The Trinidad Guardian reported on Monday this week that “thousands of businesses facing hardship” have had no option but to “permanently close their doors” on account of decisions by commercial banks not to provide them with extensions of loans.
The newspaper says that “while some owners have had their commercial properties and private homes re-possessed by Banks others are living in fear of suffering the same fate if they are unable to pay their monthly instalments.”
The issue of the likely posture of banks towards borrowers, particularly in the business sector, once the pandemic extended itself over a protracted period, has been a Caribbean-wide topic for discourse. With more than a year having gone by since the Covid-19-driven decline in the performance of the business sector, it seems that commercial banks operating in the Caribbean Community member country have now decided to move against their borrowing defaulters.