Established October 1895 CARPHA: Variants should not interrupt vaccination campaigns Page 4 Tuesday March 16, 2021 $1 VAT Inclusive PUSH POLICIES TO SUPPORT ‘SMALL MAN’ WEALTH consolidation in spect to taxation, levies, contri- Energy, Small Business and Barbados and Government butions whatever you call it, and Entrepreneurship, Kerrie policies have worked to the other imposts, have impacted Symmonds, to share that view of detriment of this country’s negatively in small businesses. business consolidation with him small business sector. “Government is not without as well. So says Bishop Joseph blame when it comes to the op- Bishop Atherley wants Atherley, the Leader of the erational costs to small busi- Government policy to improve Opposition, during one of his nesses that keep them sup- towards the sector and that all contributions to the debate on pressed and erode their viabil- impediments affecting them are the Appropriations Bill in the ity,” the Opposition Leader de- removed. House of Assembly yesterday. clared. In suggesting the Atherley said that while the Atherley also charged that Government deal with the situ- consolidation of wealth has be- there is wealth consolidation ation, Bishop Atherley said come one of the ugly develop- among certain elements of cor- there is a need to create the ments in the growth and devel- porate Barbados and among cer- space not only for vendors, but opment of Barbados, tain privileged elements histor- for others making up the small Government policies with re- ically.He has invited Minister of MSME on Page 2 Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley. Plan to rebuild, rebrand Barbados is crucial MINISTER of Energy, Small He stated that there has to pact,” he maintained. Business and be a plan to rebuild and to re- Referring to a 2016 study of Entrepreneurship, Kerrie brand Barbados. the small and medium sized en- Symmonds has said that the Symmonds, who is also the terprises sector, the Minister 2020/2021 Estimates are tai- MP for St. James Central, said said that although it is dated, it lored towards a programme of that the issue of generating and reflected that 92 per cent of the economic recovery for creating economic activity is sector comprised micro small Barbados. perhaps more important now and medium enterprises. At Symmonds was the first to than ever before, and certainly that time, he said, the sector speak during debate on since independence in 1966. employed about 46 000 persons. Appropriations Bill which dealt He said the Ministry was es- Furthermore approximately 42 with his Ministry,which for the tablished in July last year and per cent of those enterprise next financial year has been al- that the well-being of the micro recorded annual sales of being located an amount of $34.36 and small and medium sized less than $100 000. million. enterprises (MSME) are at the The message from those sta- Noting that the House of core of the ministry’s business tistics indicated to him that it is Assembly was meeting under and for those activities to reach necessary for Barbados to have the shadow of COVID-19, the export levels. real time information that pol- Minister said that the pan- The Minister pointed out that icymakers can work with. demic had caused an implosion to achieve the specific objectives “The second thing it tells me in the country’s economy. to rebuild the economy, there is that the margins under According to him, Barbados’ are a number of strategic goals which those entrepreneurs are gross domestic product had de- drawn between the Division of operating under are very slen- clined by $1.59 billion during Commerce and Small Business der,” Minister Symmonds de- the last financial year. and Entrepreneurship on one clared. As such, he went on, As such, he indicated that hand and the Division of there is no wriggle room or economic recovery has to be in Energy and Natural Resources space really for operational the context of sustaining busi- on the other. changes and for entrepreneurs ness, the financial well-being of “What we have to try our best to deal with conditions like Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, households and the creation to facilitate [is] the capture of COVID, and that slender mar- Kerrie Symmonds making his way into Parliament yesterday wherever possible of economic the SMEs and to get an under- gins mean vulnerability. for the start of the 2020/2021 Estimates. activity. standing of their economic im- PLAN on Page 3 2 • Tuesday March 16, 2021 The Barbados Advocate Five vending ‘Disregard and disrespect’ facilities on for small businessman DEMOCRATIC Labour adopted. The facilitation Party (DLP) of venture capital financ- spokesperson for ing rather than 100 per the cards Small Business and cent loan financing has to Entrepreneurship be included. There has to GOVERNMENT is seek- Business and Ryan Walters is not im- be an element of risk and ing to improve the condi- Entrepreneurship pressed with the offer- investment on the part of tions of those engaging in Minister said. ing for small business the government if the sec- vending activities on the His comments came as in Barbados as out- tor is going to thrive and highways of this country, he noted that these per- lined on the first day provide the economic and will be seeking to cre- sons who sell goods on the of Estimates yester- gains down the road. ate vending zones at var- highway, do so in the ab- day. “I always like to remind ious points across the is- sence of running water During his response to everyone that micro and land. and bathroom facilities. the 2021-2022 Estimates small businesses account According to Minister of Moreover,using the exam- – which tackled Small for approximately 92 per Energy, Small Business ple of coconut vendors, he Business & cent of businesses and 60 and Entrepreneurship, said they are restricted in Entrepreneurship yester- per cent employment in Kerrie Symmonds, it is terms of the hours they day morning, Walters the private sector. being proposed that there can work, as they must opined that the presenta- “A government that will be five facilities con- leave the site by a certain tion from the Minister fails to invest in its people structed, which will help time, in order to dispose leading that Ministry, will fail. All we are asking to ensure the safety of of the coconut shells at the Kerrie Symmonds has for is investment in our those plying their trade dump before it closes. confirmed that the gov- people, their children and and their customers. The Insisting that it is imper- ernment has no intention their children’s children.” minister indicated that ative that the to go above and beyond to The DLP spokesperson the exact locations are yet Government facilitate empower ordinary lamented that since tak- to be finalised, but he re- every class and every level Bajans. ing Office, the govern- vealed that Warrens, St. of businessperson in In a statement issued ment has taken more Michael is seriously being Barbados, he suggested yesterday evening from the “ordinary” man considered as one such that this would include Walters said, “The than has been given. site, and there are already having longer hours of op- Estimates has allocated “They increased bus plans in the Town eration at the dump and $10 million. This is less fares, they introduced a Planning Office for a site with the proposed zones, than what was afforded Sewage Tax and a Gas at Top Rock, Christ persons would have the to the small business Democratic Labour Party spokesperson for Small Levy.They increased NIS Church. ability to ply their trade community in the 2018 Business and Entrepreneurship Ryan Walters. contributions … to name Symmonds’ comments later into the evening if budget, pre-pandemic. It a few things.Additionally, came as he responded to a they so desire. is a shame and an insult. week we hear it has been nesses in the country. they restructured the question posed yesterday “This further confirms cut to $500. Walters said that the gov- government debt owed to by the Leader of the Transforming sector the government has no “The Pause was ex- ernment boasts that they the NIS which will result Opposition, Bishop Joseph Symmonds added, “The interest in restructuring tended and the micro are borrowing at one per in Bajans losing close to Atherley, during the dis- reality is, ma'am, that we the economy, even after businesses will not be cent max, but yet is lend- $1 billion down the road cussion on the budget for have to transform the re- the pandemic has pro- compensated for that ing small business at five and our pensions are af- his ministry for the ality of how our vending vided them a perfect op- time. Yet we hear percent. “Once again prof- fected … but on the other 2021/2022 financial year, community exists and portunity to do so.” Minister Symmonds use iting big from the efforts hand they have given al- as the debate on the bring them into the 21st He challenged that this phrases like “government of the small man,” he most $1billion to big busi- Estimates of Revenue and century with all the mod- follows the trend of “dis- is embarking on a heroic said. ness by writing off VAT Expenditure got under- ern amenities of the 21st regard and disrespect” undertaking”... Even the “Don’t be fooled, the collected from taxpayers way in the Lower House. century. And so therefore, meted out to the small promoters of Old Year’s credit union is offering on behalf of the govern- “The conversation I we have begun the process businessman from this Night events have yet to micro business loans at ment, but never paid over.