The Tribune

Your Say

By LORETTA

BUTLER-TURNER

AN economy that leaves no one behind is the only way we as a nation can move forward, together.

With almost 16 per cent unemployment, many Bahamians are already being excluded.

However, the economic challenges that we face cannot be corrected with any one specific measure. To grow an inclusive economy for all, our policies in regulation, trade, crime and education must be re-evaluated.

Our economic security and future success depend on our ability to compete in a global economy, but our government must deliver real change for this to happen. We deserve trade policies that invite foreign investment; crime policies that demonstrate to the world The Bahamas are a safe place to do business; education policies that provide all children equal access to a good education; and a regulatory framework that nurtures innovation, not stifles it.

Recognising that our approaches to crime and education are interconnected with the economy is critical to achieving the opportunity and economic growth we deserve. Equal access to a quality education ensures that every hard working student, whether in New Providence or the Family Islands, will have the opportunity to succeed. Direct reforms to our education system, including curriculum standards, are necessary to improving graduation rates and transitioning students from school into fulfilling careers. What good are new jobs if we do not have a workforce with the skills and education needed to fill those jobs?

When students leave school early, they turn to crime or find themselves entering into the cycle of poverty that leads to crime. Crime presents a drain on our greatest asset in the Bahamas - our human capital. Rather than festering in or justice system, our people should be starting businesses and innovating. Too many young men and women are disappearing from our society only to re-emerge in a jail cell.

The growth of crime, violent crime in particular, presents another economic challenge - it causes our business community to lose confidence in The Bahamas as a place to do business. Violence, theft and narcotics not only unravel our societal fabric, they block investment at home and from abroad. If we want to participate in the global marketplace, then the world cannot view our nation as a market for drugs. Stiffer penalties for our most dangerous crimes; a zero-tolerance policy towards police corruption; and a move toward paperless money are a few ways to begin this process.

Investing in our people through education and restoring order to our communities through real action on crime, will encourage growth at home and begin to attract business from outside The Bahamas; however, our government must also evaluate how it can move out of the way of investment. According to the World Economic Freedom Index, The Bahamas are at the bottom of the list internationally in regards to trade and investment freedom. Through high tariffs, we are signalling to other countries that we do not want to trade with them and telling foreign companies that we are not open for business.

If we want outside investment and the jobs that come with global commerce, then our government needs to rethink its relationship with the world.

But entering into global commerce will require innovation, entrepreneurship and disruption of our regulatory scheme. We have hardworking, young Bahamian innovators and entrepreneurs who have the skills and ideas to grow successful businesses, but our financial system cannot support them. For businesses to grow, they must have access to capital and our banks are not lending. The government and regulators must work hand-in-hand with our banking system to ensure that entrepreneurs can acquire the financing they need to grow their businessed and to create jobs.

We deserve a healthy economy and while we have struggled through a global recession, if we move the Bahamas forward, together, our best days are still to come.

Loretta Butler-Turner is the Free National Movement’s Member of Parliament for Long Island. She is also the former minister of state for social development.