The Central Bank of The Bahamas says in a new report released on Thursday that the fiscal deficit for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2005-2006 was more than halved to $20.4 million relative to the same period of Fiscal Year 2004-2005.
The report says this was due mainly to a favourable economic environment and various revenue administrative enhancements.
Supported by a 23.5 percent improvement in tax receipts, total revenue posted a 27.7 percent gain to $271.8 million, and non taxes doubled to $18 million, the report says.
It adds that total expenditure growth of 12.3 percent to $292.2 million included an 8.4 percent hike in current outlays which was associated largely with recent salary increases, while various public works projects explained the more than twofold boost in capital spending.
The report says, however, that net lending to the public corporations was reduced by almost 50 percent.
The Bank further reports that the National Debt advanced by 3.5 percent to $2.75 billion at the end of September, compared with a more moderated uptrend of 3.3 percent to $2.5 billion in the previous year.
The report says that preliminary indications are that the domestic economy strengthened during the third quarter of 2005 due to continued momentum from construction activity, sustained levels of stopover visitors to New Providence and heightened consumer demand.
Indications are that tourism output for the third quarter of 2005 continued to improve relative to the depressed outturn of 2004, the report says.
Visitor arrivals growth of 3.4 percent to 1.1 million was maintained by a 12.8 percent or 0.4 million hike in the higher value-added air segment, in contrast to a 0.5 percent decline in sea arrivals.
New Providence recorded a 23.3 percent increase in air arrivals and marginal growth in sea arrivals, while total visitors to Grand Bahama were reduced as the island continued its recovery efforts from last year’s twin hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, the report says.
Arrivals to the Family Islands remained relatively stable, with gains in air arrivals balancing the fall-off in sea visitors.
The report says that construction activity remained strong during the third quarter of 2005, reinforced by robust residential investments.
Data from the mortgage lending institutions showed residential disbursements expanding by 80.5 percent to $143.5 million and a four-fold hike in commercial disbursements to $17.8 million relative to the third quarter of 2004, the report notes.
It says that on a forward looking basis, the number of mortgage commitments for new construction and repairs rose to 531 from 386, with a corresponding 30.2 percent increase in value to $60.9 million.
Most of the approvals (509) were said to be for housing projects, valued at $56.4 million. This compares to $45.1 million last year.
The number of commercial commitments improved more than three-fold and were valued higher at $4.5 million, compared with $1.7 million last year, the report says.
With regards to mortgage rates, average interest costs on residential and commercial mortgages softened by 6 basis points each, to 8.2 percent and 9 percent respectively.
The Central Bank also reports that data for the first nine months of the year suggests a decline in total fisheries output by a third relative to the comparable period in 2004, owing mainly to a 35.2 percent contraction in the volume of crawfish landings, which constituted the bulk of the catch.
Quarterly inflation, as measured by the average change in Retail Price Index, firmed to 2.3 percent during the review quarter from 0.9 percent in the same period in 2004, the report says.
From: The Bahama Journal
