Seeking to double down on the growth and promotion of environmentally friendly solutions, the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica (EXIM Bank) said it is now working to revamp and bring to market a new solar loan product.

EXIM’s Managing Director Lisa Bell, speaking a recent Jamaica Observer Business Forum, said the new product will add to its 16 other funding solutions to mainly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“We’re now looking to bring the solar product which seeks to offer solar financing [especially] since the removal of the cess on [lithium-ion] batteries and the fact that it may create an opportunity for our smaller enterprises to consider solar, and that is being looked at right now,” she stated.

Just earlier this year Government approved a resolution which made provision for the exemption of General Consumption Tax (GCT) to be applied on the importation of lithium-ion batteries. This, as countries globally take added steps to accelerate renewable energy penetration, of which solar is a big part.

“This one is immediately in front of us and essentially the product is to fund solar projects though for commercial activities and not residential,” added Winston Lawson, business development consultant at EXIM Bank.

The renewable energy loan also eligible for other class of borrowers including industrial and energy service companies as well as manufacturers of energy efficiency equipment and devices is deemed suitable for businesses wanting to increase energy efficiency, conservation and to develop projects around alternate energy sources.

Armed with funds of over a billion dollars to lend, more than 60 per cent of which usually goes towards working capital products particularly in the areas of tourism, Bell said the EXIM Bank, which was not-profit, has continued to play a fundamental role in offering development financing, providing a wide range of instruments and at competitive interest rates for the country’s productive sector.

“We have created a very active product development committee and that was because we recognised that the environment was changing and that we needed to respond to the needs of the market,” the managing director also said during the forum.

Mulling the roll-out of other products, some of which currently remains at ideational stages, Bell said the aim is to also create additional products needed by the market.

“Based on what happened in COVID along with the number of companies that went into cash flow turmoil, one that I know has been my dream but is not yet developed, is a business continuity insurance product, which will help companies to better prepare for eventualities,” she stated, noting research which points to the evolution of such products globally, largely since the pandemic.

“We have to continue to find where gaps exist and step into those gaps and try to help, though it is not easy. We too need strengthening as we need money to lend money and at the right cost to reach various classes of clients and it also needs to be designed properly to meet their needs,” Bell said.