DTI allots P10B for SMEs

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is allotting an additional P10 billion for the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth (Sulong) program.

This was announced yesterday by Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, who added that the applicable interest rates under the program would be maintained for the rest of the year.

Close to 150,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises have already benefited from the Sulong program, the DTI official said. A total of P925.5 million in loans under the program was released to 138,050 micro enterprises between January and June this year.

On the average, Roxas said each of the micro-enterprises received P6,700 each.

For the same period, another P10.888 billion was released to 9,389 SMEs with each SME receiving an average of P1.2 million.

The Sulong program has already exceeded its initial target of releasing P10 billion to SMEs in the first six months of its implementation.

The interest rate on Sulong loans for retail lending during the first six months was pegged at nine percent for a term of one year or 360 days.

The rate increases to 11.25 percent for terms between one and three years and goes up to 12.75 percent for a period of between three to five years.

The participating government institutions in the Sulong program are the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, SB Corp., Quedancor, Philexim and the National Livelihood Support Fund.