USAID launches project to facilitate loans to SMEs

MANILA, Philippines - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) planning to expand their businesses can look forward to a new assistance to facilitate their credit access.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the Philippine government, recently launched a new Advancing Philippine Competitiveness (COMPETE) project  that includes a component to help increase SME access to loans.

Dr. Mario Lamberte, component 3 team leader of COMPETE project, said beneficiaries are companies engaged in construction, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, post-harvest agricultural processing and agribusiness, and tourism sectors.

Lamberte said financial institutions now are highly liquid but credit is not flowing to SMEs in key sectors because of their weak borrowing capacity. 

“We try to reduce if not completely tear down that Berlin Wall that separates banks from SMEs so that liquidity can flow to the SMEs,” he said during the recent general membership meeting of Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport).

Lamberte said COMPETE project addresses credit constraints for SMEs, particularly the problem of inadequate collateral and developing a winning business proposal that is acceptable to loan application.

“So we come up with a land titling activity and the (credit guarantee) mechanisms to address the issue on collateral. The other one is establishing an efficient credit information system,” he said.