The Tribune

The Bahamas has “a lot of work to do” before it sees a dramatic improvement in the ease of doing business, the Opposition’s finance spokesman said yesterday, adding: “There’s just too much government bureaucracy.”

K P Turnquest, the east Grand Bahama MP, was commenting after Prime Minister Perry Christie said this nation must strive to move into the top 50 on the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index in five years, asserting that the current 106th ranking  does not reflect its capabilities and potential.

“There’s just too much government bureaucracy. There are too many agencies involved,” Mr Turnquest said. “You ought to be able to go to a ‘one-stop shop’ and get things done.

“There are so many various agencies that you have to go through. There is no ‘one-stop shop’ for everything. There has been some improvement with respect to the technology. However, it lags and there is a lot more work to be done.

“It’s not going to happen overnight. There are a number of things that need to be done. We have a lot of work to do before we see any real dramatic improvement in that regard.”

Mr Christie, while speaking this week at a seminar on  innovation, transparency and service delivery hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in conjunction with the National Development Plan secretariat, said this nation’s 106th  ranking is “not acceptable”. He stressed that there must be a transformation of the business climate in the Bahamas.

“Getting into business, the ease of opening a business, is a problem. There is also an issue with the registration of land and trademarks,” Mr Turnquest said.

“Then there are all of the inspections and licensing protocols that have to be done. There is also the issue of taxation. You have Business License, now VAT and this issue with NIB trying to get into the act with this Tax Compliance Certificate, all of which adds to the difficulty in doing business.

“You also have issues with collections, and there being no credit bureau to access creditworthiness. You also have a lack of financing. There is also the worker productivity issue. There are many issues affecting the ease of doing business in this country.”