Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Dr. Andre Gordon (left), president of the Jamaica Exporters' Association, in conversation with Jamaica Manufacturers' Association President, Doreen Frankson, before the church service to launch Manufacturers' Month at the Stella Maris Church, yesterday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Manu-facturers' Association (JMA), Doreen Frankson, has challenged financial institutions to facilitate small businesses by offering competitive interest rates.
Ms. Frankson made the appeal yesterday while addressing a church service to mark Manufacturers' Month at the Stella Maris Church on Shortwood Road in St. Andrew.
She said that the number one challenge facing the sector was the current high interest rate regime that financial institutions were charging.
"I made reference to this same issue at our last gathering and my concerns remain unchanged. I must therefore challenge financial institutions to facilitate small businesses, by offering competitive interest rates," she said.
The JMA president said that the United States currently has more than 15 million small businesses which exist because the large commercial banks in the U.S. have a section dedicated to small business development, with competitive interest rates to ensure their survival.
NOT IN INTEREST OF THE POOR
"We need to pattern this example. High interest rates are not in the interest of the poor, and if we want to reduce poverty and the gaps between rich and poor, we need to consider the elements which keep them in poverty," she said.
She said that an expansion of the manufacturing sector would provide an alternative to crime for young people.
"We must create additional employment opportunities for our youth. This is our only guarantee to snatch them from a life of crime and a path of destruction," she said.
April is being celebrated as Manufac-turers' Month and Ms. Frankson said the focus would be on production and its importance to the economy.
The association's main activity for the month will be the JMA/Jamaica Exporters' Association Expo 2006, which will feature entrepreneurship at its best and showcase the diversity of quality Jamaican products.
The expo will be held from April 27-30 at the National Arena under the theme 'Buy Jamaica, Brand we Love'.
