BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -- DESPITE the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy, the entrepreneurial thrust has grown in the Federation to be self-sufficient as the number of newly-registered businesses stand well over 500.
Data from the Inland Revenue Department showed that there were 550 new registrations for this year, which, according to Minister of International Trade Wendy Phipps, points to increasing confidence in the state of the local economy.
In her presentation to support the 2022 Budget, the Minister revealed that there are 6,341 registered entities within the Federation, but due to the pandemic many have not been able to keep their records up to date. But the IRD has not struck them from their books and is instead working to ensure that they become compliant with the regulations, taking the impact of COVID-19 into consideration.
“...Because, obviously, they would have been impact adversely by the pandemic and the IRD will work with them in terms of getting the necessary returns in,” Minister Phipps stated
Since the onset of the pandemic, a number of small entities within the Federation have found it difficult to operate amidst the travel and shipping challenges.
That was compounded by the stop and start measures implemented to stem the spread of the virus, which brought everything to a screeching halt, especially for those businesses that could not operate remotely.
Minister Phipps also disclosed that 17 of the new entities were in the manufacturing sector, adding to the list of more than 150 already in existence in the Federation.
Looking deeper at the numbers, 300 of the new businesses registered this year are within the services sector, while up until last year there were 4, 403 officially within the sector.
Minister Phipps announced that there were more than 200 newly-registered general purpose entities, adding to the 550 registered up until the end of last year.
