The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) recently released its first batch of loans under the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) program to micro and small enterprises.
Fifteen borrowers from the National Capital Region and 26 borrowers from the Cordillera Administrative Region received the first batch of CARES program loans.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said a total of P100 million loans were approved by the DTI’s Small Business (SB) Corp. for 1,175 applicants.
“1,153 applications with aggregate loans amounting to P97.9 million are pending approval.”
Lopez added that 1,153 applications with aggregate loans amounting to P97.9 million are pending approval.
Earlier, the trade chief said SB Corp., the financing arm of the DTI that leads the CARES program, targets to complete the disbursement of the P1-billion fund earmarked for the program by the end of this month.
SB Corp. received a total of 22,932 applications for the CARES program loan that amounted to over P2 billion worth of borrowings, the trade head said.
“For extra funds needed, we will use our other P3 portfolio fund which is about P3.5 billion.”
“For extra funds needed, we will use our other P3 (Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-Asenso) portfolio fund which is about P3.5 billion,” he added.
Lopez said that with the arrangement with the Department of Finance, SB Corp. may also access from the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to augment the needed funds.
CARES program provides interest-free loans to micro-businesses with assets not exceeding P3 million, and small businesses with assets not exceeding P15 million.
The SB Corp. can lend from P10,000 to P200,000 for micro-enterprises, and up to P500,000 for small enterprises payable in 18 to 30 months.
“This is DTI’s response to help small-scale businesses survive amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to save jobs,” he concluded.