THE Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs in collaboration with the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PMDU) in the Office of the Prime Minister, will be hosting a Stakeholder Workshop on Doing Business in Saint Lucia on Wednesday, November 6th 2019, at the Ixora Conference Room, Bay Gardens Hotel from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. under the theme, “Measuring Reform Impact to Improve Efficiency in the Business Environment.” The workshop comes on the heels of the recently released Ease of Doing Business Report–DB 2020.
This year, Saint Lucia retained its World Bank EODB ranking at 93 out of the 190 economies, which participated in the survey. Major areas for improvement will be discussed as the Ministry aims to strategize on critical reform areas including: (i) Getting Credit; (ii) Registering Property; (iii) Resolving Insolvency.
To date the improvement efforts of the EODB Ranking has been primarily centred on (i) legislative development for Resolving Insolvency, Protecting Minority Investors and Secured Transactions and Moveable Assets, (ii) Commercial Court strengthening, (iii) procedural improvement for Getting Electricity and (iv) the establishment of digital platforms for improved service delivery. Therefore, in the upcoming year, it is anticipated that these key actions will result in notable changes.
The main objectives of the upcoming workshop are to contextualize reform actions in the light of measured impact and to consider an action plan to result in tangible benefit to the Saint Lucian economy. These measures will be prioritized in a manner to give the most impact to the EODB Ranking and the Business Environment.
It is anticipated that through such mechanisms, Saint Lucia’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report will improve and there will be greater efficiency in doing business in Saint Lucia.