BARBADOS’ SMALLEST BUSINESSES are being given access to $70 million in funding via a new guarantee scheme that Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler expects to help drive the island’s economic recovery and growth.
Sinckler, Central Bank Governor Dr DeLisle Worrell and Yvon Mellinger, water and sanitation lead specialist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), today signed the necessary trust deed between Government and the Central Bank. It took place in the conference room of the Cabinet Office, Government Headquarters, Bay Street, St Michael.
Government has borrowed the money for the Enhanced Access to Credit for Productivity Project through the IDB, which, along with the China Co-financing Fund For Latin America And The Caribbean, is providing the funds. It will be executed by the Central Bank.
Sinckler said as efforts continued on several fronts including reducing the fiscal deficit and lowering debt, making it easier for small and medium sized enterprises to access finance would help government achieve its growth strategy.
“A a critical part of that work…is to work with small and medium sized businesses to help them to be able to build out and invest in expanding and intensifying the work which they do across a number of disciplines,” he said.
Ian Collymore, acting deputy director, foreign exchange and export credit at the Central Bank, explained that the project was “created to assist small and medium sized enterprises in Barbados to obtain finance to expand and remodel their businesses through the provision of credit guarantees to commercial banks and other finance companies”.
“Businesses with annual sales or assets of up to $20 million and less than 200 employees are eligible to participate…Guarantees are provided for loans up to $2 million per project. However, a business can have total loans of up to $6 million guaranteed under the programme,” Collymore said.
“…This project is expected to assist businesses in all sectors of the economy. The online processing makes it very user friendly and particularly efficient. It will be our new standard for operating our guarantee schcemes.”
In addition to commercial banks, finance companies eligible to participate in the scheme are Capital Finance, Consolidated Finance, Globe Finance, Signia Finance and Citicorp. (SC)