The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Freetown’s newly-elected MP said yesterday that improving ‘the ease of doing business’ must be a top priority for the incoming Minnis administration, together with the Bahamas “getting its fiscal house in order”.

Speaking to Tribune Business following the FNM’s general election victory, Dionisio D’Aguilar said: “We have to tackle our declining ranking in the ease of doing business index.

“Everyone in business in this country is screaming that it is getting more difficult to do business. If people feel that way they simply won’t do business, and there is a trickle down effect. We have to make it easier to do business.”

Mr D’Aguilar added: “From the business community standpoint we want to make it easier to do business. We want to make this a place where decisions are made quickly, where investors - whether domestic or foreign - can get on to doing business and not be tied up in government bureaucracy. It’s just too difficult to do business here.”

Mr D’Aguilar suggested that one of the reasons former Prime Minister Perry Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) suffered such a massive defeat related to transparency and accountability in governance, or the lack of it. 

“One of the reasons the PLP fell was because of the issue of where the VAT money went,” he argued. “People are looking for a Fiscal Responsibility Act. We need to tie our level of borrowing to the size of our economy.

“We got downgraded because the economy isn’t  growing, but yet we were borrowing. One of the biggest plots of this election victory is that investors hopefully see this as a victory for openness and transparency. We have to get our fiscal house in order. We know they left it in a bloody mess. We have to put in place a structure that prevents fiscal irresponsibility. We have to exercise fiscal discipline.”     

Mr D’Aguilar also shot down fears that the incoming Dr Hubert Minnis-led administration would ‘stop, review and cancel’ deals and contracts negotiated by the previous administration.

“We have to come up with a systems that makes the process of getting government as transparent as possible,” he added.

“We have to disincentivise people from wanting to cut deals. The Bahamian people obviously sent a clear message that they want transparency and accountability. If the deal is in the best interest of the country, if it is with reputable persons, if it is reasonable and can stand up to scrutiny, then there is nothing to worry about.

“If it doesn’t pass the smell test then obviously it is something we would have to deal with.”