The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

BORDER control remains a major concern for customs according to its Comptroller Charles Turner who said that a large portion of the $16.5 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan would be used to train customs officers for WTO accession.

“The $16.5 million is going to be spread out for the replacement of the computerised system and additionally a large portion will be diverted toward the training of Customs officers. We will soon join the WTO and in joining the WTO there are certain things we have to have our officers trained in, for example the rules of origin, intellectual property rights and valuation agreements. This loan will assist in the modernisation because customs officers will be trained in those areas,” said Turner.

An IDB report for the $16.5 million Trade Sector Support Programme, a project that aims to boost trade and enhance revenue collection, says the Government is losing $66 million in revenues annually due to inefficiencies at Bahamas customs alone, the situation also placing tourism industry profitability and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows ‘at risk’.

The IDB warned that Bahamas customs’ current woes also threatened the nation’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) accession and implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed with the European Union (EU).

The IDB report says customs was heavily reliant on the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and Harbour Patrol for its border control and security strategy. Mr Turner said: “Additionally the loan will assist in boarder control. There will be developed a marine division and a canine unit within customs.”

Among the concerns identified by the IDB paper was the low five per cent success rate when it came to seizures of illegal and smuggled goods during physical inspections of cargo by Bahamas customs.

This, the report added, resulted in the ‘excessive use’ of physical inspections by customs, with up to 80 per cent of cargo imported into the Bahamas subjected to this process. This, in turn, affected ‘the efficient and timely clearance of goods’, increasing costs for the Bahamian private sector and creating logistics/inventory management issues.