Honiara : 28 May 2017
Letter to the Editors, Solomon Star and Island Sun Newspapers.
In Taro last week, Provincial Government Leaders, local business operators, community elders, women and youth representatives expressed their desire to see the DBSI Bank revived during a consultation and awareness meeting.
Choiseul’s Premier, Jackson Kiloe, reportedly said the bank was an important institution that lent money to entrepreneurs in the country when it was in operation.
The Premier also said, “Many people from Choiseul who continue to operate small businesses in the rural areas were previously accessing funds from the bank and it is our wish that the Bank is reopened during the term of the DCC Government.”
He cautioned, however, that the Government must ensure that any new business model or policy framework established to operate the bank should seriously consider the causes of the banks past demise and to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Former MP and now private businessman, Clement Kengava, said he was optimistic that the revival of the bank would help to enhance small business developments in rural areas.
Accessing small loans to promote development projects by rural entrepreneurs is likely to be a key factor in raising living standards and livelihoods in rural communities across the Solomon Islands and I, too, would like to see the DBSI revitalized soon.
