Economic Impact on the Bahamas Could Reach 7 Billion after Hurricane Dorian

Hurricane Dorian reaches St. Thomas on Aug 28 making its way through the Virgin Islands gaining strength, by the time the hurricane hit the Bahamas it was classed as a category 5.

Buildings were destroyed, roofs were torn off, trees were felled, streets and homes were flooded, and cars, boats, and debris were strewn everywhere,

AIR Worldwide’s report said.

Total property losses in the Bahamas, not including infrastructure and vehicles, could reach $7 billion, the firm Karen Clark & Co. estimated.

Relief Efforts

Due to the devastating disaster, many nations have pulled together to provide relief.

The United Nations have ordered eight tons of ready-to-eat meals and is currently in the process of providing satellite communications, airlift storage units, and generators in an effort to set up logistics hubs in the Bahamas.

A British Ship has been distributing supplies to survivors of the hurricane, with a cruise ship dropping off 10,000 meals, 10,000 bottles of water and more than 180 generators, as well as diapers and flashlights.

China has also pledged a relief effort, however, this has caused serious concern from the US with some officials worried that China’s motivation for the relief effort is to actually to gain position and prominence in the Caribbean nation.

There are certainly concerns about the Chinese having full access to the region” commented Fernando Cutz a former senior director in the Trump administration’s National Security Council.

He added, “You could imagine a situation where they would develop intelligence capabilities, intelligence gathering capabilities.” And, of course, they could potentially one day have a base, a naval base or some sort of Chinese military base that close to our shore would pose a very significant national security issue for the United States.

The main concern is that now the country is in need of financial support China will take the opportunity to heavily invest in the country thus leading to the country being indebted to China creating Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere.

The Chinese are also looking to invest to capitalise on the favourable conditions of investment in the Bahamas with GDP 30,762.01 USD paired with a strong tourism sector. Tourism as an industry not only accounts for about 50% of the Bahamian GDP but also provides jobs for about half of the country’s workforce.