MANILA, Philippines - The Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund (IGLF), which is managed by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), has released loans amounting to P3.27 billion last year, 36-percent higher than 2013.
Medium to long-term and short-term loans, at P2.58 billion, constituted 77 percent of net loans and interestingly, the largest growth rate of over 1,000 percent was manifested by medium to long-term loans.
These loans were targeted at SMEs in the countryside seeking to fund working capital and capital expenditure requirements.
IGLF had direct benefit on SMEs involved in transport services, trading, agribusiness, health care, food manufacturing and construction.
IGLF also took steps to further sharpen the focus of the program by increasing the asset size of enterprises eligible to P200 million to further increase market cover and to address financing needs of industries with high value linkages and those with high employment generation potential, consistent with the National Government’s mandate of inclusive growth.
In a statement, DBP said the fund ramped up its support to the Credit Surety Fund (CSF) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, assisting in 30 CSFs so the cooperative SME members can secure loans despite the inadequacy of their collateral position.
DBP said the fund’s net income amounted to P104-million in 2014. It paid out almost all of its foreign obligations to the World Bank.