Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Senator Jepter Ince.

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Senator Jepter Ince.

Senator: Duty-free zone to create employment

 

The idea of a duty-free zone in Barbados is to create additional employment, says Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Senator Jepter Ince.
 
Yesterday, he told the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) lunchtime lecture that this new initiative revealed by the Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler, in the 2016 Budget will create capacity for young Barbadians who have innovative ideas and want to establish businesses within this area.
 
“…We can now use the skins of our Blackbelly sheep. Finance those young entrepreneurs who want to make bags, shoes and leather belts and have those 
persons sell their goods and services within the duty-free zone. 
 
“We can now have an area for all of those agricultural by-products within the zone. We can now have specialty areas for our rum within the duty-free zone. Therefore, it is not just about a person getting off a plane and having a plane ticket….it goes beyond that. That is what we set out to do,” he said.
 
Senator Ince also explained that the advantage of having a duty-free zone is its ability to attract direct foreign investment to the country.
 
“We are looking at the management of foreign trade. We are going to generate jobs and foreign exchange flows and then we could also have goods and services from other zones comings in to the duty-free zone to be sold.”
 
Areas identified for the duty-free zone include the City of Bridgetown, Holetown, Hastings/Worthing on the South Coast and at the two main ports of entry in Barbados.
 
Acknowledging that it will be important to examine all of the pros and cons of such an initiative before moving to bring the legislative framework to the House of Assembly, the establishment of a Special Committee was proposed to review the initiative with a directive to report its findings and recommendations to the Minister of Finance within three months.
 
“As time goes on and our economy begins to expand, we will look at other areas for duty-free zones in Barbados,” the Senator added. 
 
 

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