Policymakers in Barbados are being called on to urgently attend to outstanding issues impacting on the ease of doing business here in order to attract more investment and to grow the international business sector.
President of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) Julia Hope expressed disappointment that after years of calling for improvements only a few achievements have been made.
She was addressing the opening of the association’s annual conference today, the flagship event for International Business Week at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre under the theme Harnessing Global Opportunities.
In her final speech as BIBA president, Hope challenged her fellow international business sector operators to be more innovative in their approach to doing business.
“I lay down the gauntlet to you all . . . we have to be rock stars. I have had enough of observing what our counterparts in other jurisdictions are doing and doing well, I might add,” she said.
“We have to be innovative. Take sensible and legitimate risks. We have to be risk takers. We’ve got so many opportunities at our fingertips. We really could be the jurisdiction of choice for global business. This could be a reality if we harness the opportunities that present themselves. So what is stopping us?” she added.
She urged policymakers and sector officials to “bring new ideas to the fore, work harder and work faster and build your roadmap to global dominance”.
In relation to the topic of doing business in Barbados, the senior executive said while there had been several positive signs there was still a lot of work to be done.
She said BIBA was especially impressed by the changes made to the Town and Country Planning department, and believed it should be replicated across other Government departments “to make them agile”.
Making reference to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2019, she expressed gratitude that Barbados had submitted data so the country could be involved in the ranking of the 140 countries. Barbados was ranked 77th in the last report.
“We are just above Trinidad and Jamaica. This report covers much more than just international business as you can imagine, but if I focus on just one area, the time taken to start a business, we are ranked 85th and our entrepreneurial culture is ranked 125th. The skill is higher up the ranking as is country stability and ICT capability and capacity. It is a mixed bag,” she said.
“We therefore urge the Government and our strategic partners to work with the private sector to bring about the necessary change. Until then ladies and gentlemen, we will keep beating a drum,” said Hope.
In his presentation to the organization, President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr Warren Smith supported Hope in her call for urgent improvement in the doing business climate of the island, pointing out that the international business sector was a critical one for Barbados’ growth and development.
Pointing to the World Bank Doing Business Index, Smith pointed to the country’s decline in ranking from position 89th out of 178 countries to 129th out of 190 countries over the past seven years.
“In comparison to other countries that were ranked, Barbados needs to pay particular attention to improving investor protection, contract enforcement and cross-border training. These areas are critical for the activities of the international business community, and as such, require urgent attention by policymakers,” said Smith.
Pointing to the proliferation of modern forms of technology, which he said made for increased movement of capital and human, Smith said in order to attract multinational corporation and highly qualified labour “small developing countries such as Barbados must provide appropriate regulation and institutional support for prospective investments”.
Smith lauded Government on its recent changes to the Foreign Exchange Control Act, saying it was a “step in the right direction”.
However, he quickly pointed out that “this requires complementary policies and institutional strengthening to ease the process of relocation and resettlement”.
“Allowing easy inputs of foreign labour can serve to improve training and upscaling the local content of the workforce. Such a competitive and global marketing requires frequent knowledge transfusion and upgrading to better use new technologies and adopt modern practices. Digital transformation is the new nexus for growth and development.
The economist said in order to attract more investors and grow the competitiveness of this sector there needed to be greater focus on facilitating modern payments systems, strong regulation as well as monitoring and reporting of activities in the sector.
He said there were several areas that could be enhanced through the use of modern technology and appropriate regulatory framework and oversight, including the domestic payments systems, data collection and updated and well maintained website for the international business sector.
“Barbados must adopt the technology of tomorrow, today. We are already seeing the efforts in this light with the modernization of the public sector service delivery, but we know that much more needs to be done,” he said. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb
