Total shutdown: Just 1% of firms able to survive Dorian-type blow

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN businesses have warned that commerce on islands hit by future Dorian-type natural disasters will almost completely shutdown with this nation forecast to be the worst-impacted of major Caribbean territories.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in its latest Caribbean quarterly bulletin, revealed that just 1 percent of Bahamian business owners believe they will be able to “remain open for business” if they cannot access their customer markets, primary physical location and basic utility services following a natural disaster such as a major hurricane.

Together with Barbados, The Bahamas ranked joint bottom among major Caribbean nations in terms of the proportion of businesses able to continue operating during and after such an event. The finding further exposes the need to enhance private sector resiliency, and that of key infrastructure such as electricity and communications, given that rival territories appear more confident about their ability to bounce back from major storms.

Some 5 percent of Jamaican businesses, and 10 percent of those in Trinidad & Tobago, voiced confidence about their ability to keep operating during and in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, while for Guyana and Suriname the percentages were 23 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

“The last five years have been challenging for Bahamian businesses,” the IDB report said, with deft can be feasibly introduced. The draft legislation will soon be presented to public sector unions for feedback.”

She explained that the benefits under the new pension plan, a defined contribution scheme that

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