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Obama’s Stimulus Plan Should Help The Bahamas' Economy
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Laing: Obama’s Stimulus Plan Should Help Local Economy:

BY VANESSA C. ROLLE -
Nassau, Bahamas:


Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing is hoping that United States President Barack Obama proposed $838 billion economic stimulus programme in the United States will help ease the economic woes in The Bahamas as well.

The new president is hoping to restore confidence in the U.S. financial markets and improve on the utilisation of the $700 billion bailout programme passed by Congress in October 2008.

According to Minister Laing, the bail-out plan may not be enough to drastically and immediately turn the local economy around, but it is better than doing nothing at all.

"I don’t know if it’s going to be enough; but I know this much, if you make provision to spend of the order of $500 billion dollars in the U.S. economy, it’s going to help. It has to help," he said.

"That level of spending and the multiplier effect that it brings in an economic circumstance has to help. It is better than actually doing nothing and the important part of that is that it can be a confidence booster to American citizens," Minister Laing said.

He commented that the restoration of confidence in the U.S. is crucial to get the economy rolling again; and he believes that this stimulus package can get the ball rolling in the economy once more.

He said this would help to increase employment levels in the U.S., with the domino effect including increased travel and increased tourism numbers for The Bahamas.

"This is where the benefits come from. The extent to which they are confident about the stability of their jobs and the prospects of new job creation is the extent to which they feel empowered and enriched; and it is that sense of confidence that feeds into their willingness to travel and to be a contributor to an industry which we rely on so heavily, which is tourism," Minister Laing said.

Minister Laing said the government is concerned about the rate of unemployment in Grand Bahama as it stands; with so many persons in the industry being affected by the global slump.

"When you are a government, you recognise that optimising and maximising employment is really what it’s about, because people have to pay their bills. They have to have money to finance their hopes, their dreams and aspirations. So loss of jobs, reduction in income doesn’t help that," he said.’

He said the rising unemployment levels in Grand Bahama have made it even more dire for The Bahamas Government to spend in Grand Bahama.

"It is important for the government to spend in Grand Bahama to the extent that we are seeking to do so with a number of infrastructural projects, whether it’s the millions of dollars we are going to spend to develop an office complex here (Grand Bahama) or spend to refurbish some infrastructure in the east and in the west and clean up campaigns in Freeport," he said.

"All of that is an attempt to generate economic activity, generate employment and cause this economy to be at least buoyed to some extent given the downturn that has face this economy for so long," Minister Laing said.

President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan passed in the Senate late Tuesday afternoon and is on its way to House-Senate negotiations. Just three republicans helped pass the plan on a 61-37 vote.

February 11, 2009

jonesbahamas.com

February 11, 2009 | 6:39 PM Comments  0 comments

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