Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya. [File Photo]

A phenomenal budget has come out of the Ministry of Economy.

As it incentivizes a whole lot more activity within the different industries that are suffering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was highlighted by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Faiyaz Koya following the announcement of the 2020/2021 national budget last night.

With an increase in of $30m allocated to assist small and medium enterprise sector, Koya says this will be able to assist the many people who are interested in opening up their own businesses.

“Very happy to see that it just needs to be facilitated. We have to ensure that within our borders we are creating a lot of employment and that means self-employment and also means different industries that just start up a whole more and construction is one of them. But yes looking forward to all of that and I think that it is phenomenal, it is massive for the whole economy. I don’t think that it was expected but it is a great achievement by the Ministry of Economy to come up with a budget like that.”

Koya also highlighted that with the ‘Love our Locals’ campaign gaining momentum, the incentives announced in the budget towards the tourism sector is preparing the industry for when they do open up again to international visitors.

However, Koya also stressed that with the reduction in the Environment and Climate Adaptation Levy from 10 percent to 5 percent, this should give hotels and resorts some initiative to further reduce their prices for guests.

The Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport has been allocated a total of $87.1 million in the 2020-2021 Budget.