THE SMALL BUSINESS Corp. (SB Corp.) targets 50,000 loan approvals for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) for the rest of 2020, based on the P10 billion funding from a law that lays out the government’s response to the pandemic.
The loan program would reach 15,000 to 18,000 borrowers per month starting in October, SB Corp. President Luna E. Cacanando said at a Senate budget hearing on Monday.
Senator Aquilino Martin de la Llana Pimentel III said that the program addresses only around 2.5% of businesses that need assistance to recover from the pandemic.
As of 2018, MSMEs account for 99.5% of total businesses in the country, employing 5.7 million people or more than 60% of total employment.
The funding is called for under Republic Act 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan II).
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said that all of the estimated 1.5 million registered micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises have been impacted by the pandemic.
He said that an estimated six percent or 90,000 MSMEs remain closed, either temporarily or permanently. But this percentage is based on a survey of just 3,000 businesses.
Mr. Pimentel said that if there were two million distressed businesses, accounting for unregistered MSMEs, the businesses that will receive the support only account for 2.5%.
“We want to help these distressed corporations because that’s where the jobs are coming from,” he said.
Mr. Lopez said that he hopes the proposed 2021 budget of SB Corp., which currently stands at P1.5 billion, would be doubled.
“[The funding for] this year really is just for survival and next year we’ll continue to hopefully help MSMEs continue their growth, get back on the growth track,” he said.
SB Corp. has so far approved around P1 billion in loans for 15,000 borrowers, based on the initial budget reallocated from the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso portfolio. — Jenina P. Ibañez
