Moody's announced Friday, July 1, 2016 that The Bahamas Baa2 rating is on review for a downgrade.

The government has not been on a sound fiscal footing for years now and growing the debt as dramatically as it has been doing, with ever increasing deficits it is not helping its cause with Moody's.

Specifically, the ratings agency is to:

Assess the likelihood that medium-term economic growth prospects will improve.

Assess the likelihood that the government will stabilize its deteriorating debt metrics and restore fiscal strength. And,

Assess the government's policy response and effectiveness in addressing its economic and fiscal challenges.

This is all quite ominous particularly as growth prospects continue to be eroded by the governments strong arm tax policy that is placing more and more strain on legitimate businesses with ever increasing taxation and regulations.

The government continues to expand each year and it is ever more difficult to get into private business. The most recent report suggests it has taken over 8 weeks to get a license to open a business.

Excessive tax and regulation coupled with corruption and graft spells even more trouble going forward.

It’s time for the Bahamian Government to understand and accept that a deepening of the market economy is the way to a successful country.

Find out more from Moody's here…

Read how being downgraded to “junk” could affect South Africa here…