Former Governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas in discussing the IMF's recent recommendations for austerity by the Government said "that “it’s too narrow a measurement” to focus on debt-to-GDP ratios, which only assess a country’s debt as a percentage of its economic output, Mr Smith added that last year’s recession exceeded all the growth The Bahamas has achieved in the last 15 years." More in The Tribune here...
So what's his recommendation? Nothing to do with measuring debt levels of the government.
"...“If we create a few thousand hi-tech jobs that will not do what needs to be done. You’ve got to mop up a lot of unemployment among the growth..."
Not a bad idea, but as entrepreneurs are hamstrung with regulations and high taxes, this is easier said than done.
As pointed out in this 2017 piece:
"..., the government must get a handle on spending, causing a reduction in taxation and find a new respect for the entrepreneur and business if it expects to create the revenue necessary for their social welfare experiments.
"Otherwise the direction of the economy and public finances will continue on the precipitous slide it has been on for the past eight years or so."
Had the Bahamas Government stuck to Debt to GDP levels of 65% there may have been enough "headroom" to weather the present Covid-19 economic crisis, but the allure of debt to prop up political expediency was too difficult to pass up.
Instead we've received higher taxes, higher debt and more regulation. Obviously losing propositions.