A short-term $7.9m subsidy designed to cushion households and businesses from rising fuel costs that was set to expire at month-end may be extended, Barbados TODAY can exclusively reveal, after the government inked a US$150m ($300m) energy security loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Minister of Energy Kerrie Symmonds on Thursday pledged his ministry’s investment in the electricity subsidy, which Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn had announced in the Budget would come into effect on April 1 and last for three months initially.

“We will also support the electricity subsidy to further protect Barbadian individuals and businesses from the full impact of the international fuel crisis,” Symmonds told Barbados TODAY, as he responded to the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) approval of a policy-based programmatic loan to strengthen energy security.