Meanwhile, the Government minister said the sector could still return to its pre-COVID-19 growth trajectory of 5,000 to 6,000 jobs per year, with adherence to training, promotion, policy, and health guidelines, as well as if new business can be secured, while also scaling up existing operations.

Vaz also told the House of Representatives that since the full implementation of the revamped Credit Enhancement Facility (CEF), 12 financial institutions — including microfinance entities — have signed on and have committed to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with loans backed by over $10 billion in guarantees during the the current fiscal year.

The CEF aims to minimise the risk exposure associated with small business lending and acts as an incentive to financial institutions to increase MSME lending – enabling those with viable projects to get additional collateral support.

The CEF business model was revised from an individual scheme – in which individual guarantees are processed by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) – to a portfolio scheme in which the processing of guarantees is delegated to each approved financial institution based on an annual portfolio allocation, the minister explained.

He said the DBJ has also increased the volume of micro loans to the sector, totalling up to $2,421 million, and successfully implemented the Jamaica Business Fund, which facilitated $427 million in investments in 18 supply chains, benefiting 308 MSMEs.