The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, after constructive and intense engagement with Members, found it necessary to share their concerns and recommendations with the Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Representatives of the Chamber, primarily the Board of Directors, met with the Honourable Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre and his team, to discuss the Health and Security Levy. The meeting took place on Thursday 13th July at the Office of the prime Minister.
Following numerous meetings and discussions that had taken place at the technical level, the Chamber thought the concerns had to be presented at the highest policy level. As the Chamber seeked to meet with the Prime Minister on the matter, a letter was penned, indicating the Chamber's perspective, concerns and recommendations, on this important issue and shared with Prime Minister.
The following substantive points were made in the letter to and the meeting with the Prime Minister:
(1) The Chamber of Commerce fully understands the need for additional revenue and supports every effort to improve the services in the Health and Security Sectors.
(2) The Chamber accepts and understands that the Government has a budget deficit, and this Levy will help fund this deficit.
(3) The Chamber notes and support the efforts of the Government to protect the more vulnerable in society by not applying the Levy on food, pharmaceuticals, and select building materials.
(4) The Chamber is extremely concerned that the Levy, as designed, will have unforeseen negative effects on inflation, cost of living, cost of doing business, investment decisions, as well as business profitability in the short to medium term.
(5) The imposition of the Levy on services represents a significant increase in operating costs for all businesses that unlike a VAT cannot be claimed against input VAT and will be passed on to consumers through increased prices of all goods and services.
(6) The Levy will be difficult to implement and collect, overly complicates matters for domestic service providers who will have to account for it. This complication will arise when services that include the provision of goods that already attract the Levy on imported components, such as cleaning and printing material, are sold as part of a service. A good example is where the labour component will have to be disaggregated to assess on what amount the Levy needs to be applied.
(7) GOSL should consider a phased introduction of the Levy, with the levy on goods being implemented 2nd August and the Levy on services sometime later.
(8) The Levy will also negatively affect the Manufacturing sectors’ competitiveness both on the export side (increased cost) and on the local food manufacturing side where the Levy will be placed on inputs and packaging material while similar imported competing goods will not face the Levy.
(9) The Chamber strongly believes that in the pursuit of increased revenue, a much less complicated, less painful and less costly approach to both government and business should have been selected. A simple increase to VAT by 2.5 percentage points would be more effective, practical and yield higher returns. (12.5% to 15%). The Chamber’s preferred recommendation is that the VAT rate be increased rather than the Levy be introduced.
(10) The Chamber remains concerned that the increases in costs and prices that this Levy will incur (more than 2.5% and on a wide range of consumables) will be blamed on the private sector. The messaging already suggests that the effect will not be widespread or large (only 2.5%). The Chamber thinks this is a less than factual narrative which Government should be taking the lead on correcting and preparing persons for sure to come price increases.
The Levy was implemented on August 1st 2023.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and the Youth Economy, Mr. Francis Fontenelle, has agreed to be the Lead presenter, as the Chamber revives its Power Breakfast Series on October 24th 2023. The “Power Breakfast with the Chamber” will be a high-level dialogue on the “Economic Prospects for St. Lucia in 2023/24”, where Mr. Fontenelle will bring to bear on the discussion, his insight, information, knowledge, and experience, on the critical issue of the Economic Prospects for St. Lucia.
As business people seek to plan and finesse their business plans and operations, Francis will deliver a 20-30- minute presentation on the performance of the economy and the outlook for the year 2023-2024.Other sector experts have been invited to be lead discussants, to speak from their sector perspective.
The “Power Breakfast” intends to be a lively, informative event, with the knowledge and insight our Expert Speakers will bring to the table. This information promises to help business executives and policy makers understand the factors affecting the economy, its outlook and prospects, which will benefit the entire business community.
The Chamber as a “thought leader” in our country, thinks the timing is perfect for Senior Executives to share their perspective and have a meaningful debate on the economy, its performance, outlook and prospects. Further details will be made available shortly.
Interested members are advised that there are sponsorship and hosting opportunities available.
The Chamber's Meeting the Prime Minister on the Health & Citizen Security Levy raised a number of points of interest that Members may wish to consider:
Members are invited to review the attached copy of the Health and Citizen Security Levy Act and Amendments. Please feel free to call the Chamber for any further information you may require.
Ensuring that your firm is resilient is much more than being prepared for hurricanes or an adverse weather situation. Business Resilience takes account of many facets of ensuring that your business can withstand various shocks that it may confront from time to time.
Developing an honest and thorough Business Continuity Plan, remains one sure way of mitigating the many risks that the modern business will face at some point in time. Cyber Risks, biological risks and pandemic risks are some of the more currently touted risks. The key question remains how you ensure that your business will be able to withstand and remain successful in the face of a multi hazard risk environment.
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce continues its rich tradition of helping members to be ahead of the curve and respond to emerging issues, as well as take advantage of emerging trends and navigate in a rapidly changing and unpredictable economic vortex. Development of and regularly reviewing a business continuity plan, is key to making sure your firm is prepared and able to face the uncertain times ahead. This Business Continuity Planning Workshop will elaborate on how firms can conduct firm level risk diagnosis and put into effect some Risk Reduction Strategies.
The vulnerability of our economy to disasters, manmade or natural, cannot be understated and the current experience with climate change, supply chain disruptions and continuing global instability assumes even greater significance at this time. This knowledge and insight must be translated to definitive and deliberate actions, to reduce vulnerability to known risks, while finding ways to build the resilience of firms and the nation to unknown and emerging risks.
The two-day workshop will take account of how to conduct a thorough risk analysis of your business, and how to think through mitigation measure. It will offer hands on training in how to develop and review your firm’s BCP. A tried and tested template will be provided to attendees, before the workshop, allowing in-firm discussion and pre workshop preparation. At the workshop there will then be systematic knowledge transfer to help build that plan.
Business Continuity Planning is a practical and powerful tool, firms use to mitigate and counter the inevitable occurrence of any type of calamity or disaster. Ensuring that key business processes, human resource skills and operations, can continue after an emergency or disaster is vital. While most firms focus their BCP on natural disasters, this workshop will discuss a broad spectrum of risks that must be taken account of, such as cyber-attacks, biological and health pandemics as well as the impact of fires, crime and civil disobedience.
The two-day Workshop will run from 9:00AM to 5:00PM at the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce Conference Room, Orange Park Commercial Center Bois D’Orange, on Wednesday 4 and Thursday, 5 October 2023. The course will be facilitated by Mr Andrew George, an ISO Certified Risk Management Trainer. Other subject experts may be brought in to provide further advice.
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce organized and hosted a powerful and rewarding “face to face” engagement, between the Customs & Excise Department, the St. Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority and the Business Community of the southern town of Vieux Fort, on Thursday, July 20, 2023.
The engagement was in response to a call for dialogue with these agencies by Vieux Fort Business Community, when they met with the Chamber, in May this year.
The St. Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA) and the Customs & Excise Department were represented at the highest levels by their General Manager, Daren Cenac and Mr. Sherman Emmanuel, Acting Comptroller of Customs. Other Senior Officers from the two organizations included, from SLASPA: Directors of Sea Ports, Adrian Hilaire, Director of Airports, Amy Charles and Mr. Gasper George, Senior Manager Business Development and Corporate Communication. From the Customs & Excise Department Mr. Roddy Alcindor, Assistant Comptroller of Customs and Mr. Wilson Holder, Officer responsible for the Southern Division and Mr. Byron Ince, Customs Supervisor.
The Comptroller of Customs explained some of the challenges faced by the Department, in implementing various initiatives including lack of financial and human resources, to allow more effective deployment of staff, and use of modern technology to speed up customer service delivery. Many attendees singled out Mr. Holder for his commitment to helping and facilitate services to business in the south, despite the constraints faced. Attendees did suggest, inter alia, that a smoother transition was required when staff deployments took place and suggested standard operating procedures would help. Additionally, a more effective and easier dissemination of information on Customs rules and new procedures, would be facilitated through an effective website, a point raised by the Comptroller of Customs himself.
The Comptroller of Customs indicated on the matter of overtime, a firm could request that their Container be destuffed during normal working hours and this would be accommodated based on staff availability. Moreover, the Comptroller urged members who had issues that they should document and share these as this was the only way management could be aware and correct those issues. The issue of reluctance by some Customs Officers to utilize electronic documents, was also discussed. The Comptroller advised that training and updating Officers of new regulations was ongoing.
The St. Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority took the opportunity to update the Business Community on some of its many initiatives. These included, the soon to be introduced Maritime Single Window, Customer Experience Program, and a Customer Complaints System. The SLASPA Team also gave updates on the Hewanorra International Airport development, reporting that the foundation for the Airport Tower was complete and the Tower is slated for completion by June 2024. Update on improvement to navigation systems and lighting was also provided along with progress on the runway rehabilitation program.
The Meeting highlighted the need for more regular dialogue like this one, so that the business community and the trade support agencies like Customs and SLASPA, could communicate on matters of mutual interest.
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture has agreed to ensure that the dialogue continues and follow up action on the many recommendations made at the meeting are followed up on. The Vieux Fort Business Community can look forward to the Chamber deepening its work and extending its service offering in the short to medium term.
The recently held trade mission organized by the Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers Association(TTMA), in consultation with the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture, left a positive impact on the participating companies. The mission, which took place between the 9th and 11th of August, at the Bay Gardens Inn, intended to strengthen trade ties and explore business opportunities between the two countries.
Mr. Brian Louisy, the Executive Director of the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, extended a warm welcome to the visiting business representatives at the "Doing Business in St. Lucia" Seminar, which kicked off the trade mission. Mr. Louisy encouraged them to explore potential collaborations with other businesses and sectors in St. Lucia, in addition to focusing on their respective industries. Key agencies including Invest Saint Lucia, the Ministry of Commerce, the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, and the Saint Lucia Customs & Excise Department, delivered informative presentations and responded to numerous questions and concerns from the 35-member delegation.
Ramesh Ramdeen, CEO of the Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers Association, says that the TTMA understands the importance of building economic relations with the Caribbean counterparts, hence one of the main decisions to embark on this trade mission to Saint Lucia, as they recognised opportunities for trade and investment in the market for both public and private sectors for both countries. He also believes that this will create unique synergies that will achieve sustainable growth for the Caribbean as a community. Mr. Roach, President of the TTMA, emphasized that the association has a mandate to double exports by 2025, and that the trade mission to St. Lucia is a crucial component of their strategy to accomplish this goal. The association sees tremendous potential in expanding trade ties with Saint Lucia and pursuing new business opportunities between the two countries.
Dhanraj Harrypersad, General Manager of Client Services at exporTT, and Deborah Hoyte, Export Advisor with exporTT, were also members of the Trinidad and Tobago delegation, who also took advantage of the opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture and natural splendor of St. Lucia during their visit. They visited popular tourist attractions, such as the Gros Islet Street party, and climbed Pigeon Island's fort to witness Rodney Bay's breathtaking views.
Mr. Roger Roach was pleased with the St. Lucia Trade Mission. Participating in the mission were twenty-one companies from various industries, including printing and packaging, chemicals, garment manufacturing, and food and beverage. The 35-member delegation represented a variety of businesses, including startups, small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and large corporations.
The St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture and the Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers Association are satisfied with the results of the trade mission and look forward to strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.