The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday urged to designate the storm-ravaged southeastern Bahamas as a ‘tax-free zone’ to give the area’s island economies a “shot in the arm”.

Long Island businessman Mario Cartwright, the immediate past president of the island’s Chamber of Commerce and a current director, told Tribune Business that the south-had Bahamas’ economy had been “neglected for eons” and was in desperate need of a revival.

Mr Cartwright, speaking with Tribune Business at this year’s National Conclave of Chambers of Commerce, said: “Even before Hurricane Joaquin, the south-eastern Bahamas has been neglected for eons. Their economies need a shot in the arm. The Government must offer some sort of stimulus to boost the economies in the southeastern Bahamas.

“What we are suggesting as the Long Island Chamber is that places like Long Island, Rum Cay, Crooked Island, Acklins, Mayaguana, Inagua and Ragged Island become more like a free-trade zone,” Mr Cartwright said.

“That means that for the foreseeable future, there should be no VAT, no import taxes, no Business License fees, and that would encourage persons to invest there by offering them a stimulus. These are the things the Bahamas government should address very quickly.”

Joaquin, a Category Four hurricane with maximum sustained winds around 130 miles per hour, battered the southern and central Bahamas last October, leaving massive devastation in its wake.

The Government had pegged Joaquin’s damage at $60 million initially, but that has since been increased to $80 million and, in December, Prime Minister Perry Christie said the figure was closer to $100 million.