The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE government will be “deliberate” in ensuring that The Bahamas’ WTO accession terms reflect its peculiar economic vulnerabilities and realities, a Cabinet minister has pledged.

Brent Symonette, minister of financial services, trade and industry, and Immigration, while addressing last week’s fourth meeting with the Working Party that will negotiate The Bahamas’ full World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership terms, said this nation also needed an appropriate adjustment period to adapt to any changes.

“While The Bahamas is perceived as having a large per capita income, this is due to a large expatriate population, residing and working in our economy, and enclaves of extremely high net worth individuals who skew our incomes upward,” Mr Symonette said.

“In the larger scheme of things, the size and openness of the country’s economy, heavy reliance on key factors of economic activity, its archipelagic nature and annual exposure to hurricanes makes the country particularly vulnerable to external shocks. Any shock, either by human or natural intervention, can set us back significantly.

“Therefore the Government seeks to ensure that the terms of accession, and period allowed for adjustments arising therefrom, take into account our economic vulnerability and realities.”

Mr Symonette said the Government seeks to be quite “deliberate” in its WTO accession strategy. “We seek to join the WTO because we believe in participating in the rules-based global trading system that makes sense for our economy,” he explained.

“Participation affirms the importance of that system to the stability and growth of the global economy. We also seek to ensure that our membership provides continuing opportunities for our people to grow and prosper through meaningful participation in the ownership and prosperity of their economy. About these dual interests we are very deliberate.”

Mr Symonette added that while tourism and financial services account for 75 percent of the country’s GDP, the WTO negotiations must also safeguard and strengthen the country’s most vulnerable sectors such as agriculture. This accounts for 2 percent of GDP and comprises just under 3,000 registered farmers.