The small and medium enterprises (SME) sector is being given the assurance that the funds promised by Government in the August 2016 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals are not far off.
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, said he still expects the first tranche of that money to be made available from this month, noting that his ministry has requested $5 million to start. Inniss said he is cognisant of the calls from the sector to have access to the promised funds and is asking them to hold on. His comments came, however, as he revealed that he has not received any reports from agencies within his ministry, of a significant increase in requests for funding by the sector.
“The Government has indicated that additional funding will be available to the sector, and as the Minister responsible for small businesses I publicly indicated that I expect by January to be in a position to receive the first tranche and from our end we are doing everything to be ready to get additional funding from Central Government. But that funding can only go to selected institutions under our watch, normally FundAccess or BIDC,” he stated in an interview with The Barbados Advocate.
He added, “And let me be clear, I am not, as a Minister, going to be so irresponsible as to support $50 million going into one Government institution in a month’s time for it to be wasted or abused. I have been clear that I am taking a business approach to these matters.”
Adamant that the finances that will be provided will not be a “slush fund”, the Minister said he wants to see mechanisms put in place to ensure that the financing being provided is used wisely. The Small Business Development Minister said he is insisting on mechanisms being put in place to measure the success of Government’s interventions in the sector.
“I want to know how many businesses are benefiting from financing from FundAccess or other State agencies [and] I want to know the various sectors that have been focused on. Therefore they must tell me the expected goals – for instance, you want to increase the lending to the sector by 20 per cent, and then that may translate into an additional 15 per cent increase in jobs. In other words, I will task the public officers and employees in these institutions to put systems in place to measure how our intervention has helped or hindered. If we don’t do these things we end up either shooting in the dark or wasting money,” he warned.
Meanwhile, Minister Inniss added that while the sector is justified in its concerns about financing and he understands the “hurried nature” of the sector as it relates to the promised money, he is adamant that the matter is not one that should not be rushed.
He maintained that as important as it is that SMEs have access to the money, it is important that the money is properly invested and that businesses are able to pay back any loans they receive, so others can also benefit. (JRT)
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