There has been “no mass exodus” of global business companies from Barbados since the island raised its corporate tax rates in compliance with the new minimum corporation tax regime set to come into effect globally at the start of 2025.

Speaking at the official launch of Global Business Week 2024, hosted by BIBA, the Association for Global Business and its strategic partners, both Minister of Energy and Business, Senator The Hon. Lisa Cummins and President of BIBA, Mr. Marlon Yarde, indicated that there had been no evidence to show that global business companies had begun to relocate in large numbers once the tax rate increase to 9 per cent across the board, and 15 per cent for the largest multinational tax payers took effect from January 1 of this year on the island.

Moreover, Mr. Yarde said in his remarks, “BIBA is aware of several companies in the areas of fintech, shipping, and petrochemicals that are in the process of getting new licenses to operate in Barbados. We have also seen companies among our membership within the international insurance industry that have started to scale up their presence in Barbados.”

However, both the BIBA head and the Ministry of Energy & Business acknowledged that the country needed to continue to be responsive and innovative in order to attract new global business and retain existing companies. Senator Cummins indicating that government would be pushing for a stronger collaboration with BIBA to ensure the sector continues to expand.

She said this strengthened partnership was needed in the area of research and identifying “replacement strategies” to attract new businesses and maintain the island’s place as a top domicile.

Global Business Week, to be held this year from October 20 to 26, includes its flagship hybrid Global Business Conference on October 24 and 25, and a full slate of activities meant to engage different segments of the population on each day of that week. Aligned with the week is also the BIBA Charity Ben Arrindell Golf Classic, which will take place on November 1 to raise funds to continue to upgrade the Artificial Kidney Unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Senator Cummins emphasised: “Even though we have not seen a mass exodus of companies, that’s not to say that companies may not leave or that small numbers of companies may not have even left.”

She stressed, “BIBA is well poised to lead and to collaborate with the government” along with Invest Barbados and the International Business Unit on developing strategies to sustain and grow the sector.

Senator Cummins also challenged BIBA to work with the administration to establish an entity fashioned after the former Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) to provide specialist research and expert opinion on the best approaches for Barbados to maximise its position.

The Minister, who comes from a background in diplomacy and international, trade urged “[The RNM] researched new trends, new developments, new opportunities, new threats. It produced and distributed thought pieces on a regular basis that would allow the Caribbean region to identify some of the areas where we needed to be able to zoom in.

“[Those included] areas of policy, where the business community could then have the benefit of dedicated, purpose-built research. I believe that the time has come, together with institutions like BIBA and the government of Barbados, for us in this space to begin to move beyond advocacy and spend some time dedicating research into what the opportunities are for jurisdictions like Barbados in the area of attracting, retaining, and replacing business; and looking at what our strengths are, where the opportunities are coming from, where the global business community is going next, and how we position this amazing domicile that we have built so far, and are revising even further with new corporation tax rules, and new business facilitation entities.”

In her feature address, the Energy and Business Minister disclosed the island was in negotiation with Ghana and had been approached by Hong Kong, as it updated its Bilateral Investment Treaties and Double Taxation Agreements regimes.

Meanwhile, President of BIBA, Mr Marlon Yarde was proud of the success of BIBA over the years despite the challenges it has confronted.

“BIBA continues to thrive in large part thanks to its supportive, solid community consisting of our members, strategic partners, institutions, individuals, and corporate sponsors. If we all continue to work together, the global business sector will continue to adapt and evolve despite the myriad changes taking place within the international political, financial and business landscapes,” he assured.

“We spent collective hours deliberating over the changes to our corporate tax regime to stave off the feared collapse of our global business sector driven by the external push to effectively triple our tax rate for some of our largest taxpayers,” Yarde added.

Global Business Week’s key supporters include Diamond sponsor Invest Barbados; Platinum sponsor, the International Business Unit; Gold sponsors, the Central Bank of Barbados and CIBC Caribbean; Silver sponsors KPMG, EY, LEX Caribbean, Vistra (Barbados) (formerly Tricor Caribbean Limited), PWC, RBC, Trident Trust, CGF, and Scotiabank; while major event sponsors are Cidel Bank and Trust, RBC Capital Markets and Sagicor.

Register now for the Global Business Conference.

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