The announcement of steps being taken to guarantee the process of starting a business in The Bahamas is as straightforward as possible were yesterday applauded by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), which revealed it has found in its own recent study that the national business environment "leaves much to be desired".While presenting the mid-year budget statement in the House of Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Perry Christie recognized that the country is "too far behind" other countries when it comes to the "ease of doing business", a measure of the efficiency of the government in getting businesses up and running and actively contributing to the local economy. Despite The Bahamas being one of three countries in the region that was recognized by the World Bank back in October for taking "definitive" steps to improve "our" business environment, the prime minister said emphasis must be placed on removing common roadblocks that often hold people back from conducting business easily in The Bahamas."[We need] to ensure that we are able to adequately compete in getting businesses up and running in an effective manner," he told parliamentarians."We were recognized for making transferring property easier by reducing the stamp duty. The Bahamas was also recognized for enhancing its insolvency process by implementing rules for the remuneration of liquidators, allowing voluntary liquidations and outlining clawback provisions for suspect transactions."Christie, who is also the minister of finance, pointed out how his administration is focused on all major areas of the country's change and growth agenda."We will persist in planning and further developing initiatives that assuredly will get our economy growing more strongly in the years ahead," he added. The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) welcomed the government's efforts as there continues to be too much "red tape" and "bureaucracies" that investors, both domestic and foreign have to fight through, according to its CEO Edison Sumner. In fact, he said the timing couldn't be more perfect as the BCCEC plans to unveil the results of a survey conducted by them last year on the ease of doing business in The Bahamas next month during a conclave. Based on a review of results to date, Sumner said it leaves "much to be desired" when it comes to the environment for conducting business in this country. He suggested this could be solved if the government agencies/departments were able to consolidate its efforts in some way, along with better communication between them."That would not only bode well for the business community but for foreign and domestic investors as well. Once we are able to take away the red tape and bureaucracy of getting certain things done. Once those things are completed, it will certainly be an impetus to hopefully cause more people to want to do business in The Bahamas and those who are currently doing business here will find it easier to get business done in the future," he told Guardian Business yesterday."The process on the whole seems to be onerous at time. So we're hoping that once we produce these results to the government, it will hopefully assist them with their planning as well."Currently, The Bahamas is ranked 84 out of 189 countries in the World Bank's 2014 Ease of Doing Business Report. That was an eight-point drop from 2013.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian