By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) is “working feverishly” on two initiatives designed to reverse the decline in exports and manufacturing, which it hopes to implement this summer.

Edison Sumner, the BCCEC’s chief executive, yesterday conceded that the Bahamas’ widening trade deficit, which last year reached a five-year high of $3.1 billion, was “concerning but not surprising”.

He added that the Bahamas had seen a “fall-off” in exports and was not manufacturing, or producing, “much of anything”.

To reverse this trend, Mr Sumner said the BCCEC was seeking to finalise its Trade Information Services Desk joint venture with the Government, plus create a Bahamian chapter of the Caribbean Coalition of Services Industries.

Expressing hope that both would provide Bahamian businesses and entrepreneurs with expanded access to international markets and export opportunities, Mr Sumner said the Chamber wanted to implement both by September 2015.

He added that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Trade Information Services Desk was “entirely in the lap of the Government”, with the Chamber having already signed off on its terms.

Mr Sumner was speaking after the 2014 Foreign Trade Statistics report revealed that the Bahamas’ trade deficit increased by $547.2 million or 21.4 per cent in 2014 to $3.101 billion, as exports declined and imports increased.

Total Bahamian exports fell by $122.6 million or 15.1 per cent year-over-year to $689.2 million, while imports increased by 12.6 per cent or $424.6 million.

While these statistics measure only the physical trade in goods, and exclude services, which account for the greatest percentage of Bahamian economic activity, the expanded trade deficits require increased tourism and foreign direct investment (FDI) earnings to finance them via the capital account.

This highlights the recent comment by ex-finance minister, Sir William Allen, that the Bahamas is having to run faster just to stay in the same place due to the fact it imports almost everything it consumes - and in ever-increasing quantities.

And this is coupled with the relative decline of Bahamian export and manufacturing industries, such as the former Bacardi plant, many of which have closed due to high energy and other business costs that make them relatively uncompetitive.

“We’ve seen some fall-off in the economy as it relates to exports,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business yesterday. “We don’t seem to be exporting as much as we used to, and are not producing anything much with it.”

The Bahamas’ main exporters continue to be Grand Bahama-based Polymers International, which manufactures styrofoam products, and the crawfish industry.

Mr Sumner said the Chamber believed the Trade Information Services Desk would provide Bahamian businesses with greater access to international markets, “via networking opportunities and exchanges between Bahamian businesses and their counterparts throughout the region and the world”.

He added that the ultimate goal behind the Desk’s creation was to enable Bahamian companies to sell into overseas markets, and expand their market share there.

“They may want to do exports but not know how to get it done,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business.

As for the Caribbean Coalition of Services Industries chapter, Mr Sumner said the Chamber had met with this organisation two months ago in Barbados, and was working with it to set up the Bahamian arm.

“This is a facility where the services sector is able to collaborate together and explore opportunities for the exchange of goods and services, and access to markets through Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said.

“If you are a services provider, you can also export your services - architectural, accounting and professional services - into these countries.

“We’re hoping to see both these initiatives come to fruition in the summer,” Mr Sumner added. “The Trade Desk is sitting entirely in the lap of the Government. The Chamber of Commerce has agreed to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).”

He said the Chamber’s understanding was that the Attorney General’s Office was reviewing the MoU, and would then revert to Cabinet for a sign-off once it approved.

“We’re hoping to see that come to fruition in September this year,” Mr Sumner added of the Caribbean Coalition of Services Industries chapter.

“If we were to get these two initiatives off the ground, we expect to bring some relief and help to those in the area of exports, where we can identify opportunities for them.

“We’d like to see the export and manufacturing base in the country expand to take advantage of opportunities that are available to them.”

Mr Sumner acknowledged that there had been “some contraction in manufacturing industries”, where companies had either closed or “significantly” downsized, something he attributed to the cost of doing business in the Bahamas.

He added that manufacturing industries were also often unable to find the necessary skill sets, and in sufficient quantities, among the Bahamian workforce.

“We know, generally speaking, that the economy has been a fickle economy for the last several years,” Mr Sumner said. “We are beginning to see some signs of a return to growth in certain sectors.

“Given that the economy is still challenged, we are looking at what we can do from the private sector side to spur what growth and opportunities we can.”

He also suggested that the Bahamas do what it could to make imports more affordable, given that this nation imported the bulk of its food, fuel and consumer goods such as clothes.