Doing business in Jamaica should be a more fluid process than currently exists. That was the word from Jamaican Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, as he addressed Jamaicans and other interest groups in London and Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, last week, June 24 and 26.
“We are beset by cumbersome bureaucratic processes that deter productivity and suffocate the investor and the ordinary citizen with regulations,” he stressed, adding, “We need to burn up the red tape and roll out the red carpet.”
Minister Phillips was guest speaker at the annual ‘JN Outlook for the Future’ fora, organised by Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) in the United Kingdom, as part of a series of events to mark the Society’s 25th year of operations in the UK.
In addition to significant public sector reform, Minister Phillips said that the government plans to implement strategic investments, including positioning Jamaica as a Global Logistics Hub to take advantage of the expansion of the Panama Canal; renew focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and increase investment in agricultural products, such as ginger, corn, and sorghum.
He outlined public transformation measures, including a more concerted effort to address tax collection. “We have a well embedded culture of tax evasion, which denies the public purse of necessary resources, and which feeds a sense of injustice, as many people and businesses shoulder a disproportionate burden,” he said.
The Revenue Administration (Amendment) Act, which widens the powers of the Tax Commissioner General to access information about alleged tax dodgers in order to enforce compliance, was approved in the Senate on June 28, 2013.
While in London, Minister Phillips also held meetings with members of the UK Parliament, Jamaican Diaspora community leaders, and young professionals, to discuss the factors affecting the facilitation and delivery of UK/Jamaica commercial, cultural and other exchanges.
Among the participants at the fora were Her Excellency Aloun Ndombet Assamba, Jamaican High Commissioner to the United Kingdom; the Hon, Oliver Clarke, JNBS Chairman; and Earl Jarrett, JNBS General Manager.