The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The next administration’s five-year term is “pivotal” for reviving the Bahamian economy, the Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive yesterday expressing hope it will pick up talks on revising the National Investment Policy.

Edison Sumner told Tribune Business that the private sector representative would seek to engage with the new administration “very early on”, in a bid to address key concerns impeding economic growth.

He disclosed that among these issues was the resumption of talks to amend the National Investment Policy in a bid to improve its efficiency and transparency, but also making it more “equitable” and geared to Bahamian investors.

“We started this process with the Bahamas Investment Authority in the Office of the Prime Minister two years ago,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business.

“We were looking at our investment policy, the climate in the country, and looking at ways to improve the Policy; make it more equitable with investors getting faster response times, and a structured due diligence process, but with the same level of attention given to domestic investors so that everyone wanting to participate has the right and opportunity to do so.”

The Chamber chief executive added that the initiative was intended to “encourage” increased local and foreign investment in the Bahamas, with the private sector and the Government still working on the potential revisions.

“This is something we determined will not happen overnight,” Mr Sumner said. “It will be an exercise that will take several years to go through, as there are so many moving parts to consider.”

Emphasising that the Chamber “expected to continue” these discussions with the new government following today’s general election, he added: “This is going to be extremely important.

“Although the Government will have its own agenda, discussing and moving ahead with a review of the Investment Policy is going to be absolutely essential. We saw the value of beginning these discussions two years ago, and want to pick that up with the new administration.”

The National Investment Policy, and its associated structures and approval processes, are also under pressure from the Bahamas’ entry into rules-based trading regimes such as the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU), plus the now 16-year process to attain full World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership.

Liberalised, rules-based trading regimes prefer that investment regimes be set in statute law, rather than policy, as the former gives predictability and certainty. An investment regime based on policy, such as the Bahamas, is viewed as one where the rules are subject to political whim.

Mr Sumner, meanwhile, told Tribune Business that “when the dust settles after the election, we will continue pushing the agenda of the private sector with the Government”.

He acknowledged that the “dynamics” of the Chamber’s relationship with the new administration would change regardless of who wins, as there could be new leadership or different persons occupying the various Cabinet and ministerial positions.

Promising “to bring outstanding matters” to the new administration’s attention, once key Cabinet and other appointments had been made, Mr Sumner said the “priority items” were improving the ‘ease of doing business’; energy sector reform; overhauling the Business Licence regime; growing the small business sector; and diversifying and developing the economy.

Acknowledging that the Chamber may have to adjust its own agenda according to the national interest and government priorities, Mr Sumner said: “We’re sitting back with a great degree of anxiety to see how this [election] plays out.

“We see the next five years as very pivotal, and a lot of structured measures and planning will be necessary, because the economy need to be built.

“We need to do everything we can to get us out of the situation we’re in with the downgrades, bring in the right foreign investors and be sure we’re creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs and businesses to participate in this economy,” Mr Sumner added.

“We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that happens. The private sector is absolutely essential to the growth of this economy, but that also depends on the government policies we have. We’ve got to be sure they improve the outcomes for the private sector and growth of the country.”

Mr Sumner added that the Bahamian private sector needed to look to export-led growth in the goods and services sectors “over the next several years”, and seek out new markets outside this nation instead of continually seeking organic growth at home.