In a Tribune article the Chairman of the Financial Services Consultative Forum, Mr. Brian Moree makes the case against joining the CSME. His points are:<\/P><\/p>\n
1) \uffa0\uffa0Joining CSME will inevitably lead to full integration with member states.<\/P><\/p>\n
2) \uffa0\uffa0A single market with a multiplicity of currencies cannot work without major political adjustments.<\/P><\/p>\n
3) \uffa0\uffa0Intergovernmental co-operation as now exists will change and the dominating supranational structure will be making critical economic and political decisions for Bahamians.<\/P><\/p>\n
4) \uffa0\uffa0The economic benefits are minimal and lost sovereignty is the likely price.<\/P><\/p>\n
5) \uffa0\uffa0The Bahamas has not signed the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas \uffad and are thereby not bound to terms yet to be decided.<\/P><\/p>\n
6) \uffa0\uffa0Once signed to Chaguaramas there is no turning back.<\/P><\/p>\n
Former Minister of Finance Sir William Allen in a letter to the Tribune sets out his perspective for not joining. Highlights of his letter are listed here:<\/P><\/p>\n
1) \uffa0\uffa0The economic case for joining has not been made.<\/P><\/p>\n
2) \uffa0\uffa0It is not necessary to join CSME in order to be a part of the WTO process.<\/P><\/p>\n
3) \uffa0\uffa0Economic integration with the CSME countries is not a requirement for co-operative decisions that may benefit the region.<\/P><\/p>\n
4) \uffa0\uffa0Existing monetary policy can be addressed to encourage expansion of the capital market without joining CSME.<\/P><\/p>\n
5) \uffa0\uffa0The development model for the Bahamas is \uffb3significantly\uffb2 different from most other Caricom countries and the difference requires that the Bahamas be excluded from some of the key provisions.<\/P><\/p>\n
6) \uffa0\uffa0Because the Bahamian economy is so different from other countries in the region there is no \uffb3intrinsic\uffb2 value in joining \uffad until\/unless we become more like them.<\/P><\/p>\n
Condensing ideas to simple statements are starting points for discussion. Joining the CSME will be a commitment to making profound changes in ways we cannot possibly anticipate.<\/P><\/p>\n
In his talk to the Kiwanis Club Mr. Mitchell lists seven bureaucracies that will comprise the Caribbean Community from which he anticipates some benefit. \uffa0Bureaucracies are notoriously inefficient and costly. How the Bahamas would benefit from more of them is not stated.<\/P><\/p>\n
Embedded in Mr. Mitchell\uffb9s response to Sir William there may be a list of reasons for joining. \uffa0However the deciphering required suggests that Mr. Mitchell is not sure himself where the CSME train is headed. Therefore we are not climbing aboard.<\/P><\/p>\n
THE NASSAU INSTITUTE<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mr. Mitchell is not sure himself where the CSME train is headed. Therefore we are not climbing aboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}