As you may be aware, the U.S. government is currently shutdown due to a failure in Congress to pass the necessary appropriations for the 2026 fiscal year. In The Bahamas, the fiscal year runs from July 1 – June 30 with the U.S. equivalent being October 1 – September 30. For investors, the question of what this actually means often arises. To be clear, this is not the first shutdown and likely will not be the last. Each year, congress must pass appropriation bills which authorize spending for major agencies such as Education and Defense. When they fail to pass these, the government is legally prohibited from spending money and thus a ‘shutdown’ occurs.
