While Jamaica and several other cash-strapped Caribbean nations are turning to the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance in the wake of the global meltdown, the Bahamas won't be among them, Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said.

``We have over the years been very careful about the extent of government borrowing in the Bahamas,'' Ingraham said during an appearance at the Americas Conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. ``Even in the present situation, while we had to boost government spending in the face of declining revenue, we are being careful to contain the rise in debt to GDP ratio so as not to hinder our ability to respond quickly to a turnaround in global economic fortunes.''

Ingraham said the Bahamas is finding ways to ease the hardship on the most vulnerable of its society, and so far, the strategy appears to be working.

``While the economy remains greatly strained, it is enduring,'' he said. ``Perhaps one of the most important lessons that we and all developing countries can take away from this current crisis is the importance of maintaining fiscal discipline.''

Still, the fact that several Caribbean nations have had to turn to lending institutions for help is a sign of how the recession has painfully reminded small island states ``the extent of their dependency and the paucity of options available to them in confronting a serious economic crisis.''

``In the face of growing unemployment, decelerating private sector credit and falling foreign direct investment, policymakers in an extremely open small economy have relatively little room for maneuver,'' he said.

Still, there is no doubt the global financial crisis has been hitting the Bahamas, a nation of 350,000 people with the third highest per capita income after the United States and Canada, hard. Investments have been reduced, tourism arrivals dampened and government revenue declining.

``At the same time, demands for social services spending increased sharply, the national debt increased as a percentage of gross domestic product and credit markets became more difficult to access or afford,'' Ingraham said, noting that before the crisis, the country's prospectives had been ``promising.''

``Never before has a crisis had such a widespread global impact as the one we are now witnessing,'' he said. ``It dramatically demonstrates the pervasive influence of the U.S. economy in the global economy. For almost two years now, we have endured a housing crisis, a fuel price crisis, a food price crisis and a financial crisis.''

In the face of the new economic reality, Ingraham said developing countries' futures will depend on how governments respond, and they should take advantage of the lessons taught by the crisis.

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