On 8/4/2010 5:52 AM, Maureen Paul wrote
Getting banks to be more sympathetic to small businesses is an important issue for Dominica and the wider Caribbean.
This is something that Washway is very passionate about. We discussed the issue via ‘Between You and Me’ and we also had a lengthy 1 to 1 discussion a few weeks back
To Washway, I hope these articles help to further refine your argument re. putting policies in place to encourage banks to lend. As I mentioned before, while the government may hold sway over banks where the state is a majority shareholder, it cannot dictate to banks who they should lend to and who they shouldn’t lend to – this will be based on the bank’s risk assessment.
Policies can be put in place to encourage banks to lend more to small businesses (perhaps reduce some of the red tape and the cost of borrowing – subsidising the cost of borrowing may be an option). However, the government would also need to address the riskiness of small businesses. It is not feasible to introduce some net lending target. In the end, competition will be the key in solving this problem.
Not certain that Washway’s email is included in the list. If not, Rags do you have it or can you kindly forward?
