BUSINESS PLEADS FOR ACTION ON INVESTMENTS

THE business community is pleading with the Government to take effective measures to attract local and international investments.

The appeal is being made in light of the continued net outflow of investments, making Trinidad and Tobago the only Caricom country with such negative circumstances.

The business people spoke in interviews on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Government.

They said that Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon has shown an inability to reverse T&T’s low placing – 105 out of 190 countries – in the Ease-of-Doing Business index.

The latest international report revealed there was a net outflow of US $914 million in annual Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), meaning that more assets were leaving than entering.

The decline in the energy sector is one factor.

The fall-off in investments is having a negative impact on employment and commerce.

The merchants acknowledged that the online platform TTBizLink is providing digital access to services, but noted that it is slow and occasionally non-functional.

They said there is no headway in critical investment-enabling areas including the procedures, time and cost in opening a business.

Issuance of construction permits, getting electricity, registering properties, securing credit and paying taxes still take several months.

There is also red tape in trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency, and matters pertaining to workers, such as redundancy costs and flexibility in employment regulation.

The Ease-of-Doing Business report had identified T&T’s major investment problems as productivity in the labour force, corruption, government bureaucracy and issues with foreign exchange distribution.

Since then, crime and security have also become a prime factor.

The logjams are affecting prospective investors of all types, including in the crucial small and medium-sized sector, it was explained.

One businessman said: “Registering a business is a cumbersome, time-consuming and painful process.”
With respect to construction permits and registering properties, “investors have to wait for years to obtain approval from Town and Country,” he stated.

Another business operator called for banking reform to deal with interest rates, and improvement of the Customs and Excise service, which he described as “inefficient.”

He said: “The Government is doing nothing to make the investment environment smooth and efficient.

“The assignment is clearly above the head of the Minister.

“There must be improved productivity and the use of applicable technology and good organisation,” he stated.

“While the Minister does not have control of all the relevant agencies, she should be proactive and an agent of change.”

In his 2020 national budget, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said T&T’s low Ease-of-Doing-Business rating is “unacceptable” and he promised improvements to the process.

Imbert has stressed the importance of investments to the economy/.

Gopee-Scoon has led various trade and investment missions abroad, including a recent visit to Ghana.

“These exercises will be fruitless unless we put our house in order,” said one commerce veteran.

“We are in a wide open investment sea, and we must become competitive and efficient.”

Gopee-Scoon assured in the past that the Single Electronic Window would have led to the speeding up of the approval processes.

That has not yet taken place.