issue. We intend to reduce the redemption period from a month to a week in the ﬁrst half [of 2025] so it becomes even less of an issue.”

that the value of commodities exported - domestic and re-exported - from The Bahamas totalled $196m, resulting in an increase of 27 percent when compared with the same period last year.

“The categories that contributed the largest proportion to the exports were ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’, which totalled $57m; ‘food and live animals’ at $39m; and ‘machinery and transport equipment’ at $25m, which combined represented 62 percent of total exports.

“Categories that showed signiﬁcant increases were ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’, and ‘beverages and tobacco’, which increased by 926 percent and 109 percent, respectively, when compared to the same quarter last year,” it added.

“The groups that decreased in value when compared to the same period last year were ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’, and ‘animal and vegetable oils and fats’ and ‘manufactured goods classiﬁed chieﬂy by materials’ and which declined by 61 percent, 36 percent and 4 percent, respectively.”

Bahamasair was able to slash its annual loss by 20 percent year-over-year to $24m for 2023, Mr Cooper said. While he expects the airline’s ﬁnancials to “continue along the [same] lines” for 2024, those planes being out of service dealt a blow to the carrier’s ﬁnances.

“I expect that Bahamasair will continue along the lines. With the airplanes being out of service, the ATRs, we did take a hit on the ﬁnancial aspect of the airline, [which is] one of the reasons why we’re looking so aggressively to having those

“Bahamasair can rightfully say now that, last week, we acquired another ATR and it is to meet the expanding needs for the domestic market,” Mr Cooper said. “We still do have the engine issues with our manufacturer. We’re still working through those, and we intend that for, hopefully by the second quarter, we should be able to have these matters resolved.”

He added that Bahamasair also provides airlift to domestic routes that are not proﬁtable but remain vital to sustaining Family Island economies.

“A part of our operation is essential transportation around the islands, and some of these may not be proﬁtable routes, hence the reason why the Government provides assistance. We have got to go down to Acklins and Mayaguana and the like because, without having that essential airlift, even though it may not be proﬁtable, those islands will not progress,” said Mr Cooper.

“We understand our role. I think the Government understands this as well and, as such, then it’s just more of a partnership to make sure that we provide our services.”

us to process people faster, process bags faster,” said Ms Walkine.

“We will ﬁnd a way to, over the course of the next ﬁve, ten, 20 years, to expand our facilities, to alleviate airside congestion. We’re looking at some additional parallel taxiways, rapid exit taxiways, things that will get aircraft on to and off our runways a lot faster.

“We’re looking at expanding our terminals to add more jet bridges. So it’s a very exciting time for us to be able to share what the future will look like, so that airlines can plan for the future with us.” Ms Walkine said NAD is currently replacing the asphalt on LPIA’s runway 14/32 due to safety concerns and, once completed, it will be in service for another 10 to 20 years.

“This particular runway, which is our main runway, the asphalt on most of the runway, about 6,000 feet of it, has come to the end of its useful life. For safety reasons, we had no choice but to remediate the runway,” said Ms Walkine.

“That means we have to mill out the bad asphalt and replace it with new asphalt, which will give us another 20 years of useful life. It’s one of those things we have to do for safety reasons that we will expect to do over the course of another decade or two.”

Ms Walkine said NAD’s safety team checks the asphalt on runways daily to ensure it is safe for aircraft, and the repairs to the main runway could not be delayed.

“We monitor it all the time. I have a site safety team that looks at asphalt every day to ﬁgure out is it

performing well? Is it holding up? Is it cracking? Does it have the ﬂexibility that it needs to have? This asphalt needed to be replaced, and so we couldn’t delay it any further. We had to do it and it’s already underway. We’re really pleased with the progress already,” said Ms Walkine.

She added that NAD is focused on achieving a ﬁve-star rating through improving its service, technology and capacity over time.

“One of the things I’ve challenged my team with is how can we move toward this five-star rating? I think it’s important for us to recognise that the key is the journey. It’s going to take us some time to get to five-star, but in getting to five-star, we will be making improvements all along the way, and that’s what’s exciting for us,” said Ms Walkine.

“We can make small, incremental changes that will make a huge difference in passengers. Passengers are telling us every day what they want when they come to an airport, and we need to be able to provide that. And so we’re looking at some small wins initially, and then some bigger things which will come with our growth and capacity expansion, and use of technology and other means to give passengers what they want.”

US ‘WATCHDOG’ BACKS SARKIS OVER CCA EXAMINER PROBE

State Supreme Court after he prevailed on his fraud and breach of contract claim against CCA Inc and two of the latter’s Bahamian afﬁliates.

Most of the remaining sum, some $124.805m, is said to be ‘inter-company funding’ owed by CCA Inc to its immediate parent, CSCEC Holding Company, with the letters standing for China State Construction and Engineering Corporation.

But, with CCA’s Chapter 11 filings listing no secured or “priority” creditors, Mr Vera said the only obstacle to appointing an examiner to scrutinise business dealings between the US arm and its Bahamian affiliates is for the New Jersey court to determine if the $1.642bn damages award is a “fixed, liquidated or unsecured debt”. If it finds this to be the case, he added that it is duty-bound to appoint an examiner.

“In this case, the debtor’s [CCA Inc] scheduled nonpriority unsecured claims

total $1.769bn in the aggregate, with the claim of BML Properties scheduled in the amount of $1.643bn, and the sum of $124.805m described as ‘inter-company funding’ owed to CSCEC Holding Company,” Mr Vera said in his ﬁlings.

“The debtor does not list any secured creditors. All creditors listed as priority unsecured claimants are scheduled in the amount of $0.00. With that, the claim of BML Properties is the debtor’s dominant creditor. In the examiner motion, BML Properties outlines that its claim arises from the New York judgment. BML Properties further asserts that its judgment claim is such a debt that triggers the mandatory appointment of an examiner.

“The debtor ‘contends that it is unclear whether the trial decision is a ‘ﬁxed, liquidated, unsecured debt’ within the meaning of... the Bankruptcy Code.” The US trustee respectfully asserts that, in the event the court determines that the claim held by BML Properties is the type of debt that satisﬁes the debt requirement of [the code], then the court must direct the appointment of an examiner, as such appointment would then be mandatory.”

The US trustee carries signiﬁcant weight in the US federal bankruptcy legal system. They are viewed as the “watchdog of the bankruptcy system”, with responsibility for preventing fraud, dishonesty and over-reaching by parties. They monitor all conduct, and have a duty to ensure compliance with all laws and procedures.

Thus Mr Vera’s stated position will not lack inﬂuence when the New Jersey court comes to consider Mr Izmirlian’s motion. It represents potentially huge backing for the original Baha Mar developer’s bid to initiate a further probe into CCA’s conduct which could turn-up evidence to help both defeat the contractor’s appeal against his $1.642bn damages award and assist his effort to windup its two Nassau hotels.

Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle, in previous ﬁlings with the New Jersey federal bankruptcy court, argued that the examiner’s appointment is justiﬁed because CCA Construction Inc has shown “clear bias” against themselves even though the damages awarded against the Chinese state-owned contractor makes them its largest creditor by far.

With no ofﬁcial creditors committee likely to be appointed, and China Construction Inc purportedly “stonewalling” Mr Izmirlian’s information requests following its December 22, 2024, ﬁling for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Baha Mar’s original developer argued that appointing an independent examiner would be the best way to protect all creditors given the contractor’s “history of serious

Vance makes his debut as VP on the international stage at a high-stakes AI

By SYLVIE CORBET, AAMER MADHANI and THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press

JD Vance stepped onto the world stage this week for the ﬁrst time as U.S. vice president, using a highstakes AI summit in Paris and a security conference in Munich to amplify Donald Trump's aggressive new approach to diplomacy.

The 40-year-old vice president, who was just 18 months into his tenure as a senator before joining Trump's ticket, is expected, while in Paris, to push back on European efforts to tighten AI oversight while advocating for a more open, innovation-driven approach.

The AI summit has drawn world leaders, top tech executives, and policymakers to discuss artiﬁcial intelligence's impact on global security, economics, and governance. High-proﬁle attendees include Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, signaling Beijing's deep interest in shaping global AI standards.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday the Paris AI summit is "a wakeup call" for a European strategy to get competitive in a tech world now dominated by the U.S. and China.

Macron also called on "simplifying" rules in France and the European Union to allow AI advances, citing sectors like healthcare, mobility, energy, and "resynchronize with the rest of the world."

"We are most of the time too slow," he said.

The summit underscores a three-way race for AI supremacy: Europe striving to regulate and invest, China expanding access through state-backed tech giants, and the U.S. under Trump prioritizing a handsoff approach.

Vance's debut abroad

Vance has signaled he will use the Paris summit as a venue for candid discussions with world leaders on AI and geopolitics.

"I think there's a lot that some of the leaders who are present at the AI summit could do to, frankly — bring the Russia-Ukraine conﬂict to a close, help us diplomatically there — and so we're going to be focused on those meetings in France," Vance told Breitbart News.

Vance is expected to meet separately Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President

- and already proven - fraud claims”.

“Based on CCA’s clear bias against BML Properties - its largest creditor by orders of magnitude - it is apparent that CCA is not acting as a true fiduciary for its estate,” Mr Izmirlian argued. “Exacerbating the situation, no official creditors’ committee will be formed by the Office of the United States Trustee for this district, and CCA has stonewalled BML Properties’ requests for information.....

“CCA’s insistence that all future requests for information go through formal discovery, rather than freely disclosing the information requested by the estate’s largest creditor, bespeaks the level of obstruction that CCA (likely acting at the behest of CSCEC) will impose on these proceedings. Rather than efﬁciently providing information, CCA insists on making BML Properties’ efforts to obtain information as complicated and costly as possible.

“For these reasons, BML Properties seeks the appointment of an independent examiner to investigate.. the dealings between CCA and its nominal afﬁliates to identify instances of fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, mismanagement or irregularity in the

summit in Paris

Ursula von der Leyen, according to a person familiar with planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, Vance will have a working lunch with Macron to discuss Ukraine and the Middle East. Vance, like Trump, has questioned U.S. spending on Ukraine and the broader approach to isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump promised to end the ﬁghting within six months of taking ofﬁce.

Vance's diplomatic tour continues in Germany, where he will attend the Munich Security Conference and press European allies to increase their commitments to NATO and Ukraine and may meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Vance also addressed what he called an "evil trend" in Europe toward censorship.

"We want people to be able to speak their minds, and we believe that free and open debate is actually a good thing. Unfortunately, a lot of our European friends have gone the wrong direction there," he said.

European leaders have been monitoring Trump's recent statements on threats to impose tariffs on the European Union, take control of Greenland and his suggestion that Palestinians clear out of Gaza once the fighting in the IsraelHamas conflict ends — an idea flatly rejected by Arab allies.

Fostering AI advances

The summit, which gathers major players such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, "is the ﬁrst time we'll have had such a broad international discussion in one place on the future of AI," said Linda Grifﬁn, vice president of public policy at Mozilla. "I see it as a normsetting moment."

A global public-private partnership named "Current AI" will be launched to support large-scale initiatives that serve the general interest.

Nick Reiners, senior geotechnology analyst at Eurasia Group, noted an opportunity to shape AI governance by "moving away from this concentration of power amongst a handful of private actors and building this public interest AI instead." However, it remains unclear if the United States will support such initiatives. "There's a lot of complicated questions to resolve" around issues like the ability to control AI systems, Nobel Prize winner Demis

Hassabis, founder of Google's DeepMind research lab, said. "But also I think even more complicated are maybe the geopolitical questions about things like regulation."

A small group of protesters gathered at Paris' Bastille square called for a pause on development of ever-more advanced AI systems, warning that they could post catastrophic risks for humanity. Another group protested the AI industry's role in exacerbating climate change through fossil fuel emissions. But negotiating strict limits was not expected to be on the agenda of world leaders gathering this week.

Macron's AI pitch

French organizers are also looking for the summit to ignite major investment in Europe, positioning the region as a contender in an industry increasingly shaped by U.S.-China rivalry.

Macron touted newly announced investments in France worth 109 billion euros ($113 billion) over the next ﬁve years.

The amount includes 50 billion euros ($52 billion) from the United Arab Emirates for a one-gigawatt data center and other tech facilities, 20 billion euros from Canada's Brookﬁeld to deploy AI projects and 10 billion euros from UK's Fluidstack to build a giant one-gigawatt calculator.

"If you compare with some big recent announcement made in the U.S., it's at the right scale," Macron said in reference to Trump's support of the OpenAI-led Stargate AI data centers project.

management of CCA’s affairs in the lead up to, and throughout, this Chapter 11 case.”

Another part of Mr Izmirlian’s plan is the winding-up petitions ﬁled in the Bahamian Supreme Court against CCA (Bahamas) and CSCEC (Bahamas) on the basis that they are insolvent.

CCA (Bahamas) and CSCEC (Bahamas) are the other two CCA-related defendants liable to pay Mr Izmirlian’s judgment award, and the former is the immediate parent entity for both the contractor’s Bahamian resort interests - the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort, which are located adjacent to each other in downtown Nassau.

Mr Izmirlian, in his New Jersey bankruptcy court ﬁlings, pointed out that the New York State Supreme Court had “rejected CCA’s feigned corporate separateness” in “piercing the corporate veil” and made the two Bahamian afﬁliates as well as CCA Construction Inc liable for the $1.642bn damages award.

However, CCA Construction Inc, in its own ﬁlings last week, accused Mr Izmirlian of seeking to “circumvent” the Bahamian courts by using its US Chapter 11 protection as a “springboard” to pursue the winding-up of its two Nassau hotels. It described

BML Properties’ move as an effort to “hijack the Chapter 11 process for its own beneﬁt”. The Chinese state-owned contractor, in particular, asserted that Mr Izmirlian would seek to use the examiner’s ﬁndings to support his bid to wind-up both CCA (Bahamas) and CSCEC (Bahamas) before the Supreme Court in Nassau. The former serves as the immediate parent for both CCA’s Bahamian resort interests, the British Colonial and Margaritaville Beach Resort.

CCA Construction Inc, in urging the court to reject the examiner, claimed such an appointment would be premature and a waste of valuable time, assets and resources that would deplete the company’s estate to the disadvantage of other creditors.

And it repeated claims that it was incorrectly held liable for the $1.642bn fraud and breach of contract damages awarded to Mr Izmirlian and his BML Properties vehicle, instead pinning all the blame on CCA (Bahamas), which it branded “a remote afﬁliate”. CCA Inc argued that the New York court had wrongly “pierced the corporate veil” by using New York, as opposed to Bahamian, law for this test.

Kosovo’s prime minister looks for allies for new Cabinet after failing to win parliamentary

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press

KOSOVO Prime Minister Albin Kurti's leftist party won the most seats in the parliamentary election, but was left without a majority in the house, forcing it to look for an ally to form the next government, according to preliminary results released Monday.

The vote on Sunday was key in determining who will lead Kosovo as talks on normalizing ties with Serbia remain stalled and foreign funding for one of Europe's poorest countries is in question.

The election marked the ﬁrst time since independence in 2008 that Kosovo's parliament completed a full four-year mandate. It was the ninth parliamentary vote in Kosovo since the end of the 1998-1999 war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists that

NOTICE

WALLETMELON CAPITAL LTD.

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Registration Number 206466 B (In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that the above-named Company is in dissolution, commencing on the 10th day of February, A.D. 2025.

Articles of Dissolution have been duly registered by the Registrar. The Liquidator is Mr. HIGOR FELIPE DE MEDEIROS, whose address is Av. Prefeito Dulcidio Cardozo 100, Ap 705 BL 02 Barra da Tijuca, CEP22620311, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. Any Persons having a Claim against the above-named Company are required on or before the 10th day of March 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 11th day of February A.D. 2025.

HIGOR FELIPE DE MEDEIROS Liquidator

pushed Serbian forces out following a 78-day NATO air campaign.

Serbia doesn't recognize Kosovo's independence.

With 98% of the votes counted, Kurti's Self-Determination Movement Party, or Vetevendosje!, had won 40.94%, according to the Central Election Commission, the election governing body.

The Democratic Party of Kosovo, or PDK, whose main leaders are detained at a Netherlands-based international criminal tribunal in The Hague and accused of war crimes, won 22.11% of the vote.

Next, with 17.67% support is the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, the oldest party in the country. The LDK lost much of its support after the death in 2006 of its leader, Ibrahim Rugova. The Alliance for Kosovo's Future party of former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj

majority

garnered 7.44% of the votes.

Still, Kurti was upbeat, though his remarks gave nothing away about who he plans to ask to join his coalition government.

"The people won. Vetevendosje! won. We are the winners who will form the next Cabinet," Kurti told journalists as his supporters took to the streets to celebrate.

The commission's webpage was down temporarily on Sunday as it was overloaded "due to the citizens' high interest to learn the results," the election body said. Results were collected manually.

A preliminary turnout after 92% of the votes were counted was 40.6% — about 7% lower than four years ago. The new 120-seat parliament reserves 20 seats for minorities regardless of election results, 10 of them for the Serb minority.

NOTICE

ACEVSAN LTD.

Incorporated under the International Business Companies Act, 2000 of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas registered in the Register of Companies under the Registration Number 209018 B. (In Voluntary Liquidation)

Notice is hereby given that the liquidation and the winding up of the Company is complete and the Company has been struck off the Register of Companies maintained by the Registrar General.

Dated this 11th day of February A.D. 2025.

LISETTE DE LAS NIEVES FUENTES NIÑO Liquidator

UNITED States Vice-President JD Vance carries his daughter Mirabel as he arrives at Paris Orly Airport, ahead of an Artiﬁcial Intelligence Action Summit taking place in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.

Photo:Thomas Padilla/AP

VACANCY FOR DEPUTY REGISTRAR OF RECORDS (SCALE R2)

REGISTRAR GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL & MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

Letters of Interest and Applications are invited from suitably qualified Bahamians to fill the post of Registrar of Companies in the Registrar General’s Department, Office of the Attorney General & Ministry of Legal Affairs

Requirements for the post:

Applicants must be members of at least ten (10) years standing at The Bahamas Bar OR possess a Bachelor’s Degree in either Accounting, Finance, Business Administration of Corporate Management plus fifteen (15) years’ experience in their related subject area.

Specific duties of the post include: Assisting the Registrar with the administration of services for the administration of births, adoptions, marriages and deaths; deeds; documents and records.

Signatory for all relevant certificates, deeds, documents and records and certified copies thereof;

§ Ensuring the Terms of Reference of the Registry of Records are satisfied within the agreed framework.

§ Acting in the capacity of the Registrar of Records in the Registrar’s absence Candidates must demonstrate the following skills:

§ At least five (5) years experience in conflict resolution and demonstrated supervisory experience;

§ Excellent analytical skills and the ability to think strategically;

§ Extensive knowledge of all legislation governing the operations of the Registrar General’s Department;

§ Excellent communication (writing, speaking, listening) skills.

The salary of the post is in Scale R2 $72,800 x 700 to $79,100 per annum (February 2025 Scales)

Application forms may be obtained online at www.bahamas.gov.bs. Forms must be returned complete with certified copies of academic qualification to the Secretary, Public Service Commission, Poinciana Hill Complex, Meeting Street not later than 14th March, 2025.

Documents that MUST be submitted are as follows:

i. A Letter of Interest, with the applicant’s authentic signature;

ii. A recent Passport-sized photograph (no more than 2” x 2”) – that must be affixed to the Letter of Interest

iii. Certified copies of all academic and professional documents (see requirements for the post);

iv. Two Letters of Reference are required from external applicants.

v. Two character references from inside the public service for serving officers.

Applicants are advised that it is their responsibility to provide certified proof of all relevant academic and professional qualifications.

Serving officer must submit a Letter of Interest and an application form, along with supporting documents, copied to their Head of Department.

External candidates should submit their documents as outlined above. All applications must be received by 14th March, 2025

APPLICATION TENDERED AFTER THE STIPULATED DEADLINE AND WITHOUT THE REQUISITE DOCUMENTS ARE DEEMED INCOMPLETE AND UNACCEPTABLE.

Gina Thompson (Ms.) PERMANENT SECRETARY

VACANCY FOR ASSISTANT REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES I (SCALE R4) REGISTRAR GENERAL’S DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL & MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

Requirements for the post:

Applicants must be members of at least five (5) years standing at The Bahamas Bar OR possess a Bachelor’s Degree in either Accounting, Finance, Business Administration of Corporate Management plus ten (10) years’ experience in their related subject area.

Specific duties of the post include:

§ Assisting the Registrar with the maintenance of an accurate register of corporate entities in accordance with the law and enforce applicable penalties for those who are non-compliant, ensuring that terms of reference of the Registry of Companies are satisfied within the agreed framework;

§ Signatory for all corporate certificates and certified copies thereof;

§ Providing mentorship for subordinates.

Candidates must demonstrate the following skills:

§ Knowledge of legislation governing the operations of the Registrar General’s Department. Keen analytical skills and the ability to think strategically.

§ Excellent communication (writing, speaking and listening skills).

The salary of the post is in Scale R4

$63,000 x 700 to $72,100 per annum (February 2025 Scales)

Documents that MUST be submitted are as follows:

i. A Letter of Interest, with the applicant’s authentic signature;

ii. A recent Passport-sized photograph (no more than 2” x 2”) – that must be affixed to the Letter of Interest

iii. Certified copies of all academic and professional documents (see requirements for the post);

iv. Two Letters of Reference are required from external applicants.

v. Two character references from inside the public service for serving officers.

Applicants are advised that it is their responsibility to provide certified proof of all relevant academic and professional qualifications.

Serving officer must submit a Letter of Interest and an application form, along with supporting documents, copied to their Head of Department.

External candidates should submit their documents as outlined above. All applications must be received by 14th MARCH, 2025

APPLICATION TENDERED AFTER THE STIPULATED DEADLINE AND WITHOUT THE REQUISITE DOCUMENTS ARE DEEMED INCOMPLETE AND UNACCEPTABLE.

Gina Thompson (Ms.)

PERMANENT SECRETARY

STOCK

Wall Street takes Trump's latest tariff threats in stride, and indexes rise

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

U.S. stocks rose Monday as Wall Street took President Donald Trump's latest threat on tariffs in stride.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7%, coming off a losing week that was bookended by worries about how potential tariffs could push up inﬂation and threaten the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 167 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks led the way. The bond market also remained relatively ﬁrm, with Treasury yields making only modest moves after Trump said over the weekend that he would announce 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, as well as other import duties later in the week.

Fear around tariffs has been at the center of Wall Street's moves recently, and experts say the market likely has more swings ahead. The price of gold, which often rises when investors are feeling nervous, climbed again Monday to top $2,930 per ounce and set another record. But Trump has shown he can be just as quick to pull back on threats, like he did with 25% tariffs he had announced on Canada and Mexico, suggesting they may be merely a negotiating chip rather than a true long-term policy.

Trump, of course, has already gone ahead with

10% tariffs on China. Those will likely affect Wall Street by cleaving winning industries from losing ones, but they won't necessarily drag the entire market lower, according to Michael Wilson and other strategists at Morgan Stanley. A big, market-wide impact would be more likely "if we were to see sustained tariffs on a range of countries including 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada."

Stocks of U.S. steel and aluminum producers jumped Monday, banking on expectations tariffs could help their proﬁts, while the overall S&P 500 index remained relatively calm. Nucor rose 5.6%, Cleveland-Cliffs jumped 17.9% and Alcoa climbed 2.2%.

Some companies that have to buy steel in their manufacturing swung, but not so sharply. General Motors fell 1.7%, Caterpillar slipped 0.2% and Ford Motor was ﬂat.

In the meantime, earnings reports from big U.S. companies also helped drive trading. McDonald's climbed 4.8% even though it reported proﬁt and revenue for the end of 2024 that were just shy of analysts' expectations. Investors focused instead on betterthan-expected strength for restaurants outside the United States, particularly in the Middle East, Japan and other markets with licensed McDonald's locations. Big Tech stocks were some of the strongest forces

pushing the S&P 500 higher, including gains of 2.9% for Nvidia and 4.5% for Broadcom. They had come under pressure last month after a Chinese upstart upended Wall Street's artificial-intelligence boom by saying it had developed a large language model that could perform like the world's best without having to use the most expensive, topflight chips. Despite the development by DeepSeek, big U.S. companies have since said they're still planning to plow billions of dollars into their AI endeavors. That's calmed worries that DeepSeek could have turned off a huge spigot of spending for the industry, at least for now. Such gains helped offset a 7.9% drop for Incyte after the biopharmaceutical company reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. All told, the S&P 500 rose 40.45 points to 6,066.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 167.01 to 44,4701.41, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 190.87 to 19,714.27. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.50%, where it was late Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, fell to 4.27% from 4.29%.

Elon Musk-led group proposes buying OpenAI for $97.4 billion. OpenAI CEO says 'no thank you'

By MATT O'BRIEN AP Technology Writer

A GROUP of investors led by Elon Musk is offering about $97.4 billion to buy OpenAI, escalating a legal dispute with the artiﬁcial intelligence company that Musk helped found.

Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment ﬁrms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker and revert it to its original charitable mission as a nonproﬁt research lab, according to Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly rejected the deal on Musk's social platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."

Musk bought Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion in 2022.

Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it, have been in a long-running feud over the startup's direction since Musk resigned from its board in 2018.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company

last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding until 2018, Toberoff has said.

Musk and OpenAI lawyers faced off in a California federal court last week as a judge weighed Musk's request for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-proﬁt company. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hasn't yet ruled on Musk's request but in the courtroom said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its planned for-proﬁt transition. But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can decide.

"It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is true. We'll ﬁnd out. He'll sit on the stand," she said.

Along with Musk and xAI, others backing the bid announced Monday include Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, Atreides Management, Vy Fund, Emanuel Capital Management and Eight Partners VC.

Toberoff said in a statement that if Altman and OpenAI's current board "are intent on becoming a fully for-proﬁt corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time."

Musk's attorney also shared a letter he sent in early January to the attorneys general of California and Delaware.

"As both your ofﬁces must ensure any such transactional process relating to OpenAI's charitable assets provides at least fair market value to protect the public's beneﬁcial interest, we assume you will provide a process for competitive bidding to actually determine that fair market value," Toberoff wrote, asking for more information on the terms and timing of that bidding process.

TRADER Peter Mancuso works on the ﬂoor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025.

Photo:Richard Drew/AP

‘Back to plastic’: Trump pushes for plastic straws as he declares paper ones ‘don’t work’

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump is moving to reverse a federal push away from plastic straws, declaring that paper straws "don't work" and don't last very long.

"It's a ridiculous situation. We're going back to plastic straws," Trump said Monday as he signed an executive order to review federal purchasing policies that restrict plastic straws.

The move by Trump — who has long railed against paper straws, and whose 2019 reelection campaign sold Trump-branded reusable plastic straws for $15 per pack of 10 — targets a Biden administration policy to phase out federal purchases of single-use plastics, including straws, from food service operations, events and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.

Trump declared President Joe Biden's policy "DEAD!" in a social media post over the weekend.

While plastic straws have been blamed for polluting oceans and harming marine life, Trump said Monday that he thinks "it's okay" to continue using them. "I don't think that plastic is going to affect the shark very much as they're ... munching their

way through the ocean,'' he said at a White House announcement. Several U.S. states and cities have banned plastic straws, and some restaurants no longer automatically give them to customers. But plastic straws are only a small part of the problem. The environment is littered with single-use plastic food and beverage containers — water bottles, takeout containers, coffee lids, shopping bags and more. Around the world, the equivalent of one garbage truck of

plastic enters the ocean every minute from a range of sources, including plastic bags, toothbrushes, bottles, food packaging and more, experts say. As those materials break down in the environment, microplastics are turning up in the stomachs of ﬁsh, birds and other animals, as well as in human blood and tissue. And plastic manufacturing releases planet-warming greenhouse gases and other dangerous pollutants. More than 90% of plastic products are derived from fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, and millions of tons

of plastic waste enter the world's oceans every year. Many multinational companies have moved away from plastic straws and have made reducing plastic use across their operations central to their sustainability goals, making Trump's decision an outlier in the business world.

Trump's order is "more about messaging than ﬁnding solutions," said Christy Leavitt, plastics campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, noting that most U.S. voters support requiring companies to reduce

Trump says he has directed US Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing rising cost

By JILL COLVIN Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!" Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. "I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."

The move by Trump is the latest in what has been a rapid-ﬁre effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive order and proclamation on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efﬁciency raised the prospect in a post on X last

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that DIEULINDA JOSEPH of Nola Circle, Turtle Drive , 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 11th day of February, 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 KEITH MCCONNELL ALAN of P.O.Box EE16962 #93 Yamacraw Hill 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 11th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE

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 4th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

month highlighting the penny's cost.

The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million in the 2024 ﬁscal year that ended in September on the nearly 3.2 billion pennies it produced. Every penny cost nearly $0.037 — up from $0.031 the year before.

The mint also loses money on the nickel, with each of the $0.05 coins costing nearly $0.14 to make.

It is unclear whether Trump has the power to unilaterally eliminate the lowly one-cent coin.

Currency speciﬁcations -including the size and metal content of coins -- are dictated by Congress.

But Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, has argued that there might be wiggle room.

"The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies," he said last month.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that ROMAIN CHARLOT of P. O. Box AB-20215, Murphy Town, Abaco, Bahamas, is 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 11th day of February, 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 JOHNLY ACCEUS of Fox Hill, 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 4th day of February, 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 SIENNA KELLY JONES of 2 Brighton Place, Lyford Cay, 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 4th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

single-use plastic packaging and foodware.

"President Trump is moving in the wrong direction on single-use plastics,'' Leavitt said. "The world is facing a plastic pollution crisis, and we can no longer ignore one of the biggest environmental threats facing our oceans and our planet today."

The plastic manufacturing industry applauded Trump's move.

"Straws are just the beginning," Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, said in a statement. "'Back to Plastic' is a movement we should all get behind."

More than 390 million straws are used every day in the United States, mostly for 30 minutes or less, according to advocacy group Straws Turtle Island Restoration Network. Straws take at least 200 years to decompose and pose a threat to turtles and other wildlife as they degrade into microplastics, the group says.

"To prevent another sea turtle from becoming a victim to plastic, we must make personal lifestyle alterations to ﬁght for these

Members of Congress have repeatedly introduced legislation taking aim at the zinc coin with copper plating. Proposals over the years have attempted to temporarily suspend the penny's production, eliminate it from circulation, or require that prices be rounded to the nearest ﬁve cents, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Proponents of eliminating the coin have cited cost savings, speedier checkouts at cash registers, and the fact that a number of countries have already eliminated their one-cent coins. Canada, for instance, stopped minting its penny in 2012.

species,'' the group said in a statement.

Every year, the world produces more than 400 million tons of new plastic. About 40% of all plastics are used in packaging, according to the United Nations. Globally, nations are creating a treaty to address plastic pollution. Leaders met for a week in South Korea late last year but didn't reach an agreement. Talks resume this year as more than 100 countries pursue a pact that limits plastic production as well as tackles cleanup and recycling.

The U.S., China and Germany are the biggest players in the global plastics trade. U.S. manufacturers have asked Trump to remain at the negotiating table, and to revert to Biden's previous position that focused on redesigning plastic products, recycling and reuse.

White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who presented the executive order to Trump, told him the push for paper straws has cost the government and private industry "an absolute ton of money and left consumers all over the country wildly dissatisﬁed with their straws.''

It wouldn't be the ﬁrst time the U.S. eliminated its least valuable coin. The half-cent coin was discontinued by Congress in 1857. Trump's new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, with Musk, who has been brought on to lead the task, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce as he tries to identify a goal of $2 trillion in savings.

"Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump wrote in his post.

Trump sent the message as he was departing New Orleans after watching the ﬁrst half of the Super Bowl.

NOTICE

NOTICE is hereby given that JULIAN ALECIA STEWART-JOSEPH of Haslemere Road, Highbury Park, 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 4th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O. Box N-7147, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas.

NOTICE is hereby given that NEALE ADAM JONES of 2 Brighton Place, Lyford Cay, 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 4th day of February, 2025 to the Minister responsible for nationality and Citizenship, P.O.

A LARGE soft drink with a plastic straw from a McDonald’s restaurant is shown in Surfside, Fla., May 24, 2018.

Photo:Wilfredo Lee/AP

Secrecy preceded the shutdown of the consumer protection agency’s Washington headquarters

By CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press

OVER the weekend, some staff members at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saw a sign of trouble to come.

Windows in two basement conference rooms were covered with brown paper and blue painter's tape, concealing their occupants. Voices could be heard inside discussing cuts to government agencies. When the door was cracked open, there were young people with temporary badges.

It was fresh evidence that the agency, which was created to protect Americans from ﬁnancial fraud, abuse and deceptive practices, was the newest target of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efﬁciency, known as DOGE. Now the Washington headquarters is shut down for the week, and there are fears that it will be gutted like the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Pictures of the conference rooms were viewed by The Associated Press, and the scene was described by two current employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation. The

secrecy contradicts insistence by the White House that Musk is transparently fulﬁlling President Donald Trump's goal of downsizing the federal government.

Trump defended his administration's broadside against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, saying it was "set up to destroy people."

"We did the right thing," he told reporters in the Oval Ofﬁce on Monday.

Demonstrators gathered outside the bureau to criticize Trump and Musk, who has faced escalating scrutiny as DOGE spreads its reach across the federal government.

"Elon Musk, where are you?" said Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat. "We're not afraid of you."

The White House is considering opportunities for Musk to talk publicly about his work for the ﬁrst time since the billionaire entrepreneur joined the administration as a special government employee, according to an ofﬁcial who spoke on the condition of anonymity about internal discussions.

So far, Musk has only defended himself on social media, saying he's

conﬁdent that the American people will support DOGE's efforts. He also responded to accusations that he's improperly accessed sensitive information through government databases, saying "I'm 1000% more trustworthy than untold numbers of deep state bureaucrats and fraudsters."

Russ Vought, Trump's budget chief, is serving as the CFBP's acting director after the previous director, Rohit Chopra, was ﬁred by Trump. Vought sent an email to employees on Monday morning saying they should "not perform any work tasks." They were directed to contact the top lawyer for the Ofﬁce of Management and Budget "to get approval in writing" before doing anything.

Vought's message followed one on Saturday evening that ordered the bureau to "cease all supervision and examination activity."

There are indications that the bureau's website is being disrupted. The homepage displays a "404: Page not found" message, although other parts still work.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents more than 1,000

workers at the bureau, ﬁled a lawsuit saying that Vought's order illegally exceeded his authority.

"It is substantially likely that these initial directives are a precursor to a purge of CFPB's workforce, which is now prohibited from fulﬁlling the agency's statutory mission," the lawsuit said.

The CFPB, was created after the 2008 ﬁnancial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal.

Ofﬁcials said that it has obtained nearly $20 billion in ﬁnancial relief for U.S. consumers since its founding in the form of canceled debts, compensation and reduced loans.

"This is a ﬁght between millions of hardworking people who just don't want to get cheated and a handful of billionaires like

LITTLE TO NO RELIEF FROM HIGH BORROWING COSTS EXPECTED AS FED CHAIR POWELL HEADS TO THE HILL

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

Elon Musk, who wants the chance to cheat them," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who helped create the CFPB.

In recent years, the agency had passed rules capping bank overdraft fees, removing medical debt from consumer credit reports, regulating "buy now, pay later" loans, and requiring disclosures on short-term loans known as earned wage access. It has sued banks for misleading consumers and employers for misleading workers, with a particular focus on curbing junk fees and predatory lending under President Joe Biden's administration.

Banks and industry groups have sued to block some of these rules,

Tuesday, before House and Senate committees that oversee the central bank and the ﬁnancial industry. Fed chairs are required by law to appear before Congress twice a year.

claiming the agency has exceeded its regulatory authority. Conservatives and their ﬁnancial backers have long targeted the bureau, contending it lacks sufﬁcient supervision. However, the bureau's funding and oversight model was upheld by the Supreme Court in May.

On Friday night, Musk posted "CFPB RIP" on X, his social media platform. He added an emoji of a tombstone.

When another person expressed approval of the plan, Musk wrote "they did above zero good things, but still need to go."

Since Congress created the CFPB, it would need to pass additional legislation to formally eliminate it. However, agency leadership can decide what

that we haven't achieved our 2% target, and given the fact that we may have uncertainties and other factors that may be pushing up inﬂation."

THE odds of further interest rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve dwindled last week as unemployment fell and more ofﬁcials say they want to see how new policies from the White House affect the economy.

While Fed ofﬁcials penciled in two rate cuts this year at their December meeting, economists and Wall Street investors are increasingly skeptical, with some predicting no reductions at all this year.

On Friday, economists at

Morgan Stanley said they now expect just one rate cut in 2025, and investors also expect just one — in July — according to pricing in futures markets. Fewer cuts could translate into a longer period of elevated mortgage rates and high costs to borrow money for everything

from autos to credit cards. Still, mortgage rates are closely tied to the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which can move independently of the Fed's actions. The shifting expectations come as Chair Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill for two days of testimony this week, beginning

Members of Congress may urge that he cut rates more quickly. He will also likely be grilled about issues that are taking a higher proﬁle under the Trump administration, such as crypto regulation, banking regulation, and allegations of "de-banking."

De-banking is the practice of banks shutting down customer accounts because they believe they pose financial, legal or reputational risks to the banks. Some crypto executives have charged that Biden administration regulators pressured financial firms to target their industry for de-banking. Regarding interest rates, Fed officials have suggested recently that after cutting their key rate three times at the end of last year — to about 4.3%, down from two-decade high of 5.3% — they are likely to be on hold for an extended period, though none will specify how long that might be.

On Friday, Fed governor Adriana Kugler said that the labor market was "stable" and that "gives us a little bit of time to make some decisions." She noted that inﬂation has "moved sideways" since the fall and is above their 2% target.

She added that potential policy changes from the Trump administration have added uncertainty to their outlook for the economy. Economists have said that widespread tariffs, and the deportation of immigrants that Trump has also promised, could push up inﬂation. Others argue that Trump's deregulatory policies could, by increasing supply, reduce prices.

"The cautious and the prudent step is to hold the (Fed's key) rate where it is for some time," Kugler said. "Given that the economy is solid, given the fact

Separately, Austan Goolsbee, president of the Fed's Chicago branch, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press Friday that he still expects the central bank's rate will be lower in the next 12 to 18 months than it is now. But he also said it makes sense for the Fed to take a slower approach as it nears a point where it may stop reducing rates.

He also noted that the prospect of tariffs has muddied the waters a bit for the Fed in the coming months. Tariffs may cause a onetime increase in prices but don't necessarily cause ongoing inflation. As a result, Goolsbee said, Fed officials will have to sort through any price increases that do occur to determine whether they are one-time changes, or a reflection of persistent inflationary pressures.

"That's not that easy to do, it's going to take time to ﬁgure that out," he said. "We've still just got to wait for the dust to clear."

Other ofﬁcials also suggested that it will take time for the Fed to determine what steps it needs to take next.

Lorie Logan, president of the Fed's Dallas branch, said Thursday that while in "some scenarios" the Fed may soon cut rates, it's also possible "we'll need to hold rates at least at the current level for quite some time."

Even if inﬂation were to fall close to the 2% target, she added, that wouldn't necessarily mean the Fed should "cut rates soon." Instead, with the economy mostly healthy and hiring holding up, the Fed's key rate may already be close to the level at which it doesn't restrict or stimulate growth, she said — a level that economists refer to as the "neutral rate."

A SIGN stands at the construction site for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s headquarters in Washington, Aug. 27, 2018.

Photo:Andrew Harnik/AP