Loans available for Renewable Energy Projects

He was speaking on Wednesday (Apr. 23) at a post-budget press briefing at Jamaica House. In his presentation to the House of Representatives on Tuesday (Apr. 22), Mr. Golding announced the facility through which businesses could access funds to finance up to 75 per cent of the project cost at an interest rate of 10 per cent.

Mr. Golding said the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Investment and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) would shortly be meeting to finalize the criteria for award and a ceiling for the loans. He said every effort was being made to ensure that the process was borrower friendly.

Mr. Golding said businesses would have to retool to become more energy efficient in the face of rising oil prices. He said the country’s energy quotient would have to be revisited with a view to getting the renewable energy portion up from 7-8 per cent to 15 percent. The energy loans are to be financed through the Development Bank of Jamaica and made available through commercial banks and small-business-friendly institutions such as credit unions and PC banks.