
Government is Helping to Boost Exports
Barbados will soon have an export-import (EXIM) bank to help boost the export of local products.
Word of this came from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. She spoke to this on Tuesday, March 14, in the House of Assembly as she presented the 2023-2024 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals, commonly called the Budget.
According to the Prime Minister, the EXIM bank intends to respond to the business community’s export and capacity-building needs.
“The EXIM Bank of Barbados will be established by the end of this fiscal year to deliver a suite of trade, finance, and insurance solutions. And this export credit agency will facilitate further growth of our export sector by providing critical access to finance and risk management,” she indicated.
Additionally, she noted that more Barbadian products are also destined for international markets with the help of the International Food Science Center (IFSC). She indicated that the IFSC, opened by Export Barbados (BIDC) at the Newton Industrial Estate in November 2022, will give agro-processors the support and expertise they require to help them sell products overseas.
“It is a shared-use facility designed to provide Bajans within the agro-processing industry with access to state-of-the-art equipment and the tools that an accredited facility should have, so that they can be able to reach not just the domestic market, but the regional and international markets with their products,” she said.
PM Mottley revealed that the IFSC is pursuing the accreditation, compliance, and certification process for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). She indicated that completing that HACCP process will open new markets for Barbadian-made products.
“…We shall see so many more Bajan products on the shelves in Europe, in North America, in Africa, and all over Latin America,” PM Mottley declared.