By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
and KRISHNA VIRGILL
Tribune Staff Reporter
The Government plans to table the long-awaited Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Development Bill when Parliament reconvenes next month, it was confirmed yesterday.
Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, said the Government will bring the Bill up for first reading when the House of Assembly returns.
The legislation is intended to provide a platform for the sustainable growth and development of Bahamian small businesses, and its progress has been keenly overseen by both Mr Halkitis and at least one of his Cabinet colleagues.
“It’s not on the backburner, it’s on the frontburner,” Khaalis Rolle, minister of state for investments, recently told Tribune Business.
Having been at the Bill’s inception from the private sector side, when Chamber of Commerce president, Mr Rolle added: “This is something I am obviously keenly interested in based on my being involved from the inception, so my enthusiasm for it and the need for it hasn’t diminished one bit.”
Small and medium-sized enterprises are globally seen as the primary drivers of economic growth.
They encourage employment growth, and an entrepreneurial spirit, which leads to an expanding middle class and a spirit of self-sufficiency rather than dependency on the Government.
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