Industry sees major rebound in 2023, but bemoans price controls

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The President of the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association (BMDA) yesterday lamented the burden of rising business costs and underscored the industry's ongoing efforts to seek relief from price controls, citing these challenges as impediments to growth.

"We fall in the category of price control, and we want to have a sit down with the government and discuss relieving price control to pass on some of the costs. A lot of costs have gone up.  A lot of things are working against growth. We pay business licenses on gross turnover, which in this business is high, but net profit is far lower. The cost of business is continuously going up but profit margins remain the same. We are not the only ones. Others feel the same pain across various industries," said BMDA president Ben Albury.

In addition to the rising energy expenses, Albury highlighted concerns regarding the government's intensified business license regulations. Under this enhanced regime, businesses with annual turnovers of $5 million and above are mandated to include a comprehensive audit along with their business license filings. This, he noted, may potentially result in additional financial burdens for affected businesses.

"A full audit can be quite expensive, especially for those who own more than one dealership. We already are essentially audited in that we have an external CPA to sign off on financials, revenue, and so forth. The government has put together some stiff fines for people who underreport and I congratulate them because some are honest and some aren't and the ones that are have had to pick up the slack," Albury stated. 

With regards to the industry's performance in 2023, Albury said: "I would say that 2023 was fantastic. We had a major rebound. The numbers were unmatched unless you went back as far as 2008. The biggest concern right now is that although the supply chain is opening up a lot of manufacturers are still having shortages of parts and components which correlates to challenges getting certain vehicles."

Albury added: "I'm hoping to have an improvement over last year. We do see a lot of interest in some cases, more than what I have available in key products. My best-selling product has been the hardest to get."

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