Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) Trisha Tannis has pushed back on an economist’s contention that business was withholding support for major capital projects.Responding to economist Professor Justin Robinson’s concerns about a decline in project financing by local investors, Tannis disagreed with the characterisation of businesses “holding back”, emphasising the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the private sector.She suggested investors were cautious given significant losses and the private sector was still navigating the challenges of the economic environment, cautiously recovering from the pandemic’s financial impact.Tannis highlighted the focus on rehabilitating the tourism industry and acknowledged the slow recovery for various businesses.“It’s not a case of holding back,” she told Barbados TODAY. “I think everyone forgets that there was an event called the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone seems to have forgotten that the economy lost between 16 to 20 per cent of its value and the government didn’t lose that by itself, the private sector was definitely there and would have felt the impact.