IN ORDER FOR Barbados’ economy to grow, there must be an environment which encourages inward and outward investment.
So says chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association Alex McDonald who addressed the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s monthly luncheon today at Hilton Barbados.
“In this system we should strive to have less rules and regulations, less manual processes, less ‘nos’ and more ‘yeses’. Barbados must be seen as a place where doing business is easy with processes that are well understood and people with the work ethic that matches the aspirations of the new economy,” McDonald said.
Citing the World Bank’s report on the ease of doing business, he noted that Barbados ranked 91 out of 189 countries.
McDonald said all of the aspects of the World Bank report in which the island scored very poorly were outside of the influence of the private sector. These included registering property, protecting investors and enforcing contracts.
He however noted that across both the private and public sectors there was “endless paperwork, invasive questioning, too many uninterested front line staff and too many unsympathetic managers”.
McDonald said private sector leaders had to engage more meaningfully on the state of the economy and society. (NB)
