Anthony Hylton, opposition spokesman on industry, investment and global logistics, is calling for the Government to “end the delay in the $1-billion Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) fund to assist medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) to finance digitalisation of their businesses”.

In a statement today, Hylton said the DBJ assistance was promised during the 2021-22 Budget presentation by Dr Nigel Clarke, minister of finance and the public service back in March, and argued that with the first quarter now at an end, there has yet to be any mention of distribution.

He said that several formalised businesses were already approved for the ‘Go Digital’ programme but remain without access to funds.

Under the Go Digital programme, MSMEs should receive a voucher entitling them to DBJ loans of up to $800,000 at an interest rate of two per cent.

“Over the past several weeks, business owners have been asking when the programme will be on stream. Go Digital was seen as a hope for many enterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic. They took action to ensure that they qualified for the programme and are now being set back operationally because of delays in disbursement of funds,” Hylton claimed.

He said it has now become urgent for Clarke to honour his commitment to MSMEs as many of these businesses are experiencing serious challenges due to the restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA).

Consequently, Hylton said he was looking forward to a prompt announcement and implementation of the programme by the minister.