Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest said he is concerned about the country’s credit rating following the massive devastation Hurricane Dorian left in Abaco and Grand Bahama.

“Obviously, in any circumstances like this where you’re losing a significant portion of your GDP, there is concern,” Turnquest told reporters yesterday, before attending his weekly Cabinet meeting.

“So yes, we have to be concerned because as the revenue drops as a result of the storm, expenditure rises in response to all of the needs both social and infrastructure costs.  We have to be concerned.  We are trying to manage these things very actively to keep them in front of us to ensure that we are planning appropriately and responding as we see circumstances develop.”

While a possible drop in the country’s credit rating is a concern, Turnquest pointed out that the government believes the information reported by The Central Bank governor on Monday that the pace of investment throughout the islands not affected by the hurricane would continue to move forward.

“The investments in Grand Bahama continue to move forward and we had the signing last week and the hotel deal continues to be negotiated, so we continue to expect that to close,” Turnquest said.

“The Abaco community itself, the investors are eager to get back and to start to do their cleanup work and to get back into operation.  The local business community too, despite the rumours, is also very eager to get back and have the opportunity to start rebuilding their properties.  So we anticipate that within a reasonable period of time, we would start to see the rebirth and these businesses come back on stream.”

The deputy prime minister ensured that the government is working with all its partners to ensure that responses are given to concerns and stories that The Bahamas is still open for business are disseminated. 

“The level of investment and the destination, as a preferred investment destination, is still very attractive and again, we believe that we will have the best results we can doing the things that we can do to control the circumstance as it exists today,” Turnquest said.