The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Many entrepreneurs are planning “exit strategies” due to the high cost of doing business in the Bahamas, one owner telling Tribune Business: “You just don’t want to do business in the country any more”.

Scott Farrington, President of SunTee EmbroidMe, the nearly 30-year old Shirley Street-based firm, told Tribune Business that the company’s sales for this year’s Independence Day celebrations were “not as good as last year, nor the year before” in comparison.

And, on top of that, the full-service custom embroidery, screen printing and promotional products distributor had been broken into again on Tuesday night.

“If it wasn’t Independence I would shut the business down and send everyone home, without pay,” Mr Farrington told Tribune Business. “Should we continue to spend our money on fireworks and new government buildings, and not spend money on crime?

“It’s the cost of doing business in this country. You don’t want to do business in this country any more. I am not the only businessman feeling this way. A lot of people are planning what they call exit strategies.

“I know I’m dripping with sarcasm, but it’s the truth. The Government does not seem to get it. I don’t want to pay them any more money because they can’t seem to control it. They can’t be prudent with it as they should, so I don’t want to pay them any more, and a lot of other people feel the same.”

Many in the private sector have previously voiced concerns over this nation’s high business operating costs, with electricity prices topping the list. The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chairman, Robert Myers, recently told Tribune Business that with business operating costs in this country already too high, it was “dangerous” for the Christie administration to promise a minimum wage increase without any empirical data to assess the consequences.