Landbank offers loan package to help small firms recover
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), cooperatives and microfinance institutions may avail themselves of loans being offered by the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines to finance their recovery initiatives following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landbank’s lending program dubbed I-RESCUE (Interim Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably-affected Enterprises by COVID-19) provides credit and loan restructuring, the state-run lender said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Interested SMEs, microfinance institutions and cooperatives may borrow up to 85 percent of their actual need for working capital at an affordable interest rate of 5 percent [a year], payable up to a maximum of five years, with grace period on the principal payment,” Landbank said.
“I-RESCUE likewise offers restructuring of existing loan account via additional loan, extended repayment period or through other means [or combination of means]. The loan may be extended up to a maximum of 10 years, with up to three-year grace period on principal and up to one-year grace period on interest, depending on cash flow,” Landbank added.
“Landbank stands ready to respond to the financial needs of enterprises hardly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic for rehabilitation support. We hope that the I-RESCUE lending program will help restore economic and social activities in our country, especially in the countryside,” Landbank president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo said.Last week, Landbank said it would distribute a total of P1.2 billion to 250,000 workers under the Department of Labor and Employment’s COVID-19 adjustment measures program—specifically, P5,000 in onetime financial aid for each of the beneficiaries working for 2,773 private firms within Metro Manila.Landbank also last week began distributing P33.4 million, equivalent to P8,000 each, in emergency subsidy to 4,176 qualified transport network vehicle service drivers in Metro Manila under an agreement between the bank, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.
