THA appoints committee to set up Tobago Development Bank

THE THA has appointed a six-member technical oversight committee to develop the framework for the establishment of a Tobago Development Bank.

The bank, once established, will create an environment in which financing is readily available for investors and developers in Tobago, THA chief technical adviser Anslem Richards said on Wednesday.

He said the committee, headed by Carlos Hazel, technical adviser in the Division of Finance, Trade and the Economy, has been meeting for the past seven months to devise strategies to ensure that Tobagonians desirous of establishing their own businesses, have access to working capital.

Richards and three other officials from the Division of Finance appeared virtually before the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Local Authorities, Service Commissions and Statutory Authorities, including the THA.

The JSC, chaired by independent senator Sunity Maharaj, also examined the operations of the Divisions of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport, and Food Security, Natural Resources, the Environment and Sustainable Development.

Richards raised the issue of the Tobago Development Bank in response to a question from JSC member Laurence Hislop, who wanted to know about the strategies that were being implemented by the THA to create a more entrepreneurial-based economy.

Close to 70 per cent of Tobago’s working population are directly or indirectly employed by the THA.