Gov’ts support for BPL jumps $110m

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNMENT loans to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and agencies neartripled during the first nine months of the current fiscal year to enable Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) to pay off its fuel bill arrears.

Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary, yesterday confirmed the $80m increase in such “bilateral loans” during the three months to end-March 2023, which took the nine-month jump to $110m, represented financial support to the state-owned electrical utility to enable it to pay-off past due and outstanding debts.

“You’re correct. That’s BPL,” he replied, when asked about the figures, which were contained in the Ministry of Finance’s latest quarterly public debt statistical bulletin for the

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