The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor THE INTER-American Development Bank's (IDB) country representative yesterday pledged to reach out more effectively to the Bahamian private sector, admitting that the institution was perceived as "too stodgy and bureaucratic". Pointing to the $500 million advanced to the Bahamas since it became one of the IDB's 48 country members in 1977, Astrid Wynter unveiled several upcoming initiatives that the bank was working on with the Government, one focusing on measures to support its trade-related tax revenues. This will largely focus on Bahamas Customs, and the duties/taxes it collects, aiming to boost efficiency in tax administration and reduce revenue loss. This initiative is important given the context of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), and the tariff eliminations and reductions these demand. Ms Wynter said the initiative, set to be enacted under the Trade Sector Support heading, would involve setting up "an electronic single window" to eliminate the manual processes employed by Customs now. "The file has to go from one officer to another officer, and there's a lot of inefficiency," she added. The IDB's Bahamas country representative also pledged that the project to improve this nation's "non-contributory" (non-National Insurance Board) social safety net would result in a more transparent system, with persons given an 'exit route' from welfare dependency in a programme designed to provide "better value" for taxpayer dollars. "There will be a proxy means test so that we have a more transparent mechanism for identifying and targeting people who need support, and also an exit strategy so that people can return to normal life," Ms Wynter told the Bahamas Business Outlook conference. The proposed reforms to the social security system will also, as previously detailed by Tribune Business, involve the introduction of 'cash-in-kind' programmes, where benefit recipients have to meet certain conditions and criteria in order to receive their monies. Ms Wynter said these conditions might include terms such as a benefit recipient ensuring their children attended school 95 per cent of the time. "It has the benefit of bringing transparency, efficiency and better value for money," she added. Other technical co-operation projects in the IDB pipeline include initiatives to assist Bahamian fly and bonefishing guides and that sector of the economy; agriculture and growers in Abaco; and microfinance. Ms Wynter, meanwhile, acknowledged that she had "often heard the complaint" that the Bahamian private sector did not know how to interact, or engage with, the IDB. The bank, she added, wanted Bahamian companies, consultants and service providers to participate in as many of its procurement opportunities as possible. "We believe the window of private sector engagement in the Bahamas is too low," Ms Wynter said of the rationale underpinning the IDB's private sector outreach drive. "We have a reputation of being difficult, stodgy, too bureaucratic, and that there are too many steps. We want to change that. We want to do the outreach." The IDB country head said some argued that the bank's professed "priority" of assisting small and medium-sized businesses was "contradicted" by the fact few were participating in its procurement processes, or winning contracts on projects it financed. She added that Bahamian companies should look to pool expertise, financial and technical resources by joint venturing with other firms, either from the Caribbean or further afield, as this would enable them to better meet IDB pre-qualification requirements. Ms Wynter said the IDB was assessing whether to adjust the FINPYME initiative, which seeks to provide credit to companies that export goods or services. Currently, to qualify companies must generate a minimum $500,000 in annual sales. "We're debating right now, pushing for this project to adjust the minimum to meet a more reasonable sales [requirement] for the Bahamas market. We feel there is a demand," she added. Elsewhere, two Bahamas-based organisations had joined the Caribbean Micro Finance Alliance, with one set to participate in an institutional strengthening exercise. And just one Bahamian company had applied for the $32.55 million grant financing made available under the Compete Caribbean programme.