THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Small Business Corp. (SBC) will tap a P10-billion fund in offering new loan products directed at micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The loan products include purchase order financing, check discounting, factoring, and franchise financing, the DTI said.
At the Metro Manila Business Conference on Thursday, Acting Trade Secretary and SBC Chairman Cristina Aldeguer-Roque said MSMEs, despite being the backbone of the Philippine economy, still face financing challenges.
“Access to finance, limited market reach, and the adoption of new technologies are just a few of the hurdles that they must overcome,” Ms. Aldeguer-Roque said.
“Thus, the DTI is committed to addressing these challenges head-on and creating an enabling environment where MSMEs can flourish,” she added.
She said the loan products will be offered in collaboration with Banco de Oro, Union Bank, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
“Now there’s P10 billion for the MSMEs to be loaned, but there’s actually more funding that will be coming in,” she added.
“The new loan products are all available now in SBC, so we encourage the MSMEs to use them because the interest on the loans is very low,” she said.
“We also just approved the P200-million startup fund for MSMEs,” she added.
The DTI also aims to streamline the loan application process for MSMEs, she said.
“It used to take months for the application to be processed; now it’s 19 days, but I am lowering it by one week,” she said.
One of the goals of the DTI through SBC is to boost manufacturing, which is considered to have the potential to generate the most jobs.
“We need to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the Philippines because once it’s strengthened, it will create a lot of jobs,” she said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
