The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas has too many barriers for investors despite thinking “we have the best product in the world”, a well-known developer said.

Jason Kinsale, Aristo Development’s president, told a recent entrepreneurship panel hosted by the Rotoract Club of East Nassau that high net worth individuals simply do not have the time or patience to tolerate bureaucracy.

The Bahamas ranked 121st out of 190 nations in the World Bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business ranking, and Mr Kinsale said: “We have to understand that the persons coming to this country - and I’m dealing with fairly high net worth individuals coming from places like Geneva, Canada and New York City - they don’t have the time and the patience.

“We think we have the best product in the world and everyone wants to come to the Bahamas. They don’t really want to come; they have to come because we are a tax haven, that’s the reality of the situation.

“They are buying real estate for residency, and a lot of them have never been here. We’re trying to convince them to spend $500,000 or $1 million.”

Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, recently admitted that the Government had been forced to “reconsider” plans to double the permanent residency investment threshold to $1 million, due to the “considerable push back” by realtors and developers.

Mr Kinsale added: “If an investor comes here and they get so frustrated that they give up, they can go to the Cayman Islands. Three weeks later they have their business set up and running, and they have forgotten about the Bahamas.

“We have a real phobia about trying to make life easier for our foreign investors. If you look at Toronto, Vancouver and Miami, foreign direct investment is driving those cities. A house in Toronto sells within one day with 20 offers. Here it could take six months. We don’t have enough people coming in, we aren’t making it attractive enough, and there are too many barriers to investment. We need to reduce the bureaucracy”.