BUDGET 2023: Almost $600M for small businesses, another $327M for new industrial estate in Linden, Essequibo
Budget 2023 is not without allocations for continued government support for the local small business sector.
And in a bid to deliver on its promise of creating a conducive environment for private sector investment, the government has set aside $584.2 million for the Small Business Bureau and the Small Business Development Fund.
This is in addition to the extensive range of support in place in agriculture, tourism, youth-based, and women-based initiatives.
Another $327.8 million has been allocated in 2023 to continue development works in Amelia’s Ward and commence works for the establishment of a new industrial estate in Region 2.
This is in direct response to the constraints faced by many small businesses in relation to finding adequate and suitable space from which to operate.
The government has already embarked on the construction of industrial estates and business incubator centres at key locations countrywide. To this end, notwithstanding some delays in logistics in acquiring equipment, the business incubator centers at Lethem and Belvedere are expected to be fully operationalised in 2023, resulting in the creation of over 400 jobs.
In 2022, through the Small Business Development Fund, more than 1,400 entrepreneurs benefitted from grant financing ranging from $150,000 to $500,000.
This represents an almost 91.6 per cent increase in the number of beneficiaries from 2021 with a sum of $300 million budgeted in 2023 for the Fund to continue assisting small entrepreneurs.
To support quality and standards for businesses, the existing facilities for the Guyana National Bureau of Standards will be expanded to allow for them to provide adequate, accurate and timely services, with $1.5 billion budgeted for the construction of the new laboratory that will commence in 2023.
This new facility, being built according to international standards, will provide industrial and legal metrology services, improving our capacity to promote the adoption of quality standards among micro, small and medium enterprises.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh also promised the establishment of a traceability system to address trade barrier issues is expected to be established in 2023 to support expanded market access for our businesses.
