Complaints about “exceedingly slow” decision-making on investment projects and unsatisfactory treatment made by persons interested in investing in The Bahamas have key economic players and heads of various business associations concerned.
President of the Bahamas Hotel Employers Association J. Barrie Farrington said in an interview with the Bahama Journal Thursday that these complaints are bad news for the country because the economy is in need of stimulation at this time and can ill afford to lose out on potential investment opportunities.
“Government’s position must be that because we need direct foreign investment, all effort has to be made in order to encourage and facilitate inquiries with respect to investing in the country,” Mr. Farrington said. “[The reported complaints] are a concern because we really do need to have direct foreign investment if we are to grow the economy.”
The best scenario, he said, would be when the country has an opportunity to experience much-needed economic stimulation through foreign investment and persons involved in the process would be attentive to assist investors in bringing their projects to a successful completion.
The complaints reported by potential investors were made through the Economic Outlook Survey conducted by a Coalition of Private Sector Organisations. The reports of unsatisfactory treatment were made by some of the 87 businesses responding to the survey, which was conducted between January 24 and 31, 2003.
President of the Nassau Tourism and Development Board Frank Comito explained that some of the businesses interact regularly with investors and reported what those investors related to them.
According to Mr. Comito, an aspect of the investment process that requires immediate attention is the level of efficiency with which proposals are treated. Delays in approval of projects and installation of utilities, he said, all affect the cost of doing business and negatively impact the climate for investment.
Steps must be taken now to improve the operational environment for investors and define a clear vision for moving forward, he added.
“We’re going to have to better organise the development of the economy,” Mr. Comito said. “It’s going to require a lot of leadership not only from the government but also from the private sector and the unions.”
He said the survey results point to some aspects of the economy that must be addressed because if they are not they could do serious damage to the economy and could reduce the country’s ability to generate employment opportunities, investment and revenue in the future.
Additionally, there must be improved collaboration between the public and private sectors if persons interested in investing are to be assisted in completing their projects and the economy is to experience any meaningful growth, President of the Bahamas Employers Confederation Brian Nutt said.
“Our concern is that if a foreign investor has investigated The Bahamas enough to decide that he wants to make an investment and then is not treated in a manner that he considers to be proper and therefore withdraws from The Bahamas and doesn’t make an investment here that will prevent our economy from being able to benefit from that potential investment,” Mr. Nutt said. “So of course we would like to see investors treated in a way that they feel is appropriate.”
The survey suggested that several initiatives could be implemented to help stimulate the economy. These include: implementing an aggressive tourism promotion effort, creating selective investment incentives or tax cuts, and reducing interest rates.
While the survey pointed out that some investors have been treated “poorly”, it did not provide specifics on how those investors were handled.
Reports of bad treatment of investors directly contradict the governments “roll back the red tape and roll out the red carpet” policy that key government officials have been articulating since the new administration came to office last May.
By Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
