The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Despite the Bahamas’ continued slippage in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ rankings, a Cabinet Minister said investor interest in this nation “hasn’t waned”.

Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, acknowledged, though, that “there are things we have to improve on” following the Bahamas’ slump to 121st position.

Adding that, with regard to his portfolio, the Bahamas was still attractive to investors, Mr Rolle said:

 “That hasn’t changed. If you look at the amount of projects we have approved,  and those that are working their way through the development phase, interest hasn’t waned on doing business in the Bahamas. But there are things that we have to improve upon.”

With regard to the Investments Board and improvements there, Mr Rolle conceded that there was still “more work to be done”.

“This is a work in progress. The consultant has completed the work, but we did some quick wins that I have mentioned before in terms of approving permit applications,” he added.

“Rather than waiting for months, it’s done weekly. We’ve improved the response time in that area but there are periods where we do get a backlog.”

Concerns about Investments Board delays had been raised at various intervals by attorneys and realtors since the Christie administration took office in May 2012.

The World Bank 2017 ‘ease of doing business’ rankings has the Bahamas ranked 121st out of 190 nations when it comes to facilitating private sector activity.

Most notably, this nation had dropped 73 places in the global rankings when it came to the ease of ‘paying taxes’.