Press Release

Source: Central Communications Unit, Ministry of Finance, The Bahamas
Date: May 13, 2026
Contact: MOFcomms@bahamas.gov.bs

In keeping with Section 61 of the Public Debt Management Act, 2021, the Debt Management Office of the Ministry of Finance is pleased to publish the March 2026 Public Debt Statistical Bulletin—the nineteenth in the series of official quarterly reports on public debt statistics in The Bahamas.

At end-March 2026, public sector debt outstanding stood at an estimated $14,109.3 million, representing increases of $57.0 million (0.4 percent) from end-December 2025 and $689.2 million (5.1 percent) relative to end-June 2025. Debt operations of the central government continued to be the predominant influence on the overall portfolio, with the stock advancing to $12,473.2 million, the equivalent of an estimated 75.5 percent of GDP. In contrast, the indebtedness of Agencies and Government Business Enterprises declined marginally by $9.5 million (0.6%) to $1,636.1 million.

Over the review quarter, foreign currency public sector debt declined by $77.9 million (1.3 percent) to $5,662.6 million, the equivalent of 43.6 percent of the total portfolio. For the nine months to March 2026, the $100.0 million (1.7 percent) expansion in indebtedness was largely shaped by the central government’s $226.1 million increase in liabilities to multilateral institutions, with offsets provided by net debt repayments to commercial debt ($91.4 million), private capital markets ($16.0 million) and bilateral obligations ($4.7 million).

The domestic component of public debt expanded by $134.9 million (1.7 percent) for the review quarter, and by $589.2 million (8.0 percent) on a year-to-date basis, reaching $8,446.7 million at end-March 2026. For the nine months period, short-term credit from the Central Bank broadened by $274.0 million (38.6 percent, while increased demand for government paper elevated liabilities to commercial banks and the private sector by $156.2 million (5.1 percent) and $130.9 million (4.5 percent), respectively.

On the currency front, Bahamian Dollar denominated obligations accounted for 56.4 percent of the total, followed by USD liabilities at 38.7 percent, and with EUR, CNY and SRD-denominated debt comprising the residual 4.9 percent. With respect to interest rate structure, fixed-rate obligations represented 66.3 percent of the public debt portfolio at end-March 2026—an improvement of 2.8 percentage points since end=June 2025 and consistent with the government’s ongoing strategy of anchoring borrowing costs through fixed-rate instruments.

The Government remains committed to transparency and accountability in debt management activities and invites stakeholders to visit the national Budget Website (www.bahamasbudget.gov.bs) to view the various published reports.