Government eyes religious, civic groups as conduits for loans to SMEs

The Arroyo Government is planning to use religious and civic groups as a conduit for funds for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), aside from the banking system, Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II disclosed over the weekend.

He said the government is set to unveil by July a financing program for the SME sector.

Government has been studying various schemes to provide more funds to the SME sector.

One facility that Roxas had earlier announced was the merger of the Small Business Guaranty Finance Corp. (SBGFC) and the Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (GFSME). Merging the two institutions would pool the funds and lead to better administration.

The new scheme that government is studying would involve religious and civic groups or non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

This would be the first time that government would go through NGOs to provide funds for the SME sector.

According to Roxas, government, through the National Development Corp., would buy the existing receivables of the religious group and NGOs.

The liquidated receivables would allow the religious and civic groups and NGOs to turnaround and relend their money to more SME borrowers.

Roxas assured that the repayment rate of certain organizations such as the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) is quite high at 90 percent.

Even the bank conduits, such as the Planters Development Bank, report a 95-percent repayment rate from its SME borrowers, Roxas said.