By RUPERT MISSICK Jr
PRIME Minister Perry Christie criticised the efforts of certain members of the international community to “maim and cripple, if not destroy, the offshore economies” of the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
Mr Christie made the statement during his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
The prime minister said that “unilateralism and diplomacy-by-coercion” are not the way the world should be dealing with this issue.
He said that there was a need to challenge the UN to take the lead in developing and refining multilateral global mechanisms for the governance of the offshore financial services sector.
The prime minister said that these mechanisms would meet the legitimate demands of the developed world for the protection of their fiscal systems and their need for greater security while at the same time allowing offshore financial service economies to continue to grow in an orderly and properly regulated way.
Mr Christie said that the international community cannot, on the one hand, proclaim that they believe in free trade and then implement policies that inevitably bring about the destruction of agriculture in the Caribbean; and then, simply shrug their “shoulders and piously lament that ‘the old order changeth’.”
“Too many times, in the headlong rush for change, we damage the vulnerable and the weak. We then make pledges to help but seldom live up to those pledges in any sustained way. We simply cannot build a credible new world order on the basis of such practices,” Mr Christie said.
The prime minister said that the government sees the same dynamic at work in the ongoing economic aggression of many of the more developed countries against small offshore financial service-based economies, especially in the Caribbean and The Bahamas .
“Some have used their power either unilaterally or in small groups of high-powered nations to impose their will, arguing that there is something fundamentally immoral, something intrinsically sinister, about the accumulation of wealth in offshore jurisdictions.
“We reject that premise and we criticize in the strongest possible terms the efforts of some to maim and cripple, if not destroy, the offshore economies within our region,” Mr Christie said.
The prime minister said ironically the anti-money-laundering, anti-terrorism funding, and anti-criminal regulatory regimes of many of the countries in the region are far more robust and demonstrably far more effective than the corresponding regulatory regimes in many of the same countries that are leading the fight against them.
“We firmly believe that offshore financial services can be responsibly operated and regulated. We believe that the sector represents true tax competition and, in the great majority of cases, it affords an honest opportunity for families and individuals alike to protect their privacy while accumulating lawfully earned capital for themselves and future generations,” Mr Christie said.
The prime minister said that the evidence is overwhelming that most of the investment of this offshore wealth takes place in, and generally benefits, the developed world.
Mr Christie said that the destruction of these offshore financial service economies will destabilize the countries that depend upon them for their livelihood.
“To destroy this sector in the Caribbean would effectively cause tens of thousands of newly empowered middle class citizens to slip back into poverty or to migrate to the developed world.
“The middle class of which I speak constitutes the anchor of social stability for the countries in our region. Take that away and social destabilization emerges as a risk of the most ominous kind,” Mr Christie said.
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Comments
My5Cents 10 years, 6 months ago
Ya finally talking sense Perry
Reality_Check 10 years, 6 months ago
POSSIBLY MUCH TOO LITTLE, MUCH TOO LATE Mr. Christie "Vomit" Christie! Both you and Mr. Hubert "Hubbigity" Ingraham, have been too easily conned into sucking much too much on that irresistible "poisonous lending tit" put to your mouths by the U.S. government and its agencies.
ONCE AGAIN: As a US citizen who has resided in the Bahamas for many years, I can only simply laugh at how foolish Bahamian voters are. It is well known that the IMF, WTO, World Bank, IDB, OECD, etc. are all agencies in the main of US foreign policy tasked with destabilizing other countries whenever it is considered to be in the best economic or security interest of the US. The destabilization is typically accomplished by getting the country hooked on more foreign debt than it can possibly ever service. It is also often accomplished by forcing a country to replace its more cost efficient and more easily monitored/enforced taxation systems (like import duties in the case of the Bahamas) with other taxation systems that are not suitable for the country due to their revenue raising ineffectiveness, excessive costliness to administer (for both the government and taxpayers alike) and inability to be cost effectively enforced.
It is really all too easy in countries like the Bahamas with a largely poorly educated voting citizenry to get dimwitted greedy influence peddling politicians and their crony supporters (whether they be on the PLP or FNM side of the table) to "sell out" their country by sucking on the "borrowing tit" placed at their lips by self-interested foreign interests.
banker 10 years, 6 months ago
Actually blaming the lender is not the answer. No one held a gun to the PM's head and said "Borrow or else". It is the fault of the government entirely. When they give out jobs as government largess, or squander money on Urban Renewal Programmes that don't work, or waste money instead of diversifying the economy, then it is the fault of the government.
It is the same as you and your household. If you can't run your household on what you make, then you get a better job, or a second job or you cut expenses. Because the government took the easy way out, it is not the fault of the IDB, OECD or IMF. But once you owe them money, they own you. It is the same for everything and everybody. It is the golden rule -- he who has the gold makes the rule.
spoitier 10 years, 6 months ago
As a Bahamian living in the US, I agree with a lot of your post, however, the US has the same poorly educated voting citizenry. The only difference is the citizenry in the US has programs that could get them through college almost for free and they don't take advantage of it.
hj 10 years, 6 months ago
Tell them Mr.PC. How dare they ( foreigners) try to destroy our small economy? This is your job.
TalRussell 10 years, 6 months ago
My, my. Some of you red shirts seem all red peppered up to get out the peg leg and eye patch to hang on PM Christie. Beware my red Comrades, cause we only allow one (uno) Bahamaland Prime Minister at a time. The way some your own red shirt leaders been do'in the "wobble dance" over in Miami with that Cuban Movement, it's even start'in to look a bit strange to Her Majesty over in England? Could Abaco's Edison soon be summoned to Buckingham Palace, to meet with Her Majesty the Queen?
ohdrap4 10 years, 6 months ago
Since when does anyone listen to what is said at the United Nations?
Do like Rouseff in brazil, she's got cojones.
TalRussell 10 years, 6 months ago
What a difference does a "in-charge" leader make when PM Christie lands on foreign soil to wag the tail for Bahamaland's economy. Minnis was also hired to lead his party just over a year ago and today the poor man, instead of doing the bossing, is being bossed around by Loretta and Darron? If this is not the case of the "two tails" wagging they leader, what in the living hell is? Poor Minnis, if only the man from Cooper's Town had stuck around his own party long enough after getting fired as PM to give the new red shirts leader some "orientation" into how tings does work as a defeated party leader? After all Hubert had two times experience on he resume, when it comes to getting your backside fired by the people.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 6 months ago
PGC IS talking to hear his head rattle and for the under educated .He knows that if we want to do business w/ the large clearing banks in New york and the other financial centers we have to play by their rules .If you want bank drafts etc ,from the central bank of the bahamas to have any worth at the clearing banks to buy goods and pay school fees etc ,,you got to abide by their rules .If you want large legit investors they have to be able to move their money .Why do you think Ryan Pinder et al kissed the ground in thanks when the U/S Just recently allowed a less strigent requirement process then had been expected ,. This is just emotive speech for the less informed ..when he says words like naim and killing its pure bluster ,their going sign every treaty they have to keep borrowing money and selling "bonds " on the finacial markets.
SP 10 years, 6 months ago
“Some have used their power either unilaterally or in small groups of high-powered nations to impose their will"
Truer words were never spoken.
Until the Caricom group of countries take the same stand as a group when dealing with the United Nations and respond as a "power block", first world countries will always dominate the arena.
Case in point is the multi-billion dollar cruise ship industry. Even though the Caribbean is by far the single biggest cruise ship destination in the world, Caribbean Island states only benefits what amounts to crumbs compared to cruise ship operators.
The reason the cruise ship industry can get away with this disparity is countries in the Caribbean continue to negotiate contracts, terms and conditions on an individual level to their detriment.
Small Island states simply do not have the clout individually to negotiate favorably with multi-billion dollar cruise ship operators who also maintain associations among themselves that plan and strategize how to manipulate the region in their favor.
The Caribbean also has the potential to FEED most if not all of the world.
WTO initiative was created by conglomerates that influence first word countries governments. These world leading producers have set their sights on Caribbean states ran by "MONKEYS" that do not have enough sense between them to develop the potential they sit on.
Until Caricom group of nations wakes up and firstly admit they are failures and learn to stand with one voice in regulating the cruise ship and financial sector business's to their benefit, multi-national conglomerates will continue to erode the recourses of this region until one day we realize we have gone full circle back to slavery.
Mr. Christie is on point and absolutely correct. However, he is but one voice in the wilderness trying to get the attention of the UN who has only just begun to hear the cries from Syria after over 100,000 people have been slaughtered by their own leader.
Caricom will have to immediately formulate a complete rebuttal of WTO and implement policies and strategies that benefit Island states as a region in order to survive.
Given Caricoms history, I seriously doubt they have the collective capacity to stop eating bananas and come to grips with what is painfully obvious for all to see and deal with the situation as a unified region.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 6 months ago
Then why does his MP Ryan Pinder keep signing factas and treatys so we can continue to trade and have the big clearing banks approve our drafts from the Central bank of the Bahamas .This is all emotive talk to rally the masses and PM Christie knows it ..
concerned799 10 years, 6 months ago
Good point SP:
Case in point is the multi-billion dollar cruise ship industry. Even though the Caribbean is by far the single biggest cruise ship destination in the world, Caribbean Island states only benefits what amounts to crumbs compared to cruise ship operators.
nothing in the Bahamas can be solved economically until this glaring problem is addressed.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 6 months ago
do you realize what the government collects from the cruise ships in dockage and departure tax ,when its not Jackson Rithcie,s company and the tax makes it to the treasury ,over 80 miillion a year ..
banker 10 years, 6 months ago
I am willing to bet that Fred wrote this speech. The trouble that I have with it, is that Christie is playing victim.
We wouldn't be victims if we diversified the economy years ago. We wouldn't be victims if we hadn't buried our heads in the sand in respect to "financial services" to the point where we were blacklisted by the OECD. We wouldn't be victims if we had judiciously spent money to update our tourist infrastructure to make it the experiential tourism product that successful purveyors of that product excel at today. We wouldn't be victims if we hadn't relied on anchor projects that were anchors around our economy. We wouldn't be victims if we didn't elect the PLP kleptocracy. We wouldn't be victims if pineapple-face actually governed instead of letting his caucus run ragged over him. We wouldn't be victims if we invested years ago in a decent education system, instead of letting Loftus Roker wreck it such that it still hasn't recovered. We wouldn't be victims if we declared a national maritime perimeter and taxed the cruise ships to traverse it. We wouldn't be victims if we were not the drug-running and human trafficking center of the Caribbean. We wouldn't be victims, if we were the masters of our own house.
Put plain and simple, these are self-inflicted wounds and now pineapple-face has his begging bowl out, whinging to the world community. It's embarrassing.
JohnDoe 10 years, 6 months ago
The fact of the matter is that this speech by the PM is directed at and for our local consumption rather than for anyone at the UN. Before 1999 when HAI was ordered to change our legislation or else these exact sentiments about unfairness were being echoed. And what has happened since. The OECD, FATF, G8 and G20 have continued their march of imposing extra-jurisdictional obligations on offshore centers, because it is in their best interest to do so. This trend will not be abated by our or Caricom's continued protest, that is the first fact we must come to grips with. Further, we nor Caricom have a meaningful carrot or stick to effectively influence this trend or debate. In other words this is the new paradigm or market reality that we will have to operate in. The countries that will be successful will be those that re-position themselves and their business models to leverage the growth opportunities inherent in this new reality. For over fifteen years we have been protesting that it is not fair, talking the same talk and doing absolutely nothing to re-position our economy or business model. This is not Sunday School, this is the real world. Sometimes things are just not fair, but we must still be practical and get on with it.
banker 10 years, 6 months ago
Amen and Amen and Amen!!!!!
concernedcitizen 10 years, 6 months ago
GREAT POST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PGC KNOWS IT TOO .
concernedcitizen 10 years, 6 months ago
What a bunch of bullsh#t as Ryan Pinder signs every finacial treaty w/ the IMF et all he can get his hands on .I f we want our drafts to clear other Nations clearing banks we have to sign the treaties.. PGC knows this he is an intelligent man playing w/ the under educated masses heads ,
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