Opposing Proposed Licensing Requirement: Team Unity Dominica Stands with Co-operatives

In his 2023 – 2024 Budget Address, the Hon. Minister of Finance, Dr. Irvin McIntyre warned of government’s intention to enforce a licensing requirement on credit unions, which, in our opinion, would seriously injure the entire credit union fraternity.

Team Unity Dominica (TUD) is incensed by this disclosure, and we stand in solidarity with the Dominica Co-operative Societies League Ltd. (DCSLL); the apex body of cooperatives in Dominica.

We agree with the DCSLL that government’s proposed license fee “is akin to a tax on their assets, a crippling blow to the credit unions’ efforts to recover from Tropical Storm Erica, Hurricane Maria, COVID 19 Pandemic, IFRS 9 Adoption and the incidence of high Non- Performing Loans (NPLs)”. TUD opposes the measure and calls on citizens to do likewise.

The management of TUD commends the DCSLL who, in an earlier statement, “vehemently opposes this fiscal measure which is anti-growth and which stands to have a detrimental impact on credit unions”. In fact, the DCSLL statement of July 26, 2023, goes on to describe ill-advised threat against the co-operative sector as a draconian measure that, if implemented, could affect co-operative societies in the CARICOM region.

This threat by government to impose “license or tax of this magnitude on cooperative credit unions”, according to the DCSLL, should not be allowed to happen. The people of Dominica should stand with the co-operative sector. What happened to the consultation which government boasted about?

The finance minister agrees that meaningful collaboration would result in “increased employment, economic growth, and innovation”, and so we ask that he honors his words and engage the DCSLL. This proposed bad idea should be abandoned, and, government should engage the co-operative society, to avoid inflicting such crippling pain on the innocent people of Dominica.

TUD is ready and willing to stand with the DCSLL and the people of Dominica.

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