By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader yesterday warned that “crime is killing the economy” in multiple ways, arguing that the annual $434 million cost to the Bahamas was actually an under-estimate.

Branville McCartney told Tribune Business that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report, which suggested that crime cost the Bahamas almost 5 per cent of its annual economic output, did not appear to include corruption and so-called ‘white collar’ crime.

Had it done so, he suggested that the Bahamas’ ‘cost of crime’ would have been much greater, although Mr McCartney expressed alarm that the IDB report placed this nation in the same category as two acknowledged “war zones” - Honduras and El Salvador.

“Crime is killing the economy. There’s no doubt about that,” Mr McCartney told Tribune Business. “The amount of money spent on protecting your property, your business, is phenomenal.

“It’s also killing the economy because people, myself included, are very reluctant to continue investing in this country in certain businesses in light of what is going on with crime in this country.

“It’s killing the economy in terms of how much we have to pay for protection, and killing the economy because of people being reluctant to invest, locals and international, due to the crime state we are in. It’s a very telling report.”

The IDB study,, ‘The costs of crime and violence: New insights in Latin America and the Caribbean’, revealed that crime costs only Honduras and El Salvador a greater proportion of annual GDP than the Bahamas.

The findings, revealed by Tribune Business, also disclose that the Bahamas is one of only two countries in the region where crime costs its citizens and residents more than $1,000 per person annually.

Once currency differences are accounted for, crime was shown as costing Bahamas residents $1,177 per capita annually, second only to Trinidad & Tobago’s $1,189 per person.

Apart from Mr McCartney, the findings also attracted the attention of FNM leader, Dr Hubert Minnis, who said in a statement: “With an already-struggling economy, we need immediate action to address this growing trend, or we will continue to realise the negative impacts of the crime epidemic.

“Several countries have previously issued travel advisories warning their citizens about the crime rate, and this negatively impacts our precious tourism economy.”

K P Turnquest, the FNM’s deputy leader, said the IDB report was another document in an increasing trend of “negative international reports” on the Bahamas’ problems with crime, which the nation seemed unable to bring under control.

“If we don’t get it under control, it’s going to have an even bigger effect,” he added. “It does affect the ability of the country to attract investment, it does affect the impression tourists have.

“For a once very peaceful nation, known for our tranquil environment and people, to come to this is an horrific testament.

“It speaks to a lack of focus by governments on education, social development and urban development. When people are under-educated, and feel they’re not being treated fairly, and are living in conditions where they’re not sure whether they will have a roof over their head and can provide for their family, it creates an environment where crime flourishes,” Mr Turnquest continued.

“We have to get back to basics; the fundamentals of community, discipline and order in society.”

Mr McCartney, meanwhile, added: “The bottom line is that crime affects us in every aspect of our lives. We [the DNA] had previously estimated the crime/corruption cost to our country to be $200 million a year. What the IDB is saying is that it’s much more than that.”

The DNA leader suggested that the IDB report’s estimate of $434 million, or 4.79 per cent of annual gross domestic product (GDP), being lost to crime was itself an under-estimate of the true problem.

He added that Bahamian and foreign investors, together with ordinary citizens, were frequently faced with having to “pay under the table” if they wanted something done - a practice that everyone knows of, but rarely discusses, in part because it has become so commonplace.

Pointing out that this only served to increase costs for all Bahamas residents, Mr McCartney added: “To find out where your permits and licenses are, you have to pay somebody’s lunch. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

“I had a client a couple of years ago, under this same administration, who came back to the office and was really frustrated because in order to move the file from one person to the next, for there to be any type of progress, he had to pay more money.

“I know of one huge investor who came to my office, and who has particularly significant land in the Bahamas, saying he will not invest while this government is in power because of the corruption costing him money under the table to get things done.”

Mr McCartney argued that much of crime’s costs fell under ‘corruption’, adding that all Bahamians ultimately paid for it via increased costs in business and public services.

“I say that we live in paradise, but are paralysed by fear,” the Opposition’s leader in the Senate told Tribune Business. “We live behind burglar bars, have dogs for protection, and have to ensure we have alarms at home.

“It costs us. It costs us from a business sense and as individual citizens. We continue to go down this slippery slope of crime that continues to cost the Bahamian people and reflects on us internationally.”

Mr McCartney continued: “To be put in the category of Honduras and El Salvador, that is concerning. Those are war zones because of crime concerns there.

“Can it be said that we are considered a war zone, a country at the same level as those war zones nations? We are a war zone nation. Look at the number of murders here this year. Look at the number from October to-date. It’s unprecedented.”