Government Wants to Grow Employment Opportunities and Entrepreneurship

The Royal Bank of Canada held a Digital Banking Solutions for Business Success seminar at Atlantis, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. (BIS Photo/Raymond A.Bethel Sr.)

Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance the Hon. Peter Turnquest said the Government has a fundamental mandate to improve the lives of citizens and those who live in The Bahamas.

“We want to create decent employment opportunities for them.  We want to ensure that they have the opportunity to become owners in their society and flex their entrepreneurial muscles,” DPM Turnquest said.

Speaking at the RBC Digital Banking Solutions for Business Success seminar at Atlantis, Wednesday, July 19, 2017, he added, “We want our business people to have access to capital, and to be supported by institutions such as a Credit Bureau to help them make better decisions.

We want to have a law abiding and safe community.  We want to have the best educated and skilled workforce to compete regionally and globally.”

The Finance Minister also noted that the Government wants to have a legal and regulatory environment which creates the platform for The Bahamas to be the jurisdiction of choice and to have efficient operations which make doing business easy, yet compliant, in the country.

“We wish to have the technological investment which makes life convenient and business transactions effortless.”

He said, “As an important step, for example, we have amalgamated the payment of a number of Government taxes within the Department of Inland Revenue in my Ministry, which is equipped with an online portal for ease of business.”

He said the Government is also ensuring that its operations are transparent and conducted with integrity so that the business community has improved clarity and confidence in their dealings with Government.

DPM Turnquest explained that as the Government increases its overall competitiveness, it wants to entice financial institutions, to return more of their back office operations to The Bahamas, expanding their local footprint to include headquarters for major divisions.

“We want to ensure that mind and management continues to grow here and that opportunities continue to exist for Bahamians to learn the complexity of the banking, trust and security industries, while adding tremendous value to your clients.”

He said, “We welcome the opportunity to engage RBC in this regard and solicit your recommendations on how we might tweak our legislative and operating environment to attract other blue chip institutions like RBC, to our shores.”

He explained that technology brings opportunities for innovation, creativity and efficiency as well as there are tremendous new possibilities available for business and new areas to improve business productivity.

Read More here: The Government of The Bahamas