Westmoreland wipeout

WESTERN BUREAU:

Westmoreland is on the brink of an economic collapse, with the parish’s smallest businesses – the micro enterprises that employ hundreds and fuel daily commercial life – “pretty much wiped out” by Hurricane Melissa, the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce is warning.

In a sobering assessment, Chamber President Moses Chybar said the storm has erased the very foundation of the parish’s business ecosystem, leaving countless families without income and pushing the local economy toward paralysis.

“These very small businesses have been pretty much wiped out,” Chybar told The Gleaner. “They don’t have reserve funds, they don’t have insurance, they don’t have the capacity or the ability to rebound unless they get some kind of grant funding.”

From roadside vendors to small shops, barbers, cosmetologists, farmers, mechanics, cook shops, and the informal operators who keep rural towns breathing – Melissa devastated an entire tier of commerce in a single blow.

Most cannot access commercial loans, have no collateral, and lack the financial records required to approach a bank.

Except for parts of Negril, Westmoreland remains without electricity, crippling operations even for the few businesses left standing. Some owners are running generators, but Chybar says the cost is unsustainable.

“Fuel is extremely high. Even those with generators are barely hanging on – the cost is eating into whatever little profit they have left,” he said.

BUCKLING RAPIDLY

Others simply cannot open at all and the impact is cascading rapidly, – jobs eliminated, spending power evaporating, small and medium-sized businesses beginning to buckle and rising prices squeezing already distressed consumers.

Chybar is urging the Government and private sector to move more swiftly with targeted relief, saying grant funding must be the starting point if the parish is to recover.

He is backing a voucher-based grant system, allowing devastated microbusinesses – especially farmers and small shop operators to quickly restart operations such as, vouchers for chicks, feed, seeds, fertiliser, to support for restocking small shops and immediate assistance for vendors and tradesmen

“Until the economy and the business sector start to move again, people will be jobless, and the feeling of hopelessness will linger for far too long,” he said.

While the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) has lower-interest financing available, Chybar stressed that this is suitable mainly for small and medium businesses – not for the micro-operators who form the parish’s economic base.

With Christmas just weeks away and full power restoration uncertain, Chybar said business owners are desperate for the Government’s promised emergency generators for small enterprises.

“I really hope that project starts immediately,” he said. “People need to earn. They need power to rebuild their houses and their businesses. We cannot wait.”

The Chamber is currently gathering damage assessment data in order to push for a comprehensive recovery package.

Without it, Chybar warned, Westmoreland could face a prolonged economic depression.

“We must do everything possible to get the business sector running again, and that begins with helping the small, medium and micro enterprises,” he said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com