The Barbados government says it will be pursuing other forms of international business investment as tourism struggles due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The situation has been outlined by the minister in the ministry of finance Ryan Straughn as he led off debate in the House of Assembly this morning on the Income Tax Amendment Bill.

The bill forms of part of efforts that include the convergence of Barbados’ corporate tax rates which have been lowered from a maximum of 25 percent to 5 percent.

This was due to scrutiny from international watchdog agencies that had accused Barbados of giving special treatment to its international business sector and threatened to blacklist it as a non-compliant tax haven.

The latest amendments relate to the regulation of insurance companies.

Mr. Straughn criticised the attempts to blacklist Barbados while stressing the importance of the international business sector to Barbados’ economy, especially right now. 

Mr. Straughn also denied that the tax convergence simply gives back money to the business sector through lower taxes.

But opposition leader Bishop Joseph Atherly called on government to provide details on the strategy for attracting international businesses.

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