Chamber Statement On The Throne Speech

The Chamber of Commerce said they look forward to the upcoming Throne Speech and hope it covers a variety of topics including our aging population, Caricom, corporate tax, real estate, the sugar tax and more.

A spokesperson said, “The Chamber looks forward to the upcoming Throne Speech and Pre-Budget reports, which we hope will cover some of the following core topics:

• Aging Population – We await further details on plans around growing the resident population and how we, collectively, can start to address the impacts that are on our doorstep now, if not already through the door. There are a number of roles, that are principally Bermudian and majority of the job holders are 55yrs+, and we have to review how we can adapt to this change, in the near term, and how does this change the landscape of our workforce going forward.

• CARICOM – raised in last year’s Throne Speech, there has been little provided to the public and business to date on the overall costs and benefits that we would expect to derive from entering into the CARICOM market and how do we fit within the market whilst maintaining the traditional norms of our operating environment;

• Corporate Tax – Looking forward, with the introduction of Minimum Corporate Income Tax, we await the updates of the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Reform Commission of how the landscape of Government income sources will potentially change in the near future and what the public and business can expect to see

• Economic Development Strategy – further updates and outlines on actions around expanding the resident population, aging population strategies, additional plans on a broad developing a sustainable housing supply and the strategy for Morgan’s Point, which we would expect to contain lessons learned of other, prior, large scale publicly funded projects;

• Landlord Tenant Act – Last year’s Throne Speech made reference to changes to this Act that have yet to be tabled. We look forward to the proposed changes that have been in the works coming to fruition in the near term, as housing remains the main challenge to longer term economic growth and development plans for businesses, as well as supporting the residents;

• Real Estate – there continue to be two key challenges with housing, affordable housing and sufficient housing. Whilst we support the recent change of Bermudiana Beach to support rental demand with 94 units, we also note that this project is a statement on the risks of publicly funded developments. This will assist the sufficient housing issue, however, we know that work continues to ensuring that the affordable housing challenge is addressed. We look forward to a clear pricing strategy for the Bermudiana Beach rental units, that will ensure the rental prices being sought do not have an additional inflationary price impact to the local market whilst being commercially practical;

• Retail Support – Being the representative of local businesses, we continue to make the case that for a thriving retail sector, that provides jobs and providing goods for consumers, a change in duty rates for bricks and mortar retail operations must be given strong consideration. The total employment numbers have not grown from 2019 levels as yet, which also shows a reduced consumer base, and a change for the retail sector must be considered if we remain interested in having a viable retail presence in Hamilton;

• Statistics – The Household Expenditure Survey that is running through to the end of the year is vital for updating the inputs to the CPI and capturing how costs have changed from the last report of 2013. We know it will take time to compile the results, but we strongly encourage this is a top priority to complete in timely manner, as there is a significant need for ensuring that information on costs in the economy is known accurately. The Chamber also applauds the Statistics department for the amended reporting on the Consumer Price Index, which provides significantly more information and transparency on the data that is used. There remain some questions portions of the data that is available and used, specifically looking at the Rental data compared against anecdotal rental information, however, it is a positive first step.

• Sugar Tax – it is time that this is critically reviewed for the overall effectiveness and whether it is serving the original intent, as there is a view that this tax is having a compounding impact on food prices and cost of food at this time.

“A number of these points have been reviewed in detail and the Chamber will provide an October 2024 economic update shortly that provides some insights to these topics.

“The Chamber of Commerce, along with the Chamber’s Economic Committee will be hosting a number of sessions shortly to discuss some of these points in further detail with stakeholders and gain further insights. If you wish to participate in these discussions, please keep a look out of for upcoming information or feel free to contact The Chamber.”

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