While significant strides have been made to make it easier to do business in The Bahamas, Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest said there is still more work to be done and the Ease of Doing Business Committee is working to address lingering issues.

“So now it’s a matter of working through some of the operational issues to see how we can smoothen those out, see how we can move forward with the implementation of our technology solutions to remove some of the human elements that provide some of the sticking points and move ourselves up the ease of doing business ranking,” Mr. Turnquest said.  

His comments follow those of Compass Point owner Leigh Rodney, who placed a full-page ad in The Bahama Journal expressing he would close the resort if the government doesn’t make it easy to do business in The Bahamas. 

As he addressed the matter, the DPM said, “I think there are some specific issues that relate to that particular entity that I wouldn’t want to speak about in detail, but that are kind of unique in a way,” Mr. Turnquest explained.

“While they are wrapped up in this ease of doing business thing, they are really negotiating points, maybe with respect to that particular investment.

“So as the chairman of the Ease of Doing Business Committee would have said, we are making significant progress and we believe that it is certainly easier today than it was when we came in and we recognize that we still have some ways to go and we’re working very hard on those issues.”  

The National Ease of Doing Business Committee was appointed in 2017 by Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis following a World Bank Annual Report that listed The Bahamas as 119 out of 190 countries where it is easy to do business.