Chamber's Annual Business Survey

The Tonga Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been conducting an Annual Business Survey since 2008. The aim is to identify and quantify the pressing needs and difficulties of the business community so as to address them in Chamber's work plan and lobby with Government and other stakeholders. Chamber sees the Annual Business Survey as an essential tool to ensure its work is focussed on the key issues that hold back business in Tonga. This survey is financed by the Chamber and by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

In 2008, the first survey was conducted among Chamber's members - who all reside in the main island, Tongatapu. In 2009, the survey was extended to some non-member businesses in Tongatapu. In 2010, thanks to an increase in Chamber's staff, the survey's questionnaire was expanded and its methodology revised, and the survey was conducted not only among member and non-member businesses in Tongatapu, but also in the outer islands of 'Eua, Ha'apai and Vava'u.

The questions asked to the respondents broached upon a variety of issues concerning the ease of doing business in Tonga and the obstacles to business development, the national and international policies, regulations, tariffs and trade agreements, labour issues, environmental sustainability and discrimination.153 businesses out of a population of 953 form were interviewed or given the questionnaire to complete. The data were then analysed with technical assistance from the Statistics Demography Program of the South pacific Secretariat.

The results of the 2010 survey were presented to the task Force for Regulatory Reform on Wednesday the 30^th of June 2010. The presentation was Chaired by the Minister of Finance and attended by the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Revenue, the Solicitor General, and representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industries, the Ministry of Environment, Tonga Development Bank and IFC.

The Task Force on Regulatory Reform, an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and IFC, is a high-level public private dialogue aiming at facilitating doing business in Tonga. Its two Working Groups, one on Starting a Business and one on Fisheries, analyze the obstacles faced by businesses and propose recommendations that the Task Force transmits to Cabinet. The task Force’s aims are to improve Tonga’s Doing Business ranking and foster private sector development in the kingdom, an objective of Government in both SDP8 and the new National Strategic Planning Framework.

The results of the survey attracted numerous constructive comments and resulted in several fruitful discussions on how best to address the issues raised. The Chair, Honorable Minister of Finance, underlined the Government’s will to tackle the obstacles met by the Private Sector in order to help it grow, as it is recognized as a fundamental drive for economic development. He also suggested presenting these survey findings to Cabinet in an effort to ensure that the highest levels of Government understand the issues raised by local businesses. The reports were thus sent to all the Ministers and Members of Parliament.