DTI allots P700 M for SSF

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is spending P700 million for shared service facilities (SSF) to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) this year.

According to Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, the DTI intends to spend P700 million for the SSF program this year.

“We want to finish the (P700-million) budget for SSFs in 2014 this year,” he said.

He said that the allocation for the SSF program last year was not utilized as the DTI had some unused funds for SSFs in 2013.

This, as the guidelines for the SSF program were not issued immediately.

“We only utilized P400 million in 2013, so we had some P300 million left which we spent last year,” he said.

The SSF program involves providing common service facilities, modern equipment and access to the latest technology to MSMEs.

The program is being undertaken by the DTI to help MSMEs become competitive.

Other programs being implemented by the DTI to support MSMEs are the SME Roving Academy which involves providing training and the Doing Business in Free Trade Areas covering information sessions on free trade agreements.

Apart from the programs, the DTI is also working to simplify trade rules to allow the small businesses to benefit from the  global trade.

The DTI is pushing for the growth of MSMEs as the sector is considered an important contributor to the country’s long-term economic growth.

More than 90 percent of the country’s total registered businesses are MSMEs.