Financing the "People's Sector": Credit Delivery for Small Business Development in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

This paper attempts to address the issue of small business financing in Trinidad-Tobago. In particular, it seeks to establish the existence of an "access problem" and examines the problem in a way that the "blockage points" are revealed more sharply. It assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of policy instruments adopted since the declaration of Small Business Year in 1970 to funnel increased financial resources into the sector. Two approaches are identified and discussed: the programme approach and the financial market approach. The paper is concerned to show not only that the demand for finance exists, but that the more critical policy challenge is to find the most effective channel(s) of supply given the government's stated objective of bringing about "the widest possible public participation in business enterprise."