Monthly Economic and Financial Developments, August 2019

Published: Monday September 30th, 2019

Domestic economic developments, which remained healthy through August, pre-dated the passage of Hurricane Dorian which caused extensive damages to private and public sector infrastructure in Grand Bahama and Abaco. Tourism maintained a positive momentum, evidenced by sustained gains in high value-added stopover arrivals, while ongoing foreign investment projects provided stimulus to the construction sector. The latest price developments continued to show pass-through influence from the hike in the value added tax (VAT) rate at the beginning of the 2018/19 fiscal year, while Government's budgetary operations for the fiscal period showed a halving in the deficit, owing predominantly to a VAT-led increase in total revenue. On the monetary front, bank liquidity contracted during the review month, amid a reduction in total deposits and a rise in domestic credit; similarly, external reserves declined, on account of the seasonal uptick in foreign currency demand.

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