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CDB charges region to tackle shortfalls in business climate
By Kemol King
The reforms that are needed to improve the business environment are not monumental in nature. They are “low hanging fruits”, and Governments should be proactive in implementing them, according to President of the Caribbean Development Bank, William Warren Smith.
President of the Caribbean Development Bank, William Warren Smith (CDB Website)
He was, at the time, addressing the 2019 Caribbean Forum on Regional Transformation for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, in Bridgetown, Barbados.
In the presence of co-hosts for the forum, the Barbadian Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Smith charged the public sector to take heed of its responsibility for creating an environment that is “appropriate” for the private sector, as it strives for economic growth.
The forum is one of many that are used to devise fruitful strategies for the region to work on, as it bides complete regional integration.
The World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report had pointed out that the economies of the Caribbean carried out a record 19 reforms and that 11 of 16 economies implemented business-facilitating reforms primarily focused on starting a business, getting electricity, paying taxes, and enforcing contracts.
But there is more to be done.
The Caribbean Bank’s President identified and corroborated starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity services, and trading across borders as key areas that need attention across the region.
He said that reforms to these could take place very quickly and with minimal effort, if these countries would just take advantage of the criticisms. He cautioned countries to use the criticisms as an opportunity for targeted redress.
The report, which analyses the ease of doing business of 190 countries, has placed Guyana at rank 134/190 – same as last year but with a worse score.
Notably, Jamaica (71/190), Trinidad and Tobago (105/190), and Barbados (128/190) are all ahead of Guyana.
Guyana’s overall score on the report is 55.5, down from 55.6 in the previous report. The slight decrease was caused by the country now being a little more difficult to trade across borders, according to the World Bank. That indicator measures the costs, regulations and the time taken to trade, and finds Guyana ranking 151/190.
The report found that Guyana made trading across borders more expensive by increasing the fees for mandatory inspection through scanners for exports, thereby increasing the cost of export border compliance.
Guyana’s ‘Getting Electricity’ indicator sees the country having one of the worst ratings in the region and in the world – 170/190. That indicator considers procedures, time, and cost to get connected to the electrical grid; the reliability of the electricity supply; and the transparency of tariffs. The issue has plagued Guyana for years.
Kaieteur News has undertaken to identify, with the help of leaders in the business community, solutions for public sector actors to implement for the improvement of the local business environment.
Already, former Private Sector Commission (PSC) Vice Chair and former Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) President, Deodat Indar, has pointed out that the long and onerous process of getting a construction permit could be remedied by simply having a single unit process them.
Deodat and other business had explained that they would have to go from agency to agency, depending on the nature of the intended construction, to secure all approvals, and that that would typically take months.
For ease of getting construction permits, Guyana currently scores 52.5/100, placing it at rank 167/190.
Time and the procedures of the process are listed as two factors of this indicator that need refining. Furthermore, World Bank’s building quality control index, which assesses the quality of building regulations, quality control before, during, and after construction, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certifications indices, finds Guyana ranking poorly.
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