NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) — The Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBB) says preliminary indications are that the domestic economy’s tempered pace of growth persisted during July, converging closer to its expected medium-term potential.

In its Monthly Economic and Financial Developments (MEFD) July 2025 report, the CBB said that tourism registered healthy, but moderated activity, as the high-value-added stopover segment remained capacity constrained, although the cruise sector continued to record robust growth.

Regarding price developments, the central bank said average consumer price inflation decreased during the 12 months to May 2025, relative to the same period in 2024, underpinned by reduced cost pressures from imported fuel and other goods and services.

On the fiscal front, preliminary data on the government’s budgetary operations for the first 11 months of the financial year 2024/25 showed that the deficit narrowed vis-à-vis the comparative period in the last financial year, as the growth in total revenue outpaced the rise in aggregate expenditure.

The CBB said monetary sector developments featured a buildup in banking sector liquidity, although the growth in the deposit base trailed the expansion in domestic credit. However, external reserves declined on account of net foreign currency outflows through the public sector, combined with reduced inflows via the private sector.

According to the CBB, monthly data suggests that during the review period, tourism sector earnings growth tapered, reflective of the constrained activity in the stopover segment. However, the cruise category remained buoyant and continued to attract significant foreign investments in the development of onshore private destinations.

It said official data from the Ministry of Tourism indicated that total arrivals grew by 10.7 per cent to one million visitors in June 2025, relative to the comparative period in 2024. It said underlying this development, sea arrivals rose by 13.8 per cent to 0.9 million. However, air arrivals declined by 3.1 per cent to 0.2 million.

On a year-to-date basis, total arrivals expanded by 10.6 per cent to 6.3 million visitors, vis-à-vis the same period in 2024. Contributing sea passengers grew by 13.1 per cent to 5.4 million. In contrast, air arrivals declined by 1.3 per cent to one million.

In the short-term vacation rental market, data provided by AirDNA showed that in July, total room nights sold rose by 3.1 per cent to 79,615, compared to the previous year.

However, due to expanded inventory, the occupancy rate for entire place listings fell to 52.5 per cent, from 55 per cent last year. In addition, the occupancy rate for hotel comparable listings reduced to 45.6 per cent in 2025 from 49.8 per cent in 2024.

The ADR for entire place listings rose by 12.9 per cent to US$592.40 relative to the comparative 2024 period, and by 4.7 per cent to US$186.92 for hotel comparable listings.

The CBB said that provisional data on the government’s budgetary operations for the first 11 months of the fiscal year showed that the overall deficit reduced to US$141.5 million, from US$151.1 million in the corresponding fiscal year period.

Total revenue rose by US$245.5 million to US$3.1 billion, overshadowing the US$235.9 million rise in aggregate expenditure to US$3.2 billion.

It said the growth in revenue collections was driven by a US$224.4 million expansion in tax receipts. Specifically, taxes on international trade and transactions increased by US$116.6 million to US$772.2 million, vis-à-vis the same period in 2024, led by a US$123.9 million rise in departure taxes and a US$1 million gain in customs and other import duties.

Further, taxes on goods and services advanced by US$111 million to US$1.8 billion, in comparison with the previous year. Of this amount, value added tax (VAT) receipts rose by US$70.8 million, and stamp taxes on financial and real estate transactions by US$17.2 million.

Non-tax revenue grew by US$20.7 million to US$322.6 million, due to a US$24.3 million expansion in proceeds from the sales of goods and services to US$242.8 million, driven by an increase in receipts from immigration, customs, general services and port and harbour fees.

The CBB said that the average consumer prices, as measured by the All-Bahamas Retail Price Index, decreased by 0.2 per cent during the 12 months to May 2025, after registering a two per cent increase in the comparative 2024 period.