Statement from the Office of the Prime Minister on a Request for Correction on The Nassau Guardian VAT Savings Headline

The Office of the Prime Minister has formally requested a correction from The Nassau Guardian in relation to its front-page story and headline on the projected household savings from the VAT change taking effect April 1.

We advised the newspaper that any attempt to state an “average monthly savings” figure at this time is not credible, and is effectively impossible, in the absence of an updated Household Expenditure Survey. The last Household Expenditure Survey was completed in 2013, and a new survey is currently underway. Until updated data is available, any single figure presented as an average household impact is wrong.

The Government of The Bahamas is also publicly urging that the incorrect figures carried by The Nassau Guardian not be repeated or relied upon, including by academic institutions, commentators, and other third parties. These figures were not derived from tested analysis and should not be treated as authoritative.

We hope The Nassau Guardian will act responsibly in the interest of its readers by issuing a correction with prominence consistent with the initial error.

To explain the underlying point clearly: predicting the average monthly savings requires knowing the average monthly household expenditure on food purchased at food stores. The most recent survey data available, completed in 2013, shows that monthly food expenditure even then was far higher than the amounts implied by the Guardian’s calculation, long before the global inflation crisis drove prices higher. For that reason, the conclusion presented in the article and headline does not rest on a sound evidentiary foundation.

We are confident the newspaper will wish to advise its readers, in a placement as prominent as the initial error, that the calculation in its article and headline was the result of a mistake