Germans set up P803-M fund for MSMEs
Carla P. Gomez
Inquirer
BACOLOD CITY — A German financial institution has set up a development fund of 11 million euros — about P803 million — to finance micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, or MSMEs, in the central Philippines provinces of Negros Occidental, Cebu and Leyte.
This was disclosed by Harald Neimeier, senior adviser for financial services of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program (SMEDSEP), a Philippine-German development cooperation vehicle.
He said the loans would be coursed through rural banks in the pilot areas and would be available in Negros Occidental starting in June through active member-banks of the Negros Occidental Federation of Rural Bankers.
“Applications for loans, which could go as high as P2 million can be made now,” Neimeier said.
He said the SMEDSEP was yet to determine the interest rate on the loans, but assured it would be lower than those of commercial banks.
“The MSMEs are struggling with a multitude of economic-policy, legal and bureaucratic obstacles,” he said.
These include insufficient access to markets, promotional measures, business services, training programs as well as financial and credit services, he said. “These prevented businesses from using their entrepreneurial capacities to the full.”
Neimier said the SMEDSEP goal was to create favorable business conditions in the Visayas region for MSMEs with growth potential.
Funding for the loans will come from the German development bank Kredit Fur Wederaufbau [Credit for Reconstruction and Development] and will be channeled though the SMEDSEP.
The SMEDSEP is implementing the program with the help of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, Department of Trade and Industry and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
With INQ7.net
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