NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Davis Administration collected $2.46 billion in revenue during the first nine months of the 2024/2025 fiscal year—a 12.2 percent increase over the prior year—while narrowing the deficit to $178.9 million, according to the Ministry of Finance’s latest budgetary performance report.
Tax receipts totalled $2.2 billion, led by strong gains in VAT collections ($50.8 million), international trade taxes ($125 million), and taxes on goods use ($50.4 million). On the spending side, total government expenditure grew to $2.64 billion, up 9.6 percent, with recurrent expenses climbing by $199.9 million to $2.37 billion—driven largely by increases in goods and services, public debt interest, and subsidies.
Despite improved revenue performance and reported tourism arrivals upswing of 14.8 percent to 8.8 million visitors by end-March, the Free National Movement (FNM) criticised the government for what it called the “deliberate delay” in releasing the report and “burying” $60.8 million in loans to unnamed government enterprises within the fine print.
“Taking your sweet time to publish this report was the first issue,” the FNM charged. “Trying to slip in $60 million in loans to unknown entities without explanation is the second.”
The report also confirmed that the public debt rose by $381.1 million, bringing the direct debt charge to $11.7 billion or 73.4 percent of GDP, up from 72.7 percent at the end of June 2024. Net borrowing stood at $2.72 billion, while debt repayments totalled $2.34 billion, both down from the previous year.
