Jamaica: not open for business

Carl Bliss, Contributor

For so many years, the business/ entrepreneurial community has been screaming at the Government to make Jamaica more business-friendly. Both PNP and JLP governments have promised to do just that. The reality is always different.

Yes, each administration tries to implement whatever it believes is in the interest of the sector at the particular time. The harsh fact, though, is that Government does not understand business, and business does not understand Government! The irony is that each is always ready with prescriptions for the other.

True entrepreneurs have little appetite for bureaucracy. Nothing in Jamaica can be done expeditiously. A friend of mine always said that Jamaica is a wearying society.

Government agencies set up to facilitate business development seem more focused on making money off business than helping them. We have reached the place where every form has to be purchased, and there is a fee for every activity. One wonders why we pay taxes.

There is little doubt in my mind that the current environment is decidedly inhospitable to business. Just try dealing with Customs, JAMPRO, the tax department, Companies Office of Jamaica, to name a few, and you are in for a near nightmarish experience. We have a culture which systematically aims at penalising enterprise. Our political, social, economic and policy-support systems will need revolutionary changes if we are to see the type of business-friendly atmosphere necessary to propel us. Almost every agency of the State seems to treat business as the enemy which must be hounded and eventually brought down, at whatever cost.

activity of businesses

Serious economic growth has eluded us as a nation for a very long time. Prosperity comes from real growth. Growth can only come about from investments in economic activity, in productive enterprises of all sizes - not from creating more government jobs. It, therefore, follows that if we are really serious about growing the economy, we must focus on the activity of businesses. It all seems elementary. Yet, for so long we just can't get it.

In order to achieve this, we must come up with a formula for facilitating the creation of a business-friendly society and economy. The reality is, we cannot be anti-business and pro-jobs. The country needs a paradigm shift in how we approach business activity if we are really serious about growing this economy sustainably.

This is not just a private-sector issue, and it surely is not just a government issue. It will require all players and stakeholders. We are at a critical juncture in our development as a nation. There is urgent need for the Government and the private sector, as well as civil society, to engage the entire country in focused discourse as to how we can achieve this. We have to reach consensus as a nation on this, as well as the resolve to do it. It is an absolute imperative.

other options

Too many of our tertiary-trained citizens are leaving school expecting to find a job. They should all be so prepared, from the primary level, to create their own business as a viable option in their future.

My recommendation is that for the balance of this decade, we start a revolution in business creation in this nation. But we have to start by creating the environment.

For the past 50 years, we have been presented with useless national Budgets which were little more than accounting tools. What we now need is a bold national Budget that aims at mobilising a society that has suffered, for too long, from acute fatigue and listlessness. This way forward is not for the timid. But in times of crisis, we need bold and even revolutionary new approaches. The likely rewards are:

✔ Increased business activity.

✔ Increased employment.

✔ More consumption in the economy.

✔ More taxes for government coffers.

✔ Reduced crime.

✔ Increased national capacity to earn our way out of debt.

Can our present political leaders, from either side, provide the leadership required for this effort? Not sure. They have proven over the years to be essentially incrementalists, who are content with merely tweaking the system from time to time. We now demand major paradigm shifts. The nation's persistent anaemic economic condition demands it.

Email feedback to: cabliss@logic-one.net