Since last October the Barbados Government has provided more than $22 million in supplementary funding for micro, small and medium size businesses to counter the challenges created by COVID-19.
So said Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the Honourable Kerrie Symmonds, as he began his contribution to the Standing Finance Committee on the Annual Estimates (FY 2021-2022) in relation to his Ministry, in the House of Assembly this morning.
He said this level of assistance was critical since the last study of small business in Barbados, done in 2016 by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies for the Small Business Association, showed this sector employed more than 46,000 people, but operated with margins that were so slender they were extremely vulnerable to shocks such as those created by COVID-19.
“Creating and generating economic activity” over the next year will be more important than at any time since the attainment of political Independence in 1966, and will form a major part of Government’s focus in the coming months.
About time!