Govt must help private sector to invest in TT

The business community has been accused of “dropping the ball,” of not “taking the initiative.” Even the Inter-American Development Bank in its report has stated that “the Trinidad and Tobago private sector is not up to the challenges.” Very true every word. However, like water flowing to the lowest point, business and money flow to where they find their easiest and greatest returns.

So, other than a patriotic reason, why should the TT private sector invest in Trinidad? Businesses in TT faces numerous obstacles in their day-to-day operations, including: * An inefficient and sometimes corrupt public sector.

* A hostile and totally unbalanced and biased industrial relations climate.

* Low productivity from the labour force.

* Unlevel playing field and corruption with government procurement.

* Unlevel playing field and corruption in private sector contracts.

* Inability to access required forex.

* High (and increasing) taxation, even on productive equipment.

If our leaders are sincere in their calls for the private sector to take the lead, then let’s take the bull by the horns: * Enforce the public procurement Act.

* Start enforcing laws like the Companies Act, and crack down on white-collar crime.

* Balance the industrial relations and severance Acts so that the private sector and labour have an equal amount of judges appointed to the Industrial Court.

* Change the Industrial Relations Act so that costs can be awarded against unions if they lose a case, thus eliminating frivolous cases.

* Eliminate productive equipment from the property tax.

* Allow priority access to forex for settlement of bona fide raw material invoices.

* Introduce a tax exemption on all export sales.

As I said before, money and investment flow where they find the highest and easiest returns. Let’s create the environment to facilitate this.

ANDREW DALGLIESH Diego Martin