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Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 21, 2022 (SKNIS): The Ministry of International Trade will continue its educational campaign to equip consumers with the knowledge to make informed decisions about purchasing and saving especially at this time when there is inflation due to the global shipping crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry’s Permanent Secretary Jasemin Warner-Weekes said that the training will be conducted weekly and feature topics such as purchasing power, finance, shopping, budgeting, taxes, business development and other related areas. The training date and other details will be shared at a later time.

“I think this is critical because if you have that information you can now plan better going forward,” she said on Wednesday’s edition (January 19, 2021) of Working for You. “If we are to become more self-sustainable we have to now try to help ourselves.”

Mrs. Warner-Weekes added that small businesses are often the engine of any local economy. However, she said that exogenous shocks often negatively impact small businesses first and this is evident during the current economic fallout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Permanent Secretary said that part of the strategy of promoting self-sufficiency is to encourage spending among local businesses to generate economic activity.

Increased economic activity facilitates business expansion and job hiring which in turn provides a greater tax base for the government.