Industry Ministry Removing Barriers to Push Exports

The Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce is seeking to remove barriers to get small businesses to increase exports.

Portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, said the Ministry has several programmes designed to assist small business operators to export their goods and services.

Senator Hill was speaking on the Nationwide News Network (NNN) radio segment ‘Ask the Minister’, on August 15.

“Some of those barriers are, frankly, financial barriers, so we developed a programme in the ministry called the Productive Inputs Relief (PIR),” the Minister pointed out.

The PIR scheme facilitates duty-free importation of specific items intended for productive use.

Through the PIR system, the Government has targeted specific sectors – agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, healthcare, and the creative industries – which are being leveraged to promote and stimulate economic growth.

“We are working to take away all those hurdles if they exist, so we get them to the point of export,” he informed.

The PIR is part of the Government’s Fiscal Incentive Regime and was introduced in January 2014 to simplify and streamline the process of granting government fiscal incentives to companies and individuals across growth sectors.