When Barbados’ economic fortune is discussed, one is often pointed toward other “pillars” of the economy as the leaders in this growth but a candid look at the status of these other sectors would suggest otherwise.
Between 1986 and now our hotel room stock has remained basically constant at 6 000 beds; sugar continues its significant decline; manufacturing has suffered significant decline since the devaluation of the Trinidad dollar in the late 1980s.
Given the limitations of the other sectors highlighted above, where has Barbados’ amazing development come from? The Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) would submit that this growth has been fuelled substantially by the international business services sector.
Up to now this evidence has been anecdotal, based on what we know of our members’ payments of taxes, fees, salaries, and accommodation as their directors flock to the island for meetings several times throughout the year.
Therefore, I am happy to see that the European Union-funded proposal recommending a mechanism for the measuring of this contribution on an ongoing basis has been submitted and that Invest Barbados has taken a lead role in facilitating this initiative.
If we simply take the contribution to corporate tax, which is the one figure that we have had consistently measured, we see that in 2009, international business contributed some $240.3 million, or 63.2 per cent, of all corporate tax earned by the Government.
What impact does that have on Government’s revenue? In 2009, the cost of health care in Barbados was $454.7 million. It is evident that in reality, without international business, half of our national health-care budget would be in peril.
The same would obtain for our education system, which had budgeted expense of $528.9 million. We cannot afford not to do better.
Given all of the foregoing, it strikes me that we need to be, by now, creating greater efficiencies, facilitating business much more quickly, and growing our reputation to be the jewel in the crown of international financial centres.
Recently, while addressing a gathering of business professionals in the services sector, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Maxine McClean repeated the axiom “governments don’t trade, businesses do”, adding “but Governments are expected to facilitate this trade”.
BIBA holds the view that in an ever increasingly competitive globalized business environment, Barbados has to be seen to be enhancing and not retarding the competitiveness of businesses which choose to reside here. Business facilitation is a key pillar on which Barbados can build on its path toward becoming the premier international business centre in this hemisphere.
Through dedication to improving the efficiencies of all the processes involved in doing business in Barbados, in both the private and public sectors, we, Team Barbados, can improve Barbados’ competitiveness and our capacity to reraise our true potential as an international business centre.
What we must be able to offer is certainty of process, if not certainty of outcome. That is, for each and every process and application form required to be submitted, there should be a comprehensive list of all the documentation required to accompany that application.
We should not have situations where an application is submitted, then six weeks later a request is made for additional documentation, and then three months later, another request.
The private sector can propose new legislation or changes to existing ones, but we certainly cannot bring it into force – hence, the need for a firm partnership.
