Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest sees it as positive sign the GDP growth is largely driven by the private sector, as this he said is an indication  of what he called no artificial inflation.

That aside though, he accepts that the 1.6 per cent growth rate is lower than anticipated, which is being examined.

“First off, when we talk about GDP growth, these are projections based on loan factors.

“Sometimes things happen in the economy, things happen globally that may affect the projection, even a delay in the start of a project can have an effect. 

“So, we have to do some analysis ourselves to see what if anything we can do to help push it along,  but at this point , we are not aware of any specific drags that would of caused us not to meet the projection other than just normal delays. 

“However,  I think again the point to emphasize is that we’ve had positive growth over two years,” he said.     

To the official Opposition, the Minister said there’s no basis for its criticisms, given its track record.

“It is something amusing to hear the Opposition.  Mr. Cooper makes  the statements that he makes because he has no legs to stand on in his argument. 

“Again, the fact of the matter is we’ve had positive growth;  we’ve had strong economic performance which are all indicators that point towards the strengthening of the economy and that is the positive that needs to be taken from this statistics,” Minister Turnquest said.    

What the  Minister  of Finance does agree with, is the observation that if it weren’t for the uptick in Tourism, the GDP wouldn’t have shaped up as it did, but he says that’s just the makeup of the economy.

In the last fiscal year, the International Monetary Fund projected for the Bahamas a2.25 per cent increase in real GDP growth 2019 compared to its previous projection of 2.5 percent for 2018. 

These new figures represent an increase of 2.3 per cent in nominal growth and real growth of 1.6 per cent.