The seventh annual BVI Business Outlook conference was held last week at Scrub Island Resort, with panellists and more than 100 attendees discussing local and global economic and political trends.
However, most panellists seemed to agree that it is unclear what such changes could mean for the Virgin Islands.
“I was just in Washington DC, and there is wild and breathless speculation. Be happy that you’re safe right here in the BVI because it’s a game of thrones over there,” said keynote speaker Anja Manuel, a former US Department of State official. “The bottom line is no one knows quite yet what Trump’s policies are going to be — probably not even the incoming Trump administration — because they’re still getting going.”
Benefits for VI?
Though much uncertainty was expressed at the conference, there was speculation that the upheaval in international institutions like the European Union could work to the benefit of the territory.
For instance, economist Dr. Dan Mitchell, who works for the US libertarian-leaning think-tank Cato Institute, said an adversarial relationship between Mr. Trump and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development would help alleviate the OECD’s pressure on the VI.
“If we can get Trump to tell the tax-treaty bureaucrats in Paris at the OECD, ‘No, no, you can’t persecute jurisdictions for the supposed crime of low taxes and a friendly business environment,’ then I think that can give you guys some breathing room so you’re not going to be harassed as much,” he said. “These high-tax countries are all going down the fiscal toilets slowly but surely, and so their desire to pressure you and turn you into fiscal colonies is not going to abate unless the US government changes its position.”
Diversifying
After spending most of the morning discussing global trends, Ms. Manuel, Dr. Mitchell and other panellists gave their thoughts on what the VI can do to diversify and strengthen its economy.
“The thing you don’t do is try to pick winners. It’s not about trying to work out what the next big thing is. That’s what business does for you — the innovators and entrepreneurs,” said Mark Pragnell, the head of commissioned projects for the London-based research firm Capital Economics. “What the jurisdiction needs to do is get the basics right, to provide and facilitate a good place to do business.”
Conference host Russell Harrigan is also the majority owner and publisher of the Beacon.
{fcomment}