NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A former Cabinet minister and economist is predicting that economic conditions in the country will be “much the same” as 2022, although the country’s economic growth may be a bit slower.
Zhivargo Laing, the Executive Director of the Government and Policy Institute of the University of The Bahamas told Eyewitness News that The Bahamas is likely to face economic conditions in 2023 similar to what it has seen this year.
“I would say that we will face economic conditions that are fairly much like what we have had this year which was a reasonable situation given that we were recovering from such a significant downturn in the economy because of the pandemic,” Laing told Eyewitness News.
“I suspect that 2023 is going to be pretty much the same. I don’t see it worsening for us unless something unexpected happens. I don’t see us having a significantly better situation than what we now have.”
Laing noted that economic growth in 2023 may be lower as the economy starts to normalise from the growth forecasts seen at the peak of its pre-pandemic rebound.
He continued: “In normal economic times our economic growth is around two percent or even one percent and so if we have growth in 2023 of three or four percent that would be higher than we are normally accustomed to and which would suggest that we are still reviving the economy after it was down so badly.
“My expectation is 2023 is going to be fairly the same as 2022 even if the growth is slower, which would be related to recovery more than anything else,” said Laing.
Commenting on the impact of inflation Laing noted: “We typically have inflation of around two percent on an annual basis. We have seen six and seven percent.
“I think we will see that go down as more and more pressure is out on inflation though Fed action and the action of other central banks around the world who have flexible exchange rate economies,” he said.
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