More than 100 small and medi­um-sized en­ter­pris­es (SMEs) are set to re­ceive a sig­nif­i­cant boost in fi­nanc­ing to grow their op­er­a­tions and ex­pand in­to new mar­kets. 

Min­is­ter of Fi­nance, Colm Im­bert, and the di­rec­tor rep­re­sen­ta­tive for CAF—De­vel­op­ment Bank of Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean in T&T, Bernar­do Re­que­na, signed a US$35 mil­lion in­vest­ment loan to strength­en the Ex­port-Im­port Bank of T&T’s (Ex­im­bank’s) ser­vices to cater to a broad­er range of clients, par­tic­u­lar­ly SMEs.  

The Min­istry of Fi­nance said yes­ter­day the cred­it fa­cil­i­ty will se­cure US$35 mil­lion in ad­di­tion­al fund­ing to ex­pand Ex­im­bank’s fi­nan­cial ser­vices and sup­port to SMEs and emerg­ing sec­tors and po­si­tion them to bet­ter com­pete in lo­cal, re­gion­al, and in­ter­na­tion­al mar­kets.

This ini­tia­tive is tied to Ex­im­bank’s 2022-2026 strate­gic plan and fo­cus­es on in­creas­ing ac­cess to cred­it and in­no­v­a­tive fi­nan­cial so­lu­tions for SMEs across fo­cussed sec­tors in­clud­ing cre­ative in­dus­tries, ICT, and re­new­able en­er­gy. The fi­nanc­ing will help busi­ness­es in­vest in plant up­grades, dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, and tech­nol­o­gy de­ploy­ment, as well as prod­uct qual­i­ty im­prove­ments to po­si­tion them for ex­port growth and long-term sus­tain­abil­i­ty. 

Speak­ing at the sign­ing cer­e­mo­ny yes­ter­day, Im­bert said the en­hanced fi­nanc­ing op­tion will em­pow­er busi­ness­es to in­no­vate, com­pete glob­al­ly and con­tribute to eco­nom­ic growth. 

“This col­lab­o­ra­tion with CAF will al­low the Ex­im­bank to ex­pand its sup­port to SMEs, equip­ping them with the fi­nan­cial tools need­ed to grow their op­er­a­tions and con­tribute to the na­tion­al econ­o­my. Our goal is to cre­ate an en­vi­ron­ment were small and medi­um en­ter­pris­es can thrive, and this ini­tia­tive is a ma­jor step in that di­rec­tion.” 

Re­que­na said the col­lab­o­ra­tion will be trans­for­ma­tive. 

“SMEs are the back­bone of our economies, and by pro­vid­ing the re­sources and fi­nan­cial tools they need to thrive, we are sup­port­ing their growth and broad­er eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment. This part­ner­ship is aligned with CAF’s mis­sion to build re­silient, in­no­v­a­tive, and sus­tain­able economies across Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean through ag­ile and flex­i­ble fi­nanc­ing op­tions.”