More attention needs to be paid to Barbados’ international competitiveness, the executive director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB), Reginald Farley, has said.
He said that while the recent Budget “sought to claim some low hanging fruit in relation to opportunities in tourism and international business”, they were longer term issues which had to be addressed.
Service standards had to be improved and the island needed to be “faster and best in class”, the former Government minister said.
“A five star destination isn’t the easiest place to do business,” he added.
Farley was making a contribution during the recent annual post-Budget breakfast meeting hosted by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers at Hilton Barbados.
“This is essentially a structural adjustment Budget, an 18-month programme intended to engender confidence in the exchange rate and therefore preserve it, one intended to address the question of chronic fiscal deficits and also to lay a foundation for growth,” he said.
He noted that while such measures were important, there were fundamental issues related to competitiveness which had to be resolved.
“We need to make sure that we are able to earn our way in the world but we have been undermining that by being uncompetitive in a number of sectors,” he noted.
Farley said the culture of service in Barbados had to be improved in both the private and public sectors but noted that officers in the public sector needed to fully understand private sector challenges.
“I certainly support the announcement of special implementation units but they have to be properly staffed with persons of the right mindset. They also have to work at getting those permanent public officers who are there whether we like it or not to be with us more often and to really understand the sectors and issues before us,” he said. (NB)
