Improving business and investment climate Aruba

Amsterdam Bureau for Economics (EBA) has issued advice commissioned by Aruba and the Netherlands on improving Aruba’s business and investment climate.

Much research has been done on the business and investment climate in Aruba over the past ten years, but the implementation of improvements has lagged behind. In the existing research, limited attention is paid to the legal position of entrepreneurs (and citizens) in licensing procedures. This legal position is weak due to the lack of (i) statutory time limits for primary decisions; (ii) clear policy objectives and assessment criteria; and (iii) a well-functioning administrative judicial system.

In order to arrive at a feasible program for improving the business and investment climate, it is important to make choices and set priorities. Based on feasibility, visibility, impact, support, and alignment with the priorities of the government of Aruba, EBA recommends implementing the following priority improvements in the short term:

1. Accelerating and improving permit decisions (and increasing the legal certainty of permit applicants and the responsiveness of the government);
2. A coherent licensing system, behind one desk (in line with the e-Government project and B.11 theme of the national package);
3. Implementation of the Aruba Fair Trade Authority (and introduction of the Competition Regulation);
4. Being able to efficiently open a bank account and a basic checking account for everyone.

These four priority improvements have been elaborated by EBA in project plans. Implementing these four projects as an integral program will substantially improve the business and investment climate.

In addition to these four priorities, reforms in the following areas make an important contribution to improving the business and investment environment: simplification of the tax system, including import duties and procedures; dynamizing the labour market (reform and modernisation of legislation, regulations and policy); and digitisation of government processes. These reforms are part of other themes of the country package. EBA has proposed a governance structure for the implementation of the proposed reforms. This defines commissioning, management, implementation, accountability and monitoring. EBA has also made a budget for the required external capacity, expertise and resources.

You can find the report here.