MORE NEEDS TO be done to facilitate entertainers and others who travel overseas and earn foreign exchange for Barbados.
Chartered accountant Tyson Thompson questioned why these individuals found it difficult to have foreign currency bank accounts compared to non-Barbadians establishing companies here.
He voiced the concern while participating in an International Business Week 2015 panel discussion on the topic International Business: New Paths Forward.
Thompson, who is an international tax consultant, and managing partner of Thompson Henry & Associates, said there was a need for a “policy framework” to “facilitate the artiste who goes overseas and earns income to earn the country some foreign exchange.
“We have to get our currency legislation in line with what we try to promote if not the cultural industry personnel they are going to have problems with the monies they bring into Barbados,” he warned.
“The legislation we have now does not see… a Barbadian going outside and earning money and bringing it back the same way they see a non-Barbadian coming to Barbados setting up a company here and earning money.”
“If you are a Barbadian and you go outside and you earn foreign currency, it’s difficult in Barbados to have a bank account in which you can put that foreign currency. If we want foreign currency why do we have to be concerned about who is earning it? Whether a Barbadian earns it or a non-Barbadian earns it there should be no difference, it is foreign currency.” (SC)
