EDITORIAL: Doing business must come easy
IT is said that the introduction of Government’s newly rebranded EZpay+ payment platform will serve to create a greater ease in doing business in Barbados.
The EZpay+ payment platform, it has been noted, is a government of Barbados rebranded payment facility, which will offer citizens a convenient, simple, secure and fast way of paying for government services. According to Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (MIST), Senator Kay McConney, the rebranded system is “the fulfilment of a promise and the commitment by the Government of Barbados, to make doing business in this country easier”.
“The rebranded EZpay signals a new strategic approach to the collection of government revenue. The two ministries (the MIST and the Ministry of Finance), together have been working assiduously with our private sector partners to build out a digital payments ecosystem, which will allow for any legitimate payments service providers to collect revenue on behalf of the government of Barbados,” McConney recently explained, as she noted that cash is no longer king around the world.
Pointing out that EZpay+ will provide an avenue through which Barbadians can make payments digitally, using their debit or credit cards, at multiple government agencies, she meanwhile revealed that onboard already with the new payments system are some commercial banks and Cave Shepherd Services. SurePay is soon to come on stream as well. Further, the EZpay+ payment platform can be used to pay land tax, National Insurance contributions, subscriptions to The Official Gazette, telecommunications licences and business registrations with the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office. And in the coming weeks and months, payment for other services such as the revamped police certificate of character, passports, visas and even drivers’ licenses will be part of the services rendered.
Indeed, it is like a breath of fresh air to hear that a number of these services, which previously drew long lines, will now be able to be accessed online. How many times has it been said that doing business in Barbados must come easier? Government now seems to be finally listening.
Consider that earlier this year, it was noted that in the 2019 Doing Business Report, which contains global rankings for countries in relation to how they facilitate business, that Barbados had fallen to 129 overall in those rankings. In comparison, Jamaica’s rank was at 75, St. Lucia at 93 and Trinidad and Tobago stood at 105. A closer look at the individual rankings reinforces the point as well that there is some work to be done in other areas for Barbados to truly become a place that makes it easy to do business, whatever sector we may explore. For example, in the 2019 Doing Business Report, when it comes to Starting a Business, Barbados’ rank was at 101; Dealing with Construction Permits was at 154; Registering Property at 129; Enforcing Contracts was at 170; Trading across Borders at 132; Getting Credit ranked at 144, but paying taxes was ranked at 93.
So it is time that as we seek to digitally transform the country to make doing business locally an easier process, that we now pay attention to the Doing Business Report and see the other areas that need to be worked on and bring some redress as well in those areas.