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Hope in the horizon
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Posted on Apr 04 2001
The Issue: NMI inches its way up the ladder of assorted ruination restoring hope in gradual growth.
Our View: It’s optimistic tidings that require constant resolute review in policy refinement.
Image is everything, the encouragement of investment growth founded on the nature of policies in place anywhere in the world, including the CNMI.
We may have ignorantly shot ourselves on the foot, a painful lesson that policymakers have hopefully come to terms, as we struggle to see the blurred shadow right in the middle of a self-inflicted dust storm.
The governor has acknowledged the positive effects of various laws recently approved by the legislature, primarily the Investment Incentive measure pushed through both chambers by Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.
There are other substantive measures that also contributed to the renewed investment spirit designed to revive the NMI’s fragile economy.
Perhaps the greatest indicator that all must zero-in is the prospects of small, medium and large investors who would come to these isles over the next several years. In other words, there has to be a corresponding number of businesses–2,000 plus–to replace businesses that have since shut down nearly four years ago.
The NMI must constantly monitor all that is happening in the world’s two most economically powerful nations, the US and Japan. The latter has been struggling to mend the new and old economic system while watching how its partner across the Pacific deals with threats of an economic slowdown.
A healthy US and Japan economic growth simply translates to residual benefits that eventually trickle into neighboring Pacific Island countries, including the CNMI. It also means that both industry and local leadership must constantly study what our competitors have done right so we can refine policies that will enable us to consistently secure our share of, i.e., tourism market. It’s hard work that requires an open mind and a willingness to adopt new paradigms in order to face new challenges in the first quarter of this millennium.
Let’s take stock, join hands, and move forward. It’s the only to go!
