The US recession is going to mean another year of declining tourism receipts and a stagnant economy for Bahamas, Minister of State for Finance, Zhivargo Laing, said on Friday. Laing, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Inter-American Development Banks annual meeting said tourism receipts fell 8 percent in 2008 and were likely to drop again in 2009.
"We expect that that will likely continue in the immediate term," he said. Asked if receipts might fall a similar amount this year, he said it would be around that "even though we do believe there are some policy things we can do that may be able to reduce that level of decline. There is nothing at the moment to suggest that we wont continue on the decline track."
As a result, the nation of 330,000 people with an economy of roughly $7 billion, could register no growth this year. "We think that much like the rest of the world, the Bahamas economic outlook is dim, that things are likely to be flat to negative and thats largely because we depend very heavily on the economic circumstances of the United States of America," he said, referring to its recession. Laing said that for the first time in Bahamas history it is offering an unemployment benefit. The two phase program will cost an initial $20 million.