President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said he is prepared to pump $10M into the craft industry and announced an intention to slash the corporate tax on loans to the sector.
Meeting the Arts and Craft Producers Association at the International Conference Centre at Lilliendaal yesterday, the Head-of-State also said he is prepared to fund specialists to raise the quality of craft work produced here. Representatives of banks and financial institutions were also present. Jagdeo’s announcements were met with rousing applause by the craftsmen who also raised issues of concern to them, including local support for their products.
“Any bank who lends, and we have to work this out, into the development of the craft industry, then those banks will not have to pay the corporate tax from income arising from those loans, then they can make the terms of the credit better,” Jagdeo announced to applause. This is similar to the Women of Worth (WOW) initiative, he said. “I’m also inclined to set up a small fund that has about $10M, properly administered, to support the industry,” Jagdeo added.
He later suggested that the $10M would be used to spruce up a building to be used as a sales outlet for the Association.
The president recalled that he had promised a building for the craftsmen. “I had already promise the association that they will get that building. So what we will do is spend $10M working with the association to fix the building up. So they would have to raise the money, they only asked me for the building,” he said.
The building, belonging to the Transport and Harbour department, is located obliquely opposite the abattoir on Water Street. It was promised to the Association a year and a half ago, president of the Association, Denzil Hollingsworth, said. She stated that the purpose of the building is to have a material outlet so persons can get stuff to buy and for each region to retail or showcase their works.
Jagdeo cautioned that all should have access to the building when it is completed. “I don’t want to hear only a few people hogging the building. Every single region will have representation in that space,” he said. “I’m prepared to continue to be supportive of the sector through various initiatives starting with the loan financing and the building. Hopefully within two weeks or so we will sort out the issue of the building,” he reiterated.
Apart from those pledges, the president said that he is also “prepared to fund specialists to come in and work with the people… with the sector to improve the quality of products.” He pointed out that to compete in the market as well as for the growth of the industry, quality is important.
Jagdeo told the producers that “this is not probably the best period in the world for a great demand for the services that we provide,” pointing to the recession in the US with its effect on people’s disposable income. “We have to understand our market… if we understand the market and the nuances of the market we may be better able to first find out which is buoyant and which is not and what the market is buoyant for and what it is not,” he told the gathering.
Craft producers raised the issue of encouraging persons to buy local products and those who are located in the hinterland raised the issue of transportation for their goods. With regards to the latter issue, the president promised the communities of Region Nine an engine to help in transporting their products out of the area and for Region Eight, the president told the lone representative from that Region that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds is currently in the area and there are plans to develop the roads in that region.
