The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net GREATER efforts need to be made in attracting new businesses to Grand Bahama and reducing the cost of doing business to help boost its ailing economy, the island's chamber of commerce president John Swain said yesterday. Mr Swain warned: "We can't continue at this same pace." According to the results of a Department of Statistics labour force and household income survey conducted in November 201, the unemployment rate in Grand Bahama now stands at 21.2 per cent. "Based on the numbers, you can see that we are still having challenges over here, the economy is the same, there is no significant improvement." He added: "There is no significant amount of new employment right now. During the time the survey was taken there would have been a rough time especially if you were in the tourism sector." Mr Swain said greater effort needs to be made in terms of attracting businesses to Grand Bahama. "We have to come to the realisation that we have to work harder and seek new ways of getting businesses to Freeport. We really have to be set on doing that. We have to look at our economy and see what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong. We can't continue at this same pace. People are going to continue to leave the island." Mr Swain added: "We have to look towards attracting businesses here and look at reducing the cost of doing business here. We can see the impact of the recession in real terms. Hopefully things will start to turn around soon. We at the Chamber are working towards strengthening our small businesses, the ones we have here and we are working with the Grand Bahama Port Authority in trying to attract new persons here." According to the Department of Statistics, the Bahamian unemployment rate is now at 15.9 per cent, with unemployment rate in New Providence at 15.1 per cent. The labour force now stands at 190,445 persons. According to the survey there was a 42 per cent increase in the number of discouraged workers on Grand Bahama.