Gillian Hyde, general manager, Jamaica National Small Business Loan (JNSBL), says the COVID-19 pandemic represents an opportunity for Jamaicans to include, high on the ­national agenda, plans to make it ­easier and cheaper for micro entrepreneurs to formalise their operations.

“I believe it’s an important time for us to discuss how we further engage the micro sector, strengthening their operations through increased formalisation,” Hyde affirmed.

Hyde added that the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with other issues such as climate change, continues to impact critical sectors, including the agricultural sector.

Dr Damien King, economist and ­executive director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), said the pandemic will affect micro small and medium enterprises differently because they are not as capitalised as larger operations.

“By the time we come out of this, we will not only have a smaller economy, we’re going to have a different structure of an economy with these vacuum holes that a lot of these small businesses would occupy,” he said, while asking for leniency on the part of lenders.