BUSINESS MONDAY - ‘Survey got it wrong’

MINISTER of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, has again lashed out at the World Bank Doing Business Survey, which he said is riddled with inaccuracies about Barbados.

In a fiery presentation at Queen’s College on Saturday, where the ruling DLP held a mid-year conference, Inniss charged that the survey – which places Barbados at position 117 out of a total of 187 countries – has become a ‘bible’
for people looking to beat up on the Government.

Querying who exactly the World Bank spoke to in Barbados when compiling its report, Inniss said in no uncertain terms that they certainly did not speak to the Ministers, the Registrar of Corporate Affairs, the Office of Public Counsel, the Supervisor of Insolvency, or even the Chief Town Planner.

Inniss acknowledged that while the Survey did get some things right, he stated that Barbados has been putting things in place to make it easier for doing business here.

“I know that my Ministry, through the Department of Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO), the Office of Insolvency, and other departments, have written to the World Bank telling them they got their information wrong,” he told the conference.

“So while others sit and waddle in a cesspool of negativity and complain about everything, while offering no solutions, this government is quietly getting on with the business of finding sustainable solutions,” the Minister remarked.

He said that the government has done well in terms of the industry and commerce sectors, and that they continue to find ways to make it easier for people to do business. “It is not just those who are coming to Barbados, but those who are already here doing business,” Inniss maintained.

The government official pointed to such initiatives as the recent launch of the Electronic Single Window, the removal by his Ministry of 33 items from licence, and the introduction of an electronic platform by CAIPO that allows people to sit in the comfort of their office and do searches online, as things being done to improve doing business in Barbados.

Furthermore, he revealed that it takes the CAIPO about three days to process applications for notices of a change in directorship and addresses; two days for a name search and a reservation; two days to complete incorporation; and three days for amendments.

Inniss said that they had to get things right for service providers many of whom were not completing forms in the prescribed manner, they are not submitting information that has to be sent to the relevant authorities, and they are lying to their clients.