P1-B MSME credit line pushed

TRADE Secretary Ramon Lopez plans to push for the establishment of a P1-billion regional credit access for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) to help address one of the biggest hurdles faced by local firms.

This was one of the poverty-alleviation measures proposed by President Duterte during his campaign earlier this year.

“I will have to ask the President about that. That will benefit the MSMEs and so hopefully, we can get that support from the President and reflect that immediately in the next budget,” Lopez said in an interview with the Inquirer.

According to Lopez, the additional amount would also help fund more shared services facilities (SSF), a flagship program of the Department of Trade and Industry that provides MSMEs with equipment or infrastructure that can be used by a number of beneficiaries such as cooperatives, institutions and communities.

A portion of the fund can also be used for the Negosyo Centers for productivity enhancement programs and for further training, seminars and mentoring activities.

“This [additional credit] only means that we will be able to do more. This is exciting for us because in teaching the nation how to fish, we will be able to feed the nation many lifetimes. This is the mantra that we are following. What we want is to empower our MSMEs,” Lopez explained.

During the campaign, the Duterte camp promised that MSMEs would be able to borrow capital from the government to expand their business. Currently, small businessmen have nobody to turn to but loan sharks while rich businessmen could get capital from their family, bank or by selling their properties.