Mister Deputy Speaker,
I rise today to lay on the Table the Ministry of Finance Monthly Fiscal Summary Report for June 2026.
Because June closes the fiscal year, this report gives the Bahamian people their first account of how public finances ended for the year 2025/26.
On preliminary figures, the Government of The Bahamas closed the year in surplus.
It is the first fiscal surplus recorded in an independent Bahamas.
Before I turn to the numbers, I want to place them in the context of where this country has been.
As a boy in Cat Island, I would wait for the mailboat to come from Nassau, carrying what my father had sent for us.
Islanders understand that a boat’s timely arrival is never guaranteed. It depends on the condition of the vessel, the judgment of the captain, and the willingness of the crew to do the hard work while the sea is rough.
I have thought often of that boat when considering the state of our public finances, and I would ask the House to keep that picture in mind this morning.
Mister Deputy Speaker, when this administration took office in September 2021, the country was carrying wounds that had not healed.
Hurricane Dorian had devastated Abaco and Grand Bahama. The pandemic had closed our borders and emptied our hotels, and economic activity had contracted sharply. Tens of thousands of Bahamians had lost their livelihoods.
The public finances bore the full weight of that hardship.
Before the pandemic, in FY2018/19, the fiscal deficit stood at $219.3 million, or 1.7 percent of GDP. As the economy contracted, it widened to $838.5 million, or 7.2 percent of GDP, in FY2019/20. In FY2020/21, the year that ended shortly before this administration took office, the deficit reached its peak of $1.3 billion, or 12.5 percent of GDP.
Revenues had collapsed at the very moment the Government was called upon to safeguard lives, support households and businesses, and preserve economic stability.
Suppliers and small businesses across the country were waiting to be paid money the Government owed them, and our standing with international lenders was under strain.
I recall these facts without any wish to assign blame. Those were extraordinary years, and every nation suffered through them.
I recall them because the Bahamian people deserve an honest measure of the distance this country has travelled since. The vessel we were entrusted with in 2021 was taking on water and sinking.
The work of repair was steady and sustained. In FY2021/22, as the country still contended with the economic fallout of the pandemic, the deficit fell to $721.7 million, or 5.5 percent of GDP.
In FY2022/23 it was reduced to $534.6 million, or 3.6 percent of GDP. It narrowed further to $194.0 million, or 1.2 percent of GDP, in FY2023/24, and to $84.8 million, or 0.5 percent of GDP, in FY2024/25.
For the fiscal year just ended, I am pleased to report that the Government recorded a surplus of $39.3 million, equivalent to 0.2 percent of GDP.
In the space of five fiscal years, the public finances have moved from a deficit of 12.5 percent of GDP to a surplus.
No previous Government of an independent Bahamas has recorded a fiscal surplus. This one was achieved, moreover, in an election year, when the temptation to loosen the public purse is greatest.
Total revenue for FY2025/26 reached $3.96 billion, an increase of 16.6 percent over the previous year and 101.7 percent of budget.
Tax revenue rose by 13.0 percent to $3.42 billion, with gains across the major categories. Value Added Tax, the principal source of Government revenue, increased by 14.9 percent to $1.65 billion.
Taxes on international trade and transactions rose by 4.3 percent to $908.9 million, reflecting continued growth in tourism arrivals and domestic demand.
Non-tax revenue grew by 45.4 percent to $543.3 million, driven primarily by higher property income and increased collections from the sale of Government goods and services.
Total expenditure rose by 12.6 percent to $3.92 billion. Recurrent expenditure increased by 9.7 percent to $3.51 billion, reflecting higher spending on compensation of employees, goods and services, subsidies and social assistance.
That spending sustained the delivery of essential public services, supported vulnerable households and invested in the public sector workforce, and the public payroll was nonetheless held within budget.
The pattern within the year is instructive. The first six months recorded deficits, as they customarily do given the seasonal timing of our revenues. From January onward, the position strengthened and held, with a surplus in every month through to June. The final quarter alone produced a surplus of $196.6 million.
June concluded the year on a particularly strong note. Total revenue for the month rose by $467.0 million, or 150.7 percent, to $777.1 million compared with June 2025.
Tax revenue increased by $307.2 million, led by a rise of $135.2 million in VAT collections that included the settlement of outstanding arrears.
Taxes on financial and capital transactions rose by $35.3 million, mainly from stamp duty on share transfers.
Taxes on international trade and transactions increased by $44.4 million on the strength of departure tax and excise duty receipts.
Non-tax revenue rose by $159.8 million, driven by dividend receipts, most of which were applied to settling outstanding Government obligations.
On the expenditure side, recurrent spending in June rose by $279.0 million to $547.6 million, largely reflecting goods and services and subsidy payments.
Capital expenditure for the month increased by $82.7 million to $98.7 million. The Government recorded a surplus of $130.7 million in June, compared with $25.4 million in June of last year.
Mister Deputy Speaker, the House is entitled to know how this result was achieved, because it was the product of deliberate policy.
This Government chose to strengthen revenue by improving collection and compliance rather than by imposing new burdens on households already under pressure.
Collecting taxes already owed under existing law is a question of fairness to the many Bahamians and businesses who meet their obligations in full and on time.
We also brought our tax system into line with the new international framework.
The Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax applies the globally agreed fifteen percent minimum rate to large multinational groups operating in The Bahamas. Newly implemented this year, it contributed $68.6 million in June, revenue that would otherwise have been collected by other jurisdictions.
Fiscal consolidation did not come at the expense of investment. Capital expenditure expanded by 45.2 percent to $414.9 million for the year.
That investment went into roads, public buildings, airports supported by the IDB project, education, health, technology and other strategic infrastructure, alongside the Government’s own airport infrastructure programme.
In June, capital spending supported road rehabilitation, building maintenance and health care infrastructure.
I have long held that national progress must reach every island, and the Family Islands have shared in this work. The year has shown that fiscal consolidation and economic growth can advance together.
The dividend income received in June was largely applied to settling the Government’s obligations to suppliers and businesses. An administration that inherited unpaid obligations across the economy is now steadily clearing them, and the benefit reaches contractors, merchants and their employees.
The national debt has been managed with equal care. All new borrowing in June was raised domestically. The Government repaid $77.0 million in advances from the Central Bank, made a net repayment of $18.3 million in foreign currency debt, and placed $46.5 million in sinking funds for future debt obligations.
Over the past eighteen months, through active liability management, we have replaced more expensive external debt with less expensive debt.
Mister Deputy Speaker, the improvement in our public finances has been recognised beyond our shores.
In April 2026, Moody’s upgraded The Bahamas to Ba3 with a stable outlook, citing reduced borrowing requirements, greater reliance on long-term multilateral financing and the Government’s active management of its liabilities.
In its assessment, the primary surpluses projected for The Bahamas are among the strongest of any similarly rated sovereign.
S&P Global upgraded The Bahamas in September 2025 and affirmed that rating last month with a stable outlook.
Fitch rates The Bahamas BB-minus, also with a stable outlook.
The International Monetary Fund had projected a modest deficit for this fiscal year, and again our fiscal performance has improved and outperformed that projection.
In fact, on this journey, we have continually outperformed projections of the IMF and other credit agencies.
I hold the work of the rating agencies in genuine regard. Their questions are rigorous and their scrutiny serves the country well. Where some have doubted that The Bahamas could move into surplus, the accounts now before this House provide fresh evidence for their consideration.
The agencies have also identified the reforms that remain, among them the performance of our public enterprises, the contingent risks those enterprises carry, and the continued strengthening of fiscal reporting.
The Government shares that assessment.
We will continue to raise the standard of fiscal reporting so that the state of the nation’s finances is visible to every citizen and every investor.
Mister Deputy Speaker, the global outlook remains uncertain, and it would be wrong of me to suggest otherwise.
Conflict in the Middle East has unsettled oil markets. Trade between the major economies has been disrupted by tariffs, and interest rates in the United States, our nearest neighbour and largest market, are rising again.
For an archipelago that imports all of its fuel and much of its food, these developments are felt directly in Bahamian homes.
Many families continue to feel the strain of higher prices, and this Government is conscious of it every day.
It is precisely because the world is so unsettled that the work of these past five years was challenging to navigate.
A nation whose finances are in disorder has little capacity to protect its people when shocks arrive.
A nation whose finances are sound can respond, rebuild and continue to invest.
This year, the Government paid $674.7 million in interest on the public debt.
As that burden is reduced over time, more of the nation’s resources can be directed to education, health care and public safety.
A stronger fiscal position also means that when the next hurricane season brings hardship, as it eventually will, the Government will be able to support recovery without resorting to costly emergency borrowing. And a country with credible public finances continues to attract the investment that creates employment for Bahamians.
The Government will continue to modernise revenue administration, to reform public enterprises, to reduce the cost of the national debt, to improve the transparency of fiscal reporting, and to invest in the infrastructure of every island.
Mister Speaker, I do not come to this House in a spirit of celebration. The voyage is not complete, and a responsible captain does not mistake a calmer stretch of water for the safe harbour.
Yet the progress is real, and the Bahamian people should take confidence from it. In 2021 this administration was entrusted with a vessel taking on water in the middle of a storm, carrying a deficit of 12.5 percent of GDP. Five years on, the books are in surplus for the first time in our history as an independent nation, the course is steady, and the world has taken notice.
We didn’t do this alone. None of this progress would have been possible without the patience, cooperation, and confidence of the Bahamian people. And none of it would have been achieved without the dedication and hard work of our public servants—men and women who show up every day, committed to serving their country and their communities. To the Bahamian people and to every public servant who has been part of this work: thank you. Your commitment is the foundation of everything we do.
The seas ahead may well be rough. The Bahamian people may be assured that this Government will keep the ship afloat, hold her to her course, and bring her safely home. The fiscal affairs of this nation are in safe hands.
We will continue to build on progress, and by God’s grace, the best days of The Bahamas lie ahead.
Mister Deputy Speaker, I so table the report.