Tobago’s population needs to triple

TOBAGO BUREAU

TOBAGO’S population needs to triple, according to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Administrator Raye Sandy.

Sandy was speaking on Thursday at the United Nations (UN) International Standard Industrial Classification Revision 4 (ISIC Rev.4) hosted by the THA Planning Department, in partnership with the Central Statistical Office (CSO) at the Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute in Mt St George.

“Without doing any scientific surveys, I’m of the firm view that the population in Tobago needs to at least triple for Tobago to have the kind of critical mass to support the kind of businesses we would like to see in Tobago,” he told the audience.

“The population of Tobago hovers around the 50,000 mark for the longest while…I am saying that we need 150,000 persons.

“The business sector in Tobago is stymied heavily not only by the actions of the Tobago House of Assembly, which really should get out of some items that we are now engaged in. The population of Tobago, we don’t have the critical mass to support the kind of businesses that can thrive in Tobago,” Sandy added.

The ISIC Rev.4 seminar was the first of its kind held in Tobago, and according Sandy, it is a most important task as a prerequisite for planning the sustainable economic development of the island by supporting the infrastructure for the collection and analysis of data needed to formulate policies that would greatly assist the business sector. “Such an undertaking cannot be realised without the collaboration of all the valid stakeholders coming together to address the issues facing the various interests and providing insights into approaches which the Tobago House of Assembly can assist.

BUSINESSES

INCREASING

“The publication of the Tobago Business register in 2015 made an explanatory view of the business sector in Tobago and its update, the Tobago Economic Census of 2015 to provide insights into the changes of the economy during that period.

There was a 100 per cent increases of businesses in Tobago during that period.”

As such, he said, the Assembly has responsibility based on the THA Act for statistics and information, adding that there are other areas of responsibility that remains relevant to this initiative.

“Other areas includes Finance, Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Agriculture and Food Production, Industrial Development, Telecommunications, Customs and Excise and Infrastructure including Ports and Airports. According to the THA Act, the THA has responsibility on this island of Tobago for the majority of those agencies.

“The importance of this seminar is underscored by the policy areas of focus… the areas of focus of the Assembly which are Tourism, Community Development, Food production and Security, Education, Light Manufacturing and Specialised Services,” adding that the Assembly has recognised the need for the diversification of the Tobago economy, in keeping with the national direction of getting away from our dependence on oil and gas.

“We are prepared to play our role in that regard. Our emphasis would not only be on tourism, which would be one of the main industries to assist in growing the industries of Tobago but we would also pay some attention on Agriculture, Light manufacturing and specialised services and this is against the backdrop of some cross cutting policy themes namely; a dynamic health sector, rural development, innovation and public sector reform. As can be seen all these areas impact each other and on the business sector in Tobago.

TAX COLLECTION CHALLENGES

“The challenges of tax collection and that faced by the interplay of the sectors are challenges for the business sector to surmount and lead the way for the development of this island. Under the THA Act, businesses that operate in Tobago are by law required to pay their taxes in Tobago but that is easier said than done as this is an accounting nightmare for most businesses and all of that contribute to the Gross Development Productive but Tobago’s share of that financial benefits derived is not known simply because we do not have the statistics that disaggregate Tobago’s contribution from the national effort from Trinidad and Tobago’s contribution,” Sandy said.

Sandy said a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is being negotiated to formalise arrangements for the sharing of information, expertise and initiative towards making the agencies of the State meet the needs of the stakeholders and sectors.

The seminar targeted key officials within the Divisions, agencies and organisations who collect, compile, analyse and disseminate data on business and industry to help in national policy formation, evaluation and decision making.

The objectives of the seminar were:

To illustrate the use of a common classification system to describe the characteristics and demography of the business population to improve your registers and statistics

To guide participants on the purpose and use of common classification systems to systematically record, interpret and compare data collected on economic activities To sustain public engagement and promote meaningful discourse on the scope and benefits of using ISIC Rev. 4 classification system to produce business demography statistics

To emphasise your organisation’s critical participation as well as benefits to you in the development of a national Integrated Business Register as a source for business unit’s population and demographic data.