Every year the World Bank compares nations for the relative ease of doing business. Belize does not do well on this rating - most recently this nation was rated at 116th. But, with the help of CARILED, the Caribbean Local Economic Development Project - municipal bodies on Belize City, San Ignacio and Belmopan hope to change that. CARILED officials are touring the country -and yesterday the mayor of Belize city told the media it's all about making it easier to do business:..
Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City
"To implement ways of ease of doing business, that's the whole purpose of the round table. What we want to focus on ways that all 9 municipalities in Belize can promote easy business during within the space. What the round table and the conversations have looked at, in partnership with Cariled, is how municipalities can implement strategies that make those cumbersome projects less cumbersome. Why is it that we cannot have a system where a trade license is issued administratively, so that you can get your trade license within 3 days rather than, at best a month? So that every service that you acquire from the municipality, it is timed and you know when you will get a response and when you will get the product. So that members of the public don't have to be calling the city council for their trade license certificate, that you know that you're going to get it within a three days period. When you are applying for trade licence, you have to go to the fire department, the police department, the health department. That's something that the municipality can do for you so that we are really promoting a city and a culture among all 9 municipalities that has, as one of its core need task, generating business within our space. and what we are going to do within a very short period of time is set up a number, for example 311, so that you can call and you will get this help desk or this communication centre and they will log every single concern that you have in the municipality. And we will track those things to ensure that whatever complaint or concern you have is responded to."
And while the City is promoting faster processing of permits and licenses, one barrier to business is also the cost of a trade license - it has to be paid up front and is often a barrier to opening up in the first place:..
Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City
"If you are taxing people at the rate of 25 percent of their annual rental value, and that tax has to be paid in advance, that destroys a significant part of their working capital. That means that they have to come up with that money before they sell one burger, one hot dog, one drink and that often times means the difference between what that business starts and whether a business doesn't start."
Ralston Frazer, Belmopan City Councillor
"And one of the things that Belmopan is trying to do, is to get it, technically on paper where we may be able to allow for that particular small business to pay the same fee that is due but over a longer period of time. For example, if the trade license is $600, we won't press you for that $600 in the month of January. But we may be able to spread that, say maybe over 6 months."
Belize is the first country in the CARILED programme to take on and pay a local economic development officer who will come up policies and practices that create an environment for local development.
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