Acamdemic Fears Patriot Act Will Hit Barbados' Foreign Exchange Earnings

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

16 October 2003

A political economist at the University of the West Indies has warned lawmakers in Barbados that they may well have to challenge certain aspects of the United States Patriot Act which could seriously affect the amount that Barbadians remit back to the island from abroad.

Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, Dr Don Marshall, says:

“Whoever is in office in Barbados, when this act is brought into full effect, will have to challenge the excesses of the breaches of international law that it beckons.”

Remittances from Barbadian workers abroad, particularly from the United States, make up a significant proportion of the foreign exchange earnings received by Barbados, and according to IMF figures quoted in the Daily Nation, between 1970 and 1999 $1.42 billion was remitted back to the island from the US.

Dr Marshall is concerned that the heightened security checks on the movement of money called for in the Patriot Act, a product of the post September 11 world, will deter workers from sending money back to Barbados, and also have an impact on the nation's offshore sector.

“In so many ways, that level of surveillance poses a potential threat to the future of our offshore banking operations because measures, as they relate to discretion and confidentiality, will be all put at risk,” Marshall said.

According to the Daily Nation, there are about US$57.26 billion worth of assets in the Barbados offshore sector, generating profits of around US$1.93 billion.

Recommended