KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Micro-financing Association (JaMFA) will be staging their annual Leadership Forum and Breakfast Meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, tomorrow.

Guest speaker at the function will be Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green, who has portfolio responsibility for a number of sectors which fall under the ministry, including micro-financing and small businesses.

According to Executive Director of JaMFA, Raymond Gabbidon, the association welcomes the renewed relationship with the ministry, and believes it will be able to work with Green in creating an improved environment for the micro-financing sector to operate in.

“We welcome his appointment, and we are expecting to have a very good relationship with the junior minister,” Gabbidon said.

However, he admitted that there are a number issues arising from the Micro-Credit bill, tabled recently in the House of Representatives by the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke.

He said that both JaMFA and the other sector body, the Jamaica Association of Micro Financing Limited (JAMFIN), are having serious concerns about the new bill, and have been working together on responding to the provisions as well as seeking a meeting with the minister to discuss the issues.

The Micro-credit Act, 2019 which was tabled in the House of Representatives on February 26 by Dr Clarke, seeks to regulate persons who provide micro-credit services, ensuring that such persons are licensed by the regulatory authority.

They will also be required to keep proper accounting and other records and make reports to the regulatory authority on a timely basis.

Balford Henry