Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 30, 2018 (SKNIS): Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, in briefing the nation at his monthly press conference on May 30, expressed his enthusiasm about the EC$40 million economic stimulus package set to come on stream as of June 01 this year, which he said will boost economic growth in several sectors.
Prime Minister Harris invited all government employees, including permanent secretaries, teachers, policemen, defence force officers, and cleaners to apply to access this scheme. He explained that EC$30 million is available for persons who need to pay for land, homes, home upgrades or renovations.
“I invite as many persons who need to pay for their land, add to their home, upgrade or renovate or buy a property or build a brand new home to submit their applications to access financing through the Development Bank,” he added.
Additionally, he said that EC$2 million will be allocated to an Agricultural Fund targeted at the farming and fishing communities. This is intended to inject money into these small businesses so that they can expand and upgrade their operations to boost local entrepreneurship.
“We have also set aside the sum of EC$8 million dollars to support local entrepreneurship,” said Prime Minister Harris, while noting that a substantial number of persons have benefited from similar programmes such as the Fresh Start Programme, which assisted over 650 small and medium sized businesses including fishers, farmers, professionals and shop keepers.
