Published by Youri Kemp, Nassau Guardian, November 29th, 2024
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive officer said yesterday that the gross domestic product (GDP) increase for the first half of 2024 needs to be followed by initiatives to lower the cost of doing business, and increase the ease of doing business.
Dr. Leo Rolle told Guardian Business yesterday upon the revelation of the GDP growth shown in Bahamas National Statistical Institute’s (BNSI) release of its advance estimates for Q2 2024 that: “We need the lowering of the cost of doing business and the increase in the ease of doing business to follow this growth.”
The BNSI said in its advance estimates report for Q2 2024: “The half-year GDP 2024 (which combines 1st and 2nd quarters) shows that the Bahamian economy stood at $6.58 billion. The 2024 half-year recorded an increase of 1.8 percent, slightly outpacing GDP reported in the same period of 2023. This increase in the half-year 2024 was led by the Q2 of 2024, which reported $3.37 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent when compared to the same quarter in 2023, and an increase of five percent compared to the previous quarter. Conversely, the 1st quarter of 2024 reported a GDP of $3.2 billion, representing negative real growth of 1.2 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2023. However, compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, there was an increase of 2.8 percent.”
Rolle continued: “It’s a challenge to do necessities, to get a business license renewed, to pay your taxes. The government had an offsetting program where it would offset VAT collected, that has gone away. The process is just a lot of cumbersome aspects that businesses have to muddle their way through.
Inflation is also still a concern for businesses. Rolle contends that the rate has slowed down to 0.2 percent, which is a “good thing”, and shows that the country is moving in the right direction.
Rolle also said: “The role of the government is to curate an environment that is conducive for the business economy to thrive. Now, the business economy, once that environment is created, has a role then too, to ensure that they create or make an atmosphere that is easier for them to work and ensure they’re more creative in the way that they advertise, market, and create in their undertaking of pricing strategies, and mechanisms for the introduction of new products and services.”
He said that businesses are expressing concerns about the upcoming Christmas shopping season, and are making a plea to have an increased police presence around establishments this year. “We want increased police presence in very densely populated areas, especially to keep business owners, the tourists and the general public safe,” Rolle said.
“We’ve seen an increase in crimes against the shopping public, against tourists, and we’ve called several times for an increase of police presence. And we know that there was a challenge originally with manpower, and now that they have this list of new recruits that came out, I think it was earlier this month or last month, they can be shifted to those areas where businesses are very prevalent.
Pointing to a recent Inter-American Development Bank report that said crime costs the Bahamian economy $100 million annually, Rolle said that by ensuring the police are more visible on the streets during the Christmas season, Bahamians will be less victimized.
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