Lockdown payments ‘reached only half applicants’

Just over half the number of small businesses that applied for government assistance last month has received their benefit payments, but only for the first two weeks, Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Kerrie Symmonds disclosed on Tuesday.

He was speaking in Parliament where he sought and received approval for supplementary estimates for 2020/2021 for his ministry in the sum of $6,875,756.

The sum of $6.5 million is to go towards this financial assistance for the micro-businesses for February’s lockdown, dubbed the national pause. This will be in addition to the $3.5 million that was previously approved for the same purpose.

The remaining $375,756 of the supplementary, he said, is to assist the Division of Energy and Natural Resources in paying royalties to the owners of properties on which Government drills for oil and gas, known as the petroleum quota.

From February 3 – 17, some 6,122 businesspeople applied for assistance, Symmonds said.

He revealed: “As at March 8, that was yesterday, 3,407 persons were paid, and as of yesterday 86 persons were awaiting disbursement pending the completion of the verification process.

“The total amount disbursed thus far is $2,080,000. That is for the first two weeks of the period of national pause. Obviously, the disbursement process continues,” he said, adding that there were some entities that would only have been closed during the first period of the shutdown, which was later extended to February 28.”

Symmonds said those businesses that remain closed after the February lockdown will continue to receive financial assistance.

Shop owners receive $750 per week while vendors and the owners of beauty salons and barbershops are to get $250 per week.

Giving a further breakdown, Symmonds said the ministry received 832 verified applications from beauty services and some $416,000 has been paid out so far.

He said 462 applications came from people in the food vending industry for the first two-week period, resulting in Government paying out $231,000.

The small business minister told the House: “We received 280 applications from taxi operators for the first two week period and in that regard, we have paid $140,000. We received 289 applications from shops, which have been verified for that first two-week period, and they received $433,500.

“With regards to vendors, we received 964 confirmed verified applications and they benefited thus far, for the two-week period, from $482,500.”

He said his ministry has also “settled with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy, the expansion of the programme to include those people in the fishing industry – so fishermen and fish vendors are also now included”.

“The sum that continues to be available at this point is $1,420,000, but you will recognize that in the context of 6,122 applicants, that is insufficient. That is the reason I am here today to seek the supplementary,” he said.

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley raised questions as to why some sectors were excluded from the government assistance, including ZR and minibus drivers, saying while they were made to continue operating during the national shutdown they were doing so at drastically reduced capacity.

Bishop Atherley also questioned the speed with which the disbursement of funds was being made.

Symmonds said while he wished that he could speed up the process, a part of the challenge “from early out” was the practice of some people to abuse the system.

This, he said, was coupled with a thorough verification process, adding that in most cases “the registration is very inadequate and for some types of operations, the registration was done by writing in a book so you have to then do a physical check to make sure these people are actually doing what they claim to be doing”.

In relation to ZR and minibus drivers, Symmonds reasoned that they were excluded from the current stimulus because that essential service did not come to a halt as the others did.

But, he said, his ministry would still be providing some form of assistance, explaining that following a meeting with the sector last Friday, he requested that they “come back in a matter of two weeks from then and let me as the representative of Government has the benefit of a clear understanding of what some of their major priorities are with regard to how best we can lift that sector up and transform it in the way it needs to be transformed”.

Symmonds added: “I fully understand and appreciate what their challenges are, but I don’t think this relief package is the best possible route to assist them.

“The challenge is that it is a two-way street. Therefore, matters relating to law enforcement, matters relating to the views of the insurance sector have also to be taken into consideration, but I give the House the undertaking that I will, with the minister responsible for finance in the Ministry of Finance, rethink and rework a programme of policy which we can look at with regard to this important aspect of public transportation in Barbados.” (MM)