The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE private sector's concerns over the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) initiative have not changed since the first Christie-led administration introduced the scheme in 2006, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation's (BCCEC) chief executive warning on the further added cost burden it would impose.

Winston Rolle told Tribune Business: "The whole NHI initiative has always been a topic of discussion, and the concern is not going to be any different now than it was then.

"There is going to be concern about cost because someone has to pay for it, then there is the implementation. What's going to be the approach to implementation from a timing perspective, as well as how that cost going to be distributed between the businesses?

"Right now, there have been quite a number of new taxes that have been put on the business community, and with any other tax that's going to be put on the business community we will have to be mindful of the net impact of such an initiative."

Mr Rolle added: "I don't think anyone would be against anything that would be to the benefit of their employees, but you still have to look at the fact that we are in a recessionary period, and cost has to be a key decision factor in any decision that is taken."

The PLP has promised to make every effort to lower the cost of electricity, implementing such a plan within its first 100 days in office. This, according to its Charter for Governance, will include a national evaluation of the economic viability of having a single, efficient energy plant to service more than one island.

Mr Rolle said lower electricity costs would be good news for the business community, but it had to be an initiative that would be sustainable in the long-term.

"That would be excellent news, but we also have to look at how do we not only reduce it in the short-term but in the long-term as well," Mr Rolle said of energy costs. "We need to be sure that what we do is not just a flash in the pan, but something that's going to be sustainable in the long-term."