The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.), has approved P253.5 million in loans under the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) program.
During the opening program of the National Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Week 2020 on Monday, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the number of applications approved reached 3,711 accounts.
“Right now we are able to approve P253 million and we expect this number to grow and hopefully by early August, we will be able to approve P1 billion,” he said.
Lopez added the total number of applications received reached 23,477 with a total amount of P3.3 billion, way higher than the P1 billion allocated for the program.
CARES is part of the government’s economic relief program for micro and small enterprises affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the program, micro and small enterprises operating for at least a year prior to March 16 and with an asset size not exceeding P15 million can tap the program.
Micro enterprises with asset size of not more than P3 million may borrow from P10,000 to P200,000 while small enterprises with asset size of not more than P15 million may borrow as much as P500,000 with zero-percent interest and payable for 18 to 30 months.
Micro and small enterprises can use the loan for updating of loan amortizations for vehicle loans or other fixed asset loans of the business; inventory replacement for perishable stocks damaged; and working capital replacement to restart the business.
Lopez assured the DTI is currently in talks with several government agencies to increase the funding of the CARES program.
“We will be getting [funds] from the other programs of the SB Corp. These will be rechannelled to the CARES program for Covid-affected micro SMEs (small and medium enterprise),” he said.
The Trade chief said SB Corp.’s Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso currently has P3.5 billion in funds that could be tapped for CARES.
Lopez said they are also in talks with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) that could also provide funds for the program.
“Funding also is being discussed now with DBP and LandBank. The amount is being discussed,” he added.