Government of Montserrat has approved the allocation of an additional $137,000.00 to the Small Business Relief Fund (SBRF) to allow 21 more local businesses to receive much needed financial assistance under the programme.
In September 2023 Government approved $100,000.00 for the SBRF and was able to award 22 businesses with much needed financial support. However, this
was not enough to fund all of the qualifying applications, a release from the Government Information Unit stated. “The new allocation will ensure that all of the qualifying businesses receive funding, bringing the total number of successful applications to 43 during this cycle.
A total of 87 applications from local businesses were received by the Ministry of Finance. All of the businesses benefiting under the SBRF are eligible to benefit from duty free exemption on the importation of items purchased overseas.
The SBRF was first rolled out in 2022 by the Government of Montserrat (GoM) with funding of $100,000.00 from the European Union (EU) to provide financial relief to small businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, Government of Montserrat has invested $337,000.00 into the private sector through the SBRF.
