International Trade in the Bahamas

News Related to International Trade in the Bahamas

• Royal Bahamas Defence Inks LOI to Acquire Nine Vessels (VIDEO) - Apr 20, 2013

  Following a six-year acquisition program, the Government of the Bahamas has announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to acquire 9 vessels for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. The contract has been placed with Damen Shipyards Group, headquartered in Gorinchem, the Netherlands. In announcing the contract, the Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dr. [...]

  Source: World Maritime News

• UK: Waitrose signs supply deal for Philippines, Bahamas and Turks - Apr 18, 2013

  UK upmarket retailer Waitrose has signed a deal that will see it sell its groceries in the Philippines, Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands for the first time.

  Source: Just Food

• Bahamas Adapting To New Tax Transparency Landscape - Apr 16, 2013

  The Bahamas' Minister for Financial Services Ryan Pinder has said that the local financial services industry must be prepared to accept and adapt to automatic information exchange under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and similar regimes, as it becomes the new "new normal."

  Source: Tax News

• Canada; Bahamas - Apr 04, 2013

  Canadian Federal Court upholds requirement for information in transfer pricing case

  Source: ibfd.org

• Bahamas-based Kerzner Int'l USD145m debt restructuring completed - Mar 27, 2013

  (MENAFN) Kerzner International Hotels Limited CEO, Alan Leibman, announced that the Bahamas-based firm has finished the restructuring of its USD145 million debt, reported Arabian ...

  Source: Menafn.com

• Crowley Expands Service to the Bahamas - Mar 20, 2013

  Crowley Maritime will offer a second weekly southbound sailing from Port Everglades, Fla., to Nassau in the Bahamas, starting March 23. The new Saturday sailing enhances Crowley’s current schedule, which includes a Friday sailing from Jacksonville, Fla., and a Tuesday sailing from Port Everglades. Crowley added the extra sailing after customers in...

  Source: The Journal of Commerce

• Property Tax Amnesty Launched In The Bahamas - Mar 12, 2013

  The Bahamas Government has legislated for a new property tax amnesty, which encourages taxpayers to join the property tax registry and settle any outstanding tax dues.

  Source: Tax News

• Bahamas Looks To Diversify Financial Services Offering - Mar 12, 2013

  The Bahamian Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder has said the Government is committed to launching new financial services products to enable the islands to aggressively compete for new business.

  Source: Tax-News.com

• Bahamas; Malta - Mar 02, 2013

  Exchange of information agreement between Bahamas and Malta enters into force

  Source: ibfd.org

• Bahamas to introduce 15% VAT from July 2014 - Feb 21, 2013

  As part of plans to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Bahamas has announced plans to introduce a full Value Added Tax regime from 1 July 2014. The roll out of a VAT system will help meet the required reductions in import tariffs as laid down in WTO membership. The new VAT rate will...The post Bahamas to introduce 15% VAT from July 2014 appeared first on VAT Live.

  Source: VAT Live

• Bahamas - Feb 21, 2013

  Tax reform ?? introduction of VAT in 2014

  Source: ibfd.org

Business outline for the Bahamas

Economic Overview

The financial crisis and the recession have had a strong impact on the Bahamian economy, which is based on financial activities and tourism, while the latter is highly dependent on the economic conditions of the United States, thus leading to a drop in GDP of 4.3% in 2009. The country's economy was again growing slightly in 2010 (0.5%), thanks to the resumption in tourism and should continue to experience slow growth in the coming years.

The Bahamian economy, which has few natural resources and an under-developed industrial sector, remains very dependent on tourism (60% of GDP) and to a lesser extent, on the financial services industry. The crisis has greatly worsened the fiscal position of the country: the public debt has risen, while the debt/GDP ratio has increased. The government has therefore presented a budget aiming to remedy the situation. Measures have also been taken to strengthen the financial system and improve monitoring. In parallel, the government has initiated significant efforts to improve the basic public services infrastructures (energy, water and transportation) and to support the tourism sector, which is essential to the economy. Numerous real estate projects are being planned as well as public and private infrastructure projects (road and air infrastructures -Nassau's airport).

Compared to the rest of the region, the Bahamas have a very high per capita GDP (23,000 USD, i.e. the third highest rate in the Americas, after the U.S. and Canada). However, the global economic crisis caused an increase in unemployment, in 2010 affecting 15% of the active workplace.

FDI in Figures

The economic crisis had a great impact on the FDI flows into the Bahamas, leading to a decline of more than 30% in 2009. Due to the deteriorating economic situation of Canada and the United States, the inflows of FDI should decrease during the next following years. The dependence of the Bahamas on foreign investment is unlikely to change in spite of the government's strong will to increase the country's development.

The country offers investors a stable and democratic political environment, attractive fiscal laws, well-developed infrastructures, qualified workforce and a geographical proximity to the United States. On the other hand, the main weaknesses of the island are the lack of economic diversification and the small scale of its domestic market. The tourism sector attracts most of FDI, coming from the United States and Canada.

Foreign Trade Overview

In order to reduce its dependency on a single sector (tourism), the Bahamas is open to foreign trade, which represents more than 100% of the GDP. As a consequence, the government is actively pursuing a policy of diversification and liberalization. Custom duties are very high and produce almost 60% of the government's income. There are not significant barriers to trade. In spite of high custom duties, complex rules and regulations on imports, the country has a liberal trade policy. However, free trade under CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market) faces a strong domestic opposition.

Due to the low domestic production and the great existing demand drawn by the tourism, Bahamas is very dependent of imports. Its trade balance is in structural deficit, a situation which should continue in the coming years.

Bahamas mainly imports fuels, equipment & machinery, consuming goods, manufacturing goods and foodstuffs. Bahamas exports mainly polystyrene and other plastic materials, fishing products and organic chemical products.

The government established in 1955 a free-tax port, Freeport. This free trade zone, which is now the second most populated city after Nassau, is where most of the country's industries are concentrated. Due to its geographical location, the Bahamas keeps direct economic and political relations with the United States. As a fact, the United States is the first partner of the Bahamas, as well as in trade (about 80% of its total) as in investments. The bilateral trade balance of the Bahamas is in large deficit. The remainder of trade is shared among several importing partners: Curacao, British Commonwealth countries, Europe (including Switzerland) and Japan, and for exports: the European Union and Canada.