The government is working with international development partners to help finance private sector initiatives that convert sargassum into commercially viable products, while examining how its fleet could use the biofuel, Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn has told Barbados TODAY.

Businesses near Enterprise Beach in Christ Church have called for action on the increasing influx of sargassum, which they said has been affecting tourism and driving away customers from their establishments along the popular “Miami Beach” shoreline.

Straughn revealed that the government recently met with international agencies, including the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union on a number of financing options to implement some of the solutions the private sector has developed.