PM announces independent entity to focus on country’s compliance

Barbados’ ability to be more compliant with international regulations is expected to get a boost with the establishment of a new independent entity.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced on Tuesday that Cabinet last week gave the green light for the establishment of Business Barbados, which she said “will house the corporate registry and the intellectual property registry with a separate division as well, focused purely on business facilitation in Barbados”.

“This is critical if we are to see greater efficiency in our regulatory compliance and in our business facilitation as a nation,” Mottley told lawmakers on Tuesday, as she delivered a ministerial statement in the House of Assembly to announce changes to the island’s corporate tax regime.

Mottley, who is also the minister responsible for finance, gave no indication of a timeline for the new entity to be functional or for the transition of the various departments from the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO). However, she gave the assurance that workers would be protected.

“We must now, therefore, engage with the workers and the representatives in the current institutions that exist to ensure that there is a seamless transition,” she said. “We will of course engage with all stakeholders across the private sector and the labour movement who are not directly involved in this immediate transition.”

Mottley said the changes to the corporate tax structure complemented the decision to establish the new entity.

She also announced that should there be higher than expected revenues as a result of the changes, the funds would go towards a special fund for various development projects, including the strengthening of the island’s climate resilience, as well as improvement in the quality of life of residents.

“We have already indicated that we will establish a legacy fund, which will accommodate much of the government’s illiquid assets (including land). We will use that legacy fund to house these illiquid assets, but we will also use the legacy fund to deposit any surplus revenue beyond that which is needed to maintain fiscal stability in the BERT 2.0 programme,” said the prime minister.

“So if we get a bounty, which is a possibility, we cannot use all of it on current expenditure but must be prepared to keep it for a rainy day. The priority for spending in that legacy fund, with respect to any funds coming from surplus revenue from corporation taxes, will be for improvements in our education system, with heavy concentration on skills and digital skills development.”

Mottley said the funds would also go towards “the strengthening of our healthcare system; the building of resilience within increased spending on adaptation to mitigate climate change effect for our people and our businesses; for debt reduction; and for investing in the development of our young people, particularly through sports and cultural development”. (MM)