Improvements in doing business or not…

While hailing “the strong leadership of the economic reform programme by Minister of Finance” Peter Phillips, executive director of the Insurance Association of Jamaica Orville Johnson is adamant that Government needs to do more to achieve anticipated economic growth levels.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary dinner of International Credit Management Solutions recently, Johnson stated: “Despite the improvements in doing business — in terms of starting a business… the availability of credit rating, bankruptcy protection, flexible collateral arrangements — the state apparatus is still bureaucratic, and in need of overhauling.

“It is anticipated that this (level of bureaucracy) will be addressed in the public sector reform now underway; two areas of focus [are] construction approval process and the cumbersome procurement system,” he continued.

Johnson also noted that there is a disparity with regards to the management and governance in the public sector — government ministries and agencies — pointing to recent findings of an audit by the Ministry of Health that left a lot to be desired. But these deficiencies, he said, were symptomatic of inadequate investment, or the lack thereof, as in those sectors the investment is minuscule compared to that which is needed for sustainability.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Improvements-in-doing-business-or-not_47219