Mr. Moss told the Bahama Journal on Monday that there is a debate as to whether the United States is indeed going to go through a recession.

"I know that as far as the technical parameters of how to define a recession are concerned, the U.S. is not technically in a recession yet," he said. "But when you look at the performance of the economy, the meltdown as a result of the sub prime loan crisis, the inflationary increases on fuel, and the downturn in the economy, I guess you can say a recession is taking place."

Mr. Moss pointed out that such factors listed above including job loss in the United States hint at a recession but that there is definitely going to be a distinct effect on Freeport.

"Freeport will feel the effects as opposed to the rest of the Bahamas," Mr. Moss said. "I think it’s only different in this sense that in New Providence in particular you are dealing with an economy that’s been fairly vibrant and that will be impacted so you’re looking at a state of performance that might be lessened."

Mr. Moss said the economy differs in New Providence from that in Grand Bahama.

"The difference in Freeport is that you’re looking at an economy that’s already been negatively impacted for some years now in terms initially of just the quality of the product that we had to offer," Mr. Moss said.

"There is a downturn in employment as a result of the hurricanes, the closure of the Royal Oasis and the termination of the 1,300 employees and so you already have an economy that is very negatively affected and any further negative effect might result in what the economist call a ‘tipping point’," he said.