News Statement by

The Honourable Allyson Maynard Gibson
Minister of Financial Services & Investment

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, thank you for coming:

I have asked you here today to respond to the most outrageous, unpatriotic and untrue allegations with regard to the hard work of my Ministry and my team of hardworking and dedicated professionals, made by spokesmen for the Free National Movement yesterday.

Under my guidance and insistence and under the ultimate leadership of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Financial Services and Investment functions as a disciplined, hard working and highly effective tool in providing a streamlined path for new investment in The Bahamas.

Without reasonable exception, applications for investment are processed within our announced deadline of thirty days from their final completion and any suggestion to the contrary is - as I have said - at once outrageous, unpatriotic and untrue.  Such allegations are also quite possibly detrimental to the economic future of the people of this country and I am surprised that the Honourable Tommy Turnquest would allow himself and the FNM to follow this unfortunate path.

This is a time of great economic uncertainty in the world.  This is a time when we should all pull together to secure the best future possible for the Bahamian people.  This is a time when potential foreign investors need to see a united front from the political directorate of The Bahamas insofar as it pertains to their investment in the interest of the Bahamian people.  Yesterday’s news conference by the Tommy Turnquest and the FNM was unhelpful.

Mr. Turnquest called for a “clear, coherent national development plan, outlining [our] economic strategy”.  Well, Mr. Turnquest knows that the Ministry of Financial Services and Investment is right now following such a plan, informed, written and developed by the finest minds on the subject that this country has ever produced.  He is welcome to visit my office at any time for a briefing on the subject.

The myriad of investment approvals announced by this Ministry and this Government hold the promise of many thousands of new jobs and opportunities for Bahamians.  As anyone with the slightest common sense can tell you, the process of bringing a project proposal from the drawing board to completion is much like building a house.  There is the planning stage; there is approval in principle, there is the stage of tooling up before the building and the majority of jobs to be provided become evident.

It is a complete and serious fallacy to allege that it is difficult for potential investors to get answers from the Government of The Bahamas.  In order to streamline the process, my Ministry of Financial Services and Investment carefully segregates matters which require Investment Board approval, such as the acquisition of a second home where completed applications, which require the approval of the Investment Board, are processed and approved within thirty days; from projects such as Atlantis or the Carnegie Club in Abaco which need approval by the National Economic Council.

Aspects of projects submitted to the NEC must also be considered by various Ministries, so that the government can determine if we are in a position to provide the infrastructure required for the development and to conduct due diligence to ensure that the developer can deliver.  The NEC must also consider whether the developer is an appropriate person to invest in The Bahamas.  Clearly, this process takes time.

By segregating the applications between the IB and the NEC in this way, we keep the processes moving forward in a timely and professional manner which is also sensitive to the marketplace.

In the case of Emerald Bay, in Exuma, as a result of poor and inadequate planning by the previous administration, the government is now having to scramble to complete work on the airport in Exuma.  Work that is essential to the success of the Emerald Bay project and ought to have been a part of the initial planning process.

What I will say is that this Ministry and this Government is committed to its promise to the Bahamian people to ensure that foreign investment is not only beneficial to the Bahamian people and not only for the present, but also for the future development of our country and for generations to come.  The National Economic Council does and will continue to evaluate each and every proposal to make certain that it properly fits within the development profile of The Bahamas.  This requires proper and careful consideration by the full Council, and is not the capricious province of one often-misdirected individual, as was the case under the previous FNM Government.

Certain areas of governance are, or should be, above partisan politics.  Certainly areas affecting the economic and financial security of our citizens are among these.

In this light, I call upon the Official Opposition to resist the easy temptation to move in a way detrimental to the overall interests of The Bahamas and to fully support the professional, hard working and comprehensive effort now underway to bring ever more new and positive investment to The Bahamas.