The most urgent issue facing The Bahamas is the desperate need for a robust economy. A robust Bahamian economy would grow at five percent per year or more; create at least 5,000 good paying jobs annually; enjoy wage increases of at least three percent per year; and experience an annual inflation rate of under two percent. If we do not create a robust economy as soon as possible, The Bahamas will sink faster into deep poverty and social dislocation.

Already both Nassau and Freeport show signs of this happening. The calls on the Department of Social Services, helps ministries of churches and working family members reflect this decline. It will continue to get worse if we do not see rapid, sustained and productive economic growth soon. Robust growth can cure unemployment, some facets of crime, a rising national indebtedness and the general discontent plaguing our society.

The key to producing a robust economy is private enterprise. We create new jobs when new businesses come on stream and existing businesses expand their operations. New businesses come on stream and existing businesses expand when business people see or enjoy profit-making opportunities.

Profit-making opportunities occur when markets have people with money to spend and who can do business easily enough. Private businesses will generate as much as 95 percent of the jobs in a robust economy. Private businesses enjoying good profits, will pay good wages and increase those wages for workers over time.

We should not look to government to produce a robust economy. Government cannot, not will not, cannot do this. We must look to private enterprise to produce a robust economy. However, the government can get in the way of private enterprise. How? By too much bureaucracy, that is, too much paperwork, procedures, rules and regulations being required to start, maintain or close a business.

Too many inefficient, unfriendly or unprofessional government workers; too many and/or too high taxes; too much corruption. These result in slowdowns in businesses, increased costs and falling profits. Alternatively, good government policies help facilitate access to markets, local and foreign, and help to support research and development.

The Bahamas can have a robust economy. It has happened before - 1993 to 1999 being the most recent period. Past periods were driven mostly by foreign investments.

Today a robust economy must have a broader base than in the past. We will need foreign investment again but we will also need to combine this with strong domestic private investment and leadership. Our private sector must lead the way in delivering a wowing level of service across the economy; produce new and innovative products and services appealing to both the local and international marketplace; increase labor productivity to internationally competitive levels through training; and deliver capital to finance businesses in more flexible and supportive ways. Going forward, the private sector of The Bahamas must be bolder, more courageous and more cooperative.

The Bahamas government cannot produce a robust economy but it must be a partner in creating it.  Its partnership must consist of listening, learning and responding intelligently to the legitimate needs of private enterprise. It must wisely apply fiscal policy, seeking to minimize taxation. It must maximize the ease of doing business. It must optimize the professional delivery of public services. It must help open local and foreign markets to local businesses and guard against unfair trade practices. If it extends funds to the private sector, it should do so in support of research and development and technological innovation. Its partnership must also get more out of public education at all levels and it must be audacious in spending in this area.

Thousands upon thousands of Bahamians try to sleep at night anxious that they have absolutely no income to support themselves and their families. The majority are young men and women not easily accepting of such a life, and some willing to do the unthinkable to be rid of it. Tens of thousands more are Bahamians who are working but whose pay checks are now insufficient to meet their needs and whose indebtedness is crippling.

Hundreds of business people live from overdraft to overdraft and now operate in an environment where banks treat them like lepers, too risky to touch. They too find sleep elusive as they agonize over how to make payrolls, pay power bills and sell more products in a lacklustre economy. The salvation they need is a robust Bahamian economy.

The real battle in this nation should not be for control of power following the next election. The real battle should be for a plan, strategy and execution to produce a robust economy. We can deliver this robust economy but we must be different than we are and do differently than we do.

Imagine our dailies and news feeds abounding with competing ideas for this to happen. Imagine town meetings on it. Imagine published research papers on it. How might that change our nation for the better, even before we actually produce our much-needed robust economy?

By Zhivargo Laing

o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.

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