During his contribution to the 2025-2026 budget debate in the House Of Assembly, Minister of Immigration and National Insurance, the Hon. Alfred Sears addressed the sustainability of the National Insurance Board (NIB).
It was revealed that NIB has a projected deficit of approximately $32 million. Sears outlined ongoing efforts to breach the fiscal gap such as the new compliance and recovery initiative. He said, “under this initiative monthly sweeps will be conducted in high risk red zones across eastern, western and central New Providence as these are the areas with historically low compliance rates. Teams of redeployed inspectors will be mobilized with one mandate, to close compliance gaps, recover outstanding contributions and register unreported businesses. These efforts will be supported by mobile compliance stations offering on the spot services.”
NIB is also carrying out a contribution interest waver campaign. Sears said, “this targeted campaign is designed to reduce expenditure for businesses particularly in storm impacted and pandemic affected zones, facilitate business continuity by mitigating a segment of the interest obligation, encourage re-engagement with the formal system, accelerate recovery of arrears and improve The Bahamas’ ease of doing business ranking.”
Sears expressed that the results will be remarkable and bring relief.
