Jamaica Zooms Past SME Lending Targets

Jamaica had set a target to lend $3 million to micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses in the 2014/2015 fiscal year. According to the nation’s Ministry of Finance and Planning, MSME lending zoomed past that goal.

Finance minister Dr. Peter Phillips announced that the Development Bank of Jamaica had approved $3.3 million in financing to small businesses in the first 11 months of the fiscal year. The figures were announced at the opening of the 2015/2016 budget debate late last week.

Thanks to the easily-achieved goal, Phillips added that for this year, the nation would set a goal of $4 million in small business lending. This boost, reports said, includes an increase in the loan cap that will be available to SMEs. The bank will also increase guarantees offered to borrowers of up to 80 percent on loans below $6.2 million, amounting to a guarantee of $5 million, reports said.

“As a result of the amendments being made to their loan guarantee program, known as the Credit Enhancement Facility, the Board of the DBJ has taken the decision to increase the maximum value of the guarantee from $10 million to $15 million to cover up to 50 percent of DBJ SME loans being accessed.”

According to Phillips, the health of Jamaica’s small business community is crucial “if we are to broaden the base of ownership in the country and, even more so, if we are to spread the benefits of enterprises to those social groups, which have been excluded form participating in the mainstream economy.”

Jamaica’s small business community will additionally benefit from a new voucher program, also announced by Phillips, that aims to secure technical and training resources for startups as the nation looks to boost its economy and provide the necessary resources for SMEs to do business internationally.

The voucher program, Phillips said, emerged as government officials recognize not only SMEs’ difficulties in accessing working capital, but also in securing the necessary technical expertise to successfully run their businesses.

Startups can also gain a boost thanks to Jamaica’s Venture Capital Programme, which has seen interest from eight local and international fund managers so far, Phillips said. Six of those funders are already in discussions with the DBJ to secure investment.