Government allots P310B for lending to SMEs

The government is allocating P310 billion over a five-year period from 2005 to 2010 for lending under the SME Unified Lending Program for National Growth (SULONG), Trade Undersecretary for SMEs Zorayda Amelia Alonzo said yesterday.

Funding for the SULONG comes from various sources that include the Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, SB Corp., Quedancor, PhilExim, the National Livelihood Support Fund and the Social Security System.

For this year alone, Alonzo said, the government has set a lending target of P28.8 billion.

However, Alonzo explained, actual loan releases under the SULONG exceed the target.

Last year, she disclosed, the actual loan releases reached P27.1 billion to 15,880 SMEs even though the lending target was just P24 billion.

In 2003, the lending target was just P20 billion but the actual loan releases amounted to P26.8 billion to 281,229 SMEs.

In 2006, the target lending is set at P34.56 billion, increasing to P41.47 billion by 2007 and hitting P49.77 billion by 2008.

In 2009, the target lending will be P59.72 billion and will reach P71.66 billion by 2010.

However, SB Corp., which Alonzo chairs, is allocating P4 billion this year for small businesses.

Furthermore, Alonzo said, the SB Corp. is embarking on a new approach to provide funding to micro-enterprises whose borrowing average from P20,000 to P100,000.

SB Corp., Alonzo explained, is talking with various industry groups wherein SB Corp. would lend to the industry groups which would then take care of on-lending to their micro-enterprise members.

The industry groups would be the actual borrower and would be responsible for repaying the loan.

Alonzo said that the repayment or collection rate for the SULONG is a respectable 90 percent.

A micro-enterprise is a business with a capitalization of less than P1.5 million.

A small enterprises is a business with a capitalization of less than P15 million, while a medium enterprise has a capitalization of less than P50 million.

President Arroyo had earlier ordered the DTI to triple lending to SMEs.

SMEs comprise 99 percent of all businesses in the country and employs 70 percent of the labor force, but only contributes 32 percent to the economy.