WHILE SOME other industries have claimed Barbados' high operating costs are a hurdle, the international business sector remains undeterred.

New president of the Barbados International Business Association, Tom Sears told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that no member of the association had raised with him the cost of living and working here as being prohibitive.

"You've got to compare apples to apples. Barbados may be expensive compared to the Dominican Republic or Jamaica, but we're not competing in the same markets they're competing in. We're competing with Jersey and Mauritius and Bermuda. We're dealing in First-World financial services centres," said the chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada Insurance Co. Ltd.

According to the Central Bank of Barbados' economic review for June 2006, 111 new international business and financial services licences were issued in the first three months of this year – 11 more than in the same period last year.

Sears said foreign companies were prepared to pay for this island's "natural resources" – a well-educated, stable workforce; low crime rate; good telecommunications services and ports; and its alignment with North-American time zones.

The executive said it was music to his ears to hear Prime Minister Owen Arthur acknowledge recently the sector's contribution of almost 60 per cent of corporate taxes collected.

He added the sector directly and indirectly employed about 8 000 people; however, he believed it could do even more for the economy, and would devote part of his tenure to promoting that. (CH)