The Minister of Economy and Labour, Jason Hayward, explained, “Today, the Ministry is releasing a summarized version of the Economic Development Strategy’s Strategic Priority One: Local and International Business Retention and Expansion, which focuses on:
- Supporting and enabling the growth of economic drivers such as International Business, Real Estate, Finance and Insurance activities which contribute 56% to Bermuda’s economy;
- Supporting and enabling the growth of employment industries such as Wholesale, Retail, Accommodation and Food Services;
- Growth Opportunities and New Industries such as Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing Sectors, Climate Risk Finance, building a technology ecosystem;
- Supporting and enabling the growth of Economic Empowerment Zones; and,
- Ensuring Bermuda is business friendly.”
The public will recall the recently released Economic Development Strategy, available online at gov.bm, which provides a framework to guide Bermuda to sustainable economic growth and development.
The Strategy contains five strategic priorities that focus on maintaining high employment rates and increasing the range of well-remunerated jobs allowing for strong and sustainable growth and development.
The five strategic priorities are:
- Local and International Business Retention and Expansion;
- Business Attraction and Investment promotion;
- Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development;
- Continued Execution of the Economic Recovery Plan; and,
- Investing in People.
In alignment with the strategic initiatives, these priorities focus on improving and expanding the economy and increasing the working population. These initiatives will provide direction and drive the work plans of Bermuda’s economic development organizations which fall under the Ministry of Economy and Labour. Strategic Priority One focuses on retaining and expanding business activity in key economic drivers, which will increase productivity and economic growth. These industries also enable more significant levels of economic activity in other sectors of the economy.
Minister Hayward continued, “A thriving business environment is critical to the success of our economy as it supports our quality of life and our community. To that end, the Government will ensure optimal conditions exist for businesses to set up, grow and operate successfully.”
Local businesses form a part of the fabric of our community and are essential to economic stability. Greater levels of economic activity from existing companies will lead to greater levels of investment, job expansion and tax revenues. The retention and expansion of current businesses is a priority of this Government.
In the coming weeks, the Ministry of Economy and Labour will release summarized versions of the remaining four strategic priorities for review. All will be available online in the Resources section at www.gov.bm/ministry/economy-and-labour.