Nearly 900,000 jobs created through microfinance

MANILA, Philippines – Nearly 900,000 jobs were created in the first nine months of the year due to intensified efforts of government to support small businesses in the country, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential Management Staff chief Secretary Cerge Remonde said efforts to provide financial support to micro-enterprises, or micro-finance for short, presently cover all 82 provinces of the country as well as all its 131 cities.

Citing a report by People’s Credit and Finance Corp. (PCFC) president Edgardo Generoso before the Inter-Agency Coordinating Council for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises last week at the Palace, Remonde said only 43 towns in the country remain to be reached by the government’s micro-finance programs.

“A total of 859,569 jobs were created from these micro-finance efforts over the nine-month period beginning January 2008, surpassing last year’s accomplishment over the same period by 289,449 jobs,” he said.

“The amount of loans extended, meanwhile, more than doubled from January to September 2008 as compared to last year, from P25.945 billion in 2007 to P53.634 billion this year,” he added.

Remonde said the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) should “be commended for leading government instrumentalities in the micro-finance component of the Arroyo administration’s job generation effort.”