VIII.  TRADE AND PROJECT FINANCING:

The many off-shore banks and financial institutions in The Bahamas are
prohibited by law from investing their resources within the country.
Thus, most financing for the private sector in The Bahamas thus comes
from the relatively small number of commercial banks licensed to
operate domestically or from The Bahamas Development Bank, which is a
government-operated institution established to provide medium- and
long-term financing to projects in priority areas of the economy.
Projects in The Bahamas are also eligible, in some instances, for
financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), the Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), or from multilateral institutions
such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) provides funding to
primarily public sector entities, for the design and execution of
projects.  IDB projects afford U.S. suppliers of goods and services
significant export opportunities, mainly in the transportation,
environment, health, education, urban development, tourism,
agriculture and energy sectors.

U.S.  firms seeking information on IDB-financed commercial
opportunities should contact:

U.S. Department of Commerce Liaison Officer to the
Inter-American Development Bank
U.S. Executive Directors Office
1250 H Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, D.C.  20005
Telephone:  (202) 942-8265
Fax:  (202) 942-8275

or

Office of Multilateral Development Banks
U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room H-1107
Washington, D.C.  20230
Telephone:  (202) 482-3399
Fax:  (202) 273-0927

or

IDB Bahamas Office
Carlos Conde, IDB Representative
IDB House, East Bay Street
P.O. Box N-3743
Nassau, Bahamas
Telephone:  (809) 393-7159
Fax:  (809) 393-8430

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a
member of the World Bank group makes long-term loans at market-
related rates primarily to developing nations.  The International
Development Agency (IDA), the soft loan window of the World Bank,
lends to the poorest of the development countries.  Both the IBRD and
IDA work to promote broadly based economic growth, frequently on
structural adjustment, sectoral reform and individual project lending,
and operate under the same set of procurement guidelines.  Typically
the World Bank does not finance the entire cost of a project.  Rather, it
finances the components of a project purchased with foreign exchange,
which on average is about 40 percent of the total project cost.  Each
project may cover a wide variety of sectors and can involve anywhere
from one to hundreds of separate contracts providing export business
opportunities for suppliers worldwide.

Contacts:

U.S. Department of Commerce Liaison
to the U.S. Executive Directors Office
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
1818 H St., NW
Room D-13004
Washington, D.C.  20433
Telephone:  (202) 458-0118
Fax:  (202) 477-2967

or

Office of Multilateral Development Banks
U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room H-1107
Washington, D.C.  20230
Telephone:  (202) 482-3399
Fax:  (202) 273-0927

Major Bahamian banking institutions which can provide financing for
certain projects in The Bahamas include:

-- Bahamas Development Bank, P.O. Box N-3034, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:
   (809) 352-5780

-- Bank of The Bahamas, Ltd., P.O. Box N-7118, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:
   (809) 326-2560; fax no. (809) 325-2762

-- Barclay's Bank, P.O. Box N-8350, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:  (809) 322-
   4921

-- British-American Bank, P.O. Box N-7502, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:
   (809) 327-5170; fax no. (809) 327-5166

-- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), P.O. Box N-7125, Nassau,
   Bahamas.  Tel.:  (809) 322-8455; fax no. (809) 326-6552

-- Citibank Bahamas, PO Box N-8158, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:  (809) 322-
   4240; fax no. (809) 323-3088

-- Commonwealth Bank, P.O. Box SS-6263, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:  (809)
   328-1854

-- Royal Bank of Canada, P.O. Box N-7537, Nassau, Bahahas.  Tel.:  (809)
   322-8700; fax no. (809) 322-6381

-- Workers Bank, Ltd., P.O. Box GT-2514, Nassau, Bahamas.  Tel.:  (809)
   325-1200

Lending Behavior:  Bahamian banks tend to be far more conservative
than their American counterparts in making business loans, often
asking for high levels of collateral.  At the end of 1993, the prime
lending rate in The Bahamas was 7.25 percent.  Commercial bank rates
for consumer loans ranged from 14.23 to 18.23 percent, for residential
mortgages from 10.65 to 12.38 percent, for commercial mortgages from
10.25 to 11.58 percent, and for "other local loans" from 9.61 to 12.12
percent.