By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
A Cabinet minister yesterday said his ministry has granted “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in tax breaks and concessions to manufacturing and other businesses since July 2020.
Elsworth Johnson, minister of financial services, trade and industry and immigration, addressing the House of Assembly during the mid-term Budget debate, said an information webinar is being jointly planned for mid-March with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources to small and medium-sized manufacturers more aware of the incentives available to them.
He added: “New registrants on to the Industries Encouragement Act can apply and pay online for concessions via the web page on the official website. Local manufacturers will enjoy a faster process that gives quick access to related tax relief and concessions.”
Mr Johnson further pledged his ministry’s desire to improve the 'ease of doing business' by “improving the speed of processing requests", while adding that The Bahamas had moved to secure continued duty-free access for its exports to the UK following that country's Brexit exit from the European Union (EU).
"The Bahamas has successfully deposited its instrument to provisionally apply and exchange notes to facilitate trade between CARIFORUM, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on January 1, 2021," Mr Johnson said.
"Following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, these formal arrangements will ensure that exports from The Bahamas continue to benefit from duty-free access to the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland.”
He added: “The [trade] unit is currently working along with the Office of the Attorney General and the Law Reform Commission to review existing intellectual property and competition policy and, of course, on the horizon, we have the nation's eventual accession to the World Trade Organisation, which will bring even more trade opportunities for local businesses on the trade market.”
The trade unit is also preparing a five-year review of the CARIFORUM/European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). “Several priority pieces of draft legislation are undergoing a gap analysis to ensure that commitments in the EPA are met,” Mr Johnson said.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID