The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

IN his New Year message last night Prime Minister Perry Christie said Bahamians should expect improved economic conditions in 2015.

He also expressed confidence in the January 1 rollout of Value Added Tax, saying Bahamians will come to appreciate the government's decision to introduce the tax.

Mr Christie also pledged to continue his government's efforts toward stemming the tide of illegal immigration following a year when its policy reforms and actions received a swell of support from Bahamians but also attracted criticism from civil rights activists and international scrutiny.

Mr Christie acknowledged that the country's crime plights remain a problem for the country, calling it the "biggest single challenge facing our nation today."

He said: "For one, tax reform is now in full stride with the introduction of VAT on the 1st January 2015 … I have complete confidence that once we get beyond the inevitable growing pains that always attend the early days of important changes, the Bahamian people will see that we were right to introduce VAT and do it when we did.

"We were right because VAT is going to expand the revenue base in a way that will enable the government to better meet the social and infrastructural needs of the Bahamian people, now and well into the future."

Regarding immigration, he said: "2014 was also an important year for immigration reform. We were able to make impressive strides in tackling our illegal immigration problem. We intend in 2015 to continue on this course to ensure that the tide of illegal immigration to the Bahamas is stemmed. We are a compassionate and generous people but there are limits to what we can do.

"We simply cannot afford to absorb the ever-increasing costs of an ever-increasing body of illegal migrants. The entire well-being of the Bahamas will be irrevocably compromised unless we continue to stand firm on immigration. My government intends to do just that."

As for the economy, Mr Christie said: "In 2015, you can also expect to see major positive advances on the economic front. The multi-billion dollar Baha Mar project – the largest of its kind in the entire region – will come on stream, beginning at the end of March. This is going to create no fewer than 5,000 new jobs for thousands of Bahamians while at the same time consolidating the Bahamas as the pre-eminent tourism destination in our region."

Mr Christie said crime was "the biggest single challenge facing our nation today".

"It threatens to unravel all the good things we are doing. The continued stability of our country, so long the envy of the region, hangs in the balance. It is incumbent upon all of us, therefore, to work collaboratively with each other so that together we can defeat the forces of criminality in our land. Accordingly, we will be implementing a series of innovative initiatives aimed at breaking the back of crime, especially violent crime, in our country.

"These measures will be the subject of further discussion in due course but it would obviously not be politic for me to go into specific detail on these sensitive matters in this forum. After all, we do not want to tip our hand to the criminal elements."