Govt Reports Preliminary $39.3M Surplus For 2025/2026 Fiscal Year

• The Bahamas Government recorded a preliminary fiscal surplus of $39.3Mn for FY2025/26, according to the Ministry of Finance’s June report. However, the result fell short of the $75.5Mn target, reaching just 52.1% of the forecast.
• The surplus depended heavily on an exceptional June. The government still ran a deficit of about $91.4Mn through May, but a $130.7Mn surplus that month moved the full-year position into the black.
• That June boost came as revenue jumped by $467Mn to $777.1Mn, nearly one-fifth of the year’s total, driven by dividends from public entities, collection of value-added tax (VAT) arrears and reciprocal offsets with statutory bodies. Its reliance on these one-off factors raises questions about whether the surplus can be repeated.
• For the full year, total revenue of $3.964Bn exceeded the budget by $67.7Mn, though this came from non-tax income rather than taxes, which fell $19.5Mn short. VAT remained the strongest source at $1.65Bn, while the new Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax raised only 52.7% of its target.
• On the spending side, expenditure of $3.925Bn overshot the budget by $103.9Mn, led by goods and services (15.3% above allocation) and capital spending (11.2% above budget), while public debt interest of $674.7Mn absorbed about 17% of revenue. Meanwhile, short-term loans involving public entities rose 22.1% to $728.7Mn, and all figures remain provisional until audited by the Auditor General.
• Overall, while the surplus marks an improvement in the Bahamas’ fiscal position, its narrow margin and dependence on one-off June inflows suggest that sustaining fiscal surpluses will require stronger tax collection and tighter control of spending

(Source: The Nassau Guardian)