By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas must “cast its net beyond tourism” to grow and diversify the economy, a private sector executive describing this as a key step in attracting more qualified professionals/university graduates back to this nation.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, also called on commercial banks to “be more flexible” in their approach to business lending, as many were being “deprived of entrepreneurship” by their inability to access credit.

Speaking in the wake of Baha Mar’s decision to lay-off 190 former Crystal Palace workers, Mr Sumner called on both the Government and private sector to follow through on a National Development Plan - warning that the economy could not be left to grow “haphazardly”.

While the BCCEC was “naturally concerned” when workers were made redundant, Mr Sumner said the Baha Mar redundancies were not unexpected.

He said the developer was simply moving into the next phase of its $3.5 billion project, and expressed hope that laid-off staff would be re-hired once it opened in late Spring 2015.

“The thing is that the economy certainly needs a shot in the arm,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business of Baha Mar.

“But we need to look at other ways as an economy, a society to become more competitive, more innovative, and cast our net beyond tourism.”

While tourism was the “mainstay” for the Bahamian economy, Mr Sumner said “too many professionals” and university/college educated Bahamians either remained abroad after graduating, or left these shores because opportunities were too limited.

An OECD study has estimated that 61 per cent of tertiary-educated Bahamians remain abroad after graduating, and Mr Sumner said this nation needed to provide more financial and other resources to provide them with opportunities via economic growth and diversification.

The BCCEC chief executive added: “Commercial banks ought to be considering their policies as regards risk assessment and be a little more flexible in flowing money into the economy.

“There are a lot of budding entrepreneurs who can’t access capital, depriving the economy of opportunities to grow through entrepreneurship.”

Mr Sumner also urged the Government to follow the lead of Trinidad and other Caribbean nations, the former having its own Ministry of Education and Competitiveness to come up with alternative ways for economic development.

The Christie administration is forging ahead with its own National Development Plan, an idea that Mr Sumner effectively backed, calling for this nation to set five, 10 and 15-year goals.

“We can’t wait for the country to grow haphazardly,” he added. “The country has to grow by a plan, and we have to put in place resources to implement that plan if we are to grow the country from its present state.”

Mr Sumner said he sympathised with the workers impacted by the recent Baha Mar lay-offs, and said the BCCEC did not want to see anyone without employment.

The resort developer terminated the workers both to convert the Crystal Palace into a training facility for the workforce for its $3.5 billion development, and staunch losses stemming from the fact the property had not paying guests.

“Persons should have been expecting this to happen, based on earlier pronouncements from the hotel that they were converting this as part of their development,” Mr Sumner said.

The BCCEC had been in contact with Baha Mar, and was satisfied that the lay-offs were part of the next phase of its $3.5 billion project, and were necessary to accomplish this.

Acknowledging concerns about the impact this would have on the Bahamas’ total unemployment level, Mr Sumner said the impending Christmas season was also noted.

“The time is never the right time to release people,” he added. “Certainly, coming into the holiday season is not the most opportune time to release staff from work.”

Mr Sumner expressed hope that many of those laid-off would ultimately be re-hired by Baha Mar when the $3.5 billion development opened next year.