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| From left: Assistant Director of the Exchange Control Department of the Central Bank, Ian Collymore; Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Ruth Blackman; Prime Minister Freundel Stuart (third from right, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, NULL, NULL, 0); and Minister of Industry, Denis Kellman (right), share a light moment at the launch. (A. Miller/BGIS) |
Micro and small businesses which provide services and/or goods to Government will now have the opportunity to receive payment in a timely fashion.
Rural Development, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Barbados, launched its Trade Receivables Liquidity Facility, also known as the Factoring Programme.
The Programme allows small and micro businesses (SMEs) to be paid (a minimum of $10,000.00 and maximum $200,000.00 per quarter), for goods and or services which they provided to Government Ministries or departments, in a short period of time, at a discountable rate.
During the opening remarks at the launch, which took place at the Grande Salle, Tom Adams Financial Centre, today, Minister Denis Kellman,?? affirmed that the "…programme has the potential to positively impact the micro and small enterprise sectors in terms of the significant financial benefit that can accrue to those individuals."
He underscored the SME sectors as major contributors to the growth of today’s economy, and reconfirmed Government’s commitment to repositioning those sectors "so as to ensure [their] maximum contribution to national economic development.
"The Trade Receivables Liquidity Programme is one in a series of targeted initiatives intended for this purpose, which will be undertaken by this Ministry to assist in the general improvement of the Barbados SME Sector. As this Programme is rolled out in the upcoming days with the invitation for individuals, micro and small
enterprises, to register with this Ministry, I can assure you without doubt, that the previous untenable scenario of inordinately long waits for payment of goods and services provided to government, will most definitely be a thing of the past," he asserted.
The Minister pointed out that the Factoring process should take no longer than seven days, and highlighted the financial institutions which are enlisted under the Programme. ??These are: the main branches of any commercial bank; the Enterprise Growth Fund Limited; Fund Access; Consolidated Finance; Globe Finance; Citicorp Merchant Bank; and Caribbean Financial Services Corporation.
The Small Business Minister reaffirmed the importance of the initiative and gave the assurance that his Ministry would "leave no stone un-turned in galvanising the support of the stakeholders, particularly those within Government, whose responsibility is to ensure that this Programme is both sustainable and a continuing success."
He further added that "as we seek to find creative ways to reposition the micro and small business sector to leverage both its size and resource base to promote greater economic growth, there is an urgent need to ensure the avoidance of a dearth in viable idea generation."