1 week ago
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Small business operators who have suffered damage to their business or personal property from Hurricane Melissa are being urged to meet with their creditor institutions immediately in order to renegotiate their loans.
Dennise Williams, second vice-president of the Small Business Association of Jamaica, SBAJ, is encouraging the entrepreneurs to take pictures of their damaged property to show to their bankers when asking for more time to settle their debts.
She predicts that the credit rating of many businesses will take a hit as a result of the Category 5 hurricane which has left thousands of lives in shambles.
“If you have internet access right now, download your credit report. Take pictures of any damage you have and go to the bank now. I wouldn’t wait on the Jamaica Bankers Association to tell them I need a moratorium, I need some breathing room,” she said.
She also encouraged persons who owe more than $300,000 to contact the Office of the Supervisor of Insolvency to ask for help, during a press conference held by the SBAJ last Friday.
SBAJ President Garnett Reid earlier called for a number of measures to ease the pressure on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs for short, in the wake of the impact of Hurricane Melissa. These included a six-month moratorium on the interest on bank loans; a rollback on the recent increase on ATM fees; a temporary reduction on the import duties on agricultural produce; a rebate from power utility Jamaica Public Service to MSMEs affected by power outages as a result of Melissa; and for Jamaica Customs to waive all duties on imported barrels.
Williams predicted that the credit rating of many businesses will worsen over the next few months as a result of the devastation caused by Melissa.
This, she said, was because many would be focusing on getting their homes back together and feeding their families, rather than paying their business loans, which will result in worsening credit ratings.
“We’re calling on the Jamaica Bankers Association to have a meeting with us, so that we can understand what they’re going to do in terms of the impact of Hurricane Melissa on the credit reports, because there are 1.4 million Jamaicans that are in the credit bureau system right now,” she said.
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