BUDGET 2022: $300M for small business fund

Building on the $329 million provided to develop small businesses in 2021, the government will be replenishing the Small Business Development Fund with a $300 million allocation, according to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh.

The Finance Minister said this on Wednesday, during his presentation of the 2022 National Budget at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

He also highlighted that training will be provided to small business owners in several areas including business management, record keeping, business plan writing. This training, he explained, will enhance the capacity of small business owners to effectively establish and manage their businesses.

Beyond just developing those businesses, however, Dr. Singh announced that the government will work to provide a market for the products developed by those small business owners.

In doing so, the Finance Minister said that the government will establish an e-commerce marketplace to market goods and services. Previously, it was announced that the government will create an online site, similar to the internationally-known Amazon website.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali dubbed this online marketplace an “online Stabroek Market”.

“Small businesses have the potential to strengthen communities.. And the local economy as a whole,” the Finance Minister said, positing that this informs the government’s continued support of small business development.

And further support for small business owners, he said, will include the creation of six small-business “one-stop shops” in Regions 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9- targeting 500 beneficiaries. One such one-stop shop was created in 2021, in Region Two