What ease of doing business? - Leaders want hurdles to commerce toppled
Published:Friday | November 1, 2019 | 12:06 AMPaul Clarke/Gleaner Writer
Despite a four-spot improvement in Jamaica’s Ease of Doing Business Global Index ranking, captains of commerce still believe that enough is not being done to knock down bureaucratic hurdles.
According to the latest World Bank annual rating, Jamaica is ranked 75th among 190 economies in the Ease of Doing Business Index, having received a score of 69.7 per cent.
Ease of Doing Business in Jamaica has averaged 77.09 from 2008 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 94 in 2013 and a record low of 65 in 2015. The country’s ranking deteriorated to 75 in 2018 from 70 in 2017.
Doreen Frankson, managing director of paint manufacturer EdgeChem, has lamented that the index data do not match reality.
“I personally have not experienced this ease that they are talking about because you still have to go to various places to deal with matters. To register a company is easier, but it’s still a problem,” she said.
“I don’t know if foreign-based companies get priority, but for me, as a local business leader, I don’t see the difference. Maybe others have, but I don’t as the reality on the ground is different, and I believe that business in Jamaica is stagnating,” Frankson told The Gleaner.
She bemoaned the structural and cultural barriers to import policy.
“When you have to go through the Ministry of Health, it’s a very long process, and then you have to go through Customs, and everything is a problem. When you’re exporting, you have to go through the bureaucracy to export. So I have stopped taking on these ratings because that is not the reality,” Frankson said.
The Index indicated that trading across borders represents Jamaica’s worst ranking, while the country is doing best in the category of the ease of starting a business.
Christian Stokes, founder and CEO of NCS Enterprises, said that focus should now be placed on the failings of international trade.
“It was instructive, however, that we went down a little in international trade per the rankings, which is an issue, because, of course, we are an import-export economy. So we definitely want to keep an eye on that.
“But I think that the most important thing now is the improvement in how quickly one can start a business, and I think that is an important initial step,” he said.
He underscored the importance of what he dubbed the three pillars of business in assessing how quickly and easily one is able to start a company, access financing, and the building of resiliency.
“In that way, when businesses fail, we are able to put it behind us and get back on our feet. Failure should not be fatal, and I don’t mean the traditional loans from banks either when I speak of loans.
I am talking about risk capital, stuff like venture capital and angel investments. We need those to shore those up as well,” Stokes said.
Businessman Andrew Gray, managing director of the family-owned Gray’s Pepper Products in Westmoreland, believes that the improved ranking indicates a positive trajectory but cautioned that it should not be seen as a “final destination”.
Gray said that although there has been some traction in lessening the bureaucracy around the business sector, Jamaicans should not believe that the improved ranking means we have “arrived”.
“Right now, export is not an issue. But when you import items using the ASYCUDA system, it’s a major headache as that system is not efficient at the moment, with it being regularly down, which means it’s holding up the progress of goods through the ports, resulting in millions being lost from a business perspective,” Gray said.
The Jamaica Customs Agency has talked up the value of the implementation of ASYCUDA World, which was supposed to reduce costs for importers and slash the time required to clear goods.