Ease of Doing Business Boosts Investor Confidence – PM

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the ease of doing business plays a crucial role in the country’s economic development as well as boosts investor confidence.

Delivering the keynote address at the ceremony to break ground for the 800-room luxury Amaterra Resort in Stewart Castle, Trelawny, on April 12, Mr. Holness said that it with this in mind that it is extremely important to create a business climate that is both friendly and accommodating to investors.

“While I am not suggesting that the laws be circumvented in any way, we have to be careful not to allow unnecessary delays to frustrate investors,” the Prime Minister said.

“It is totally unacceptable that a project which should have been completed 10 years ago is taking 30 years for approvals to be granted,” he added.

The Prime Minister said that “the public bureaucracy” needs to be better able to understand and to be more empathetic to the speed of business, noting that the system sometimes operates on two different schedules… two different timelines.

“There is not a day that goes by where myself, members of the Cabinet and also the persons chairing our public entities are not looking at ways to speed up the process for things to get done more quickly,” he said.

The Prime Minister further noted that what currently exists as it relates to bureaucracy takes into consideration non-commercial things that sometimes add a burden that leads not just to frustration but also to the real cost of doing business.

“The effect of it is that our economy doesn’t grow. The effect of it is that we see the malaise and blight which take over our society, whilst people sit down and say we are doing it strictly by the book,” he said.

“A book that is outdated. A book that they don’t print anymore. A book that doesn’t apply to modern-day business. A book that threatens to keep us poor. My job is to change that book. We need a new book and a new way of thinking, so we can have more projects like the 800-room luxury Amaterra Resort,” the Prime Minister said.