KINGSTON, Jamaica— The portfolio of the Micro Investment Development Agency (MIDA) is to be transferred to the National Export-Import (EXIM) Bank and managed as a concessionary revolving loan programme for productive microenterprises.

This follows Cabinet’s approval for the transfer.

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, made the announcement while providing details on recent Cabinet decisions, during a virtual post-Cabinet press briefing  yesterday.

MIDA was established in 1991 to assist the Government in taking a focused approach to the development of the microenterprise sector, by providing or seeing to the critical inputs necessary for the growth and sustainability of the sector.

It was mandated to promote sustainable growth in the microenterprise sector through the provision of financing and financial services.

“In recent years, MIDA had increased its lending to the micro productive sector, due to the positive spin-off from supporting value-added enterprises,” Williams said.

She noted, however, that several steps were taken towards winding up the MIDA, in keeping with a previous decision of Cabinet to modernise and streamline public bodies.

“The agency’s functional mandate, a single staff member and fixed assets of the entity were not under consideration, as these will be transferred and managed by the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, in keeping with standard asset management practices,” Williams said.