Investors' Favourability in Doing Business in Jamaica

• Author: Lloyd G. Waller/Densil A. Williams/Omar E. Hawthorne/Donavon Johnson
• Profession: Head of the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona. His research focuses on research methodologies; governance and public policy; and digital transformation/Professor of International Business at the UWI/Lecturer of International Relations and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Leadership and Governance at ...
• Pages: 54-67

Introduction

This chapter examines the Jamaican business environment from the

perspective of the actors who are actually conducting operations within

the country. The chapter examines some of the general substantive and

reoccurring themes, which emerged from the ndings of a study conducted

between September 2015 and February 2017, which uses the qualitative

approaches to explore the experiences of foreign businesses doing business

in Jamaica. The themes covered in this chapter include the ‘positives’ of

doing business in Jamaica such as: (1) the skilled and innovative workforce

and (2) lenient taxation. It also includes the challenges related to doing

business in Jamaica such as: (1) the challenges of red tape (bureaucracy)

and (2) the problem of high taxation. The ndings generally help to paint a

better picture of the Jamaican business environment.

The Jamaican Business Environment

Bank’s Doing Business report, that, Jamaica lags signicantly behind many

other countries where doing business is concerned, the qualitative data

from this study shows that the opportunities outweigh the threats.

Jamaica is strategically located as the largest English-speaking country in

number one transhipment port in the region, and has notable mineral

deposits. With a population in excess of 2.7 million, Jamaica has the

for its strong business acumen and warm, enterprising spirit. This sets it

Jamaica benets from funding from multilateral agencies such as the World

funding has helped Jamaica to increase productivity, thereby enhancing its

competitiveness in the world market.

5. Investors’ Favourability in

Doing Business in Jamaica