Farm sector borrowers get P 5.5B in guarantee coverage

State-run Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee) on Tuesday said it extended during the first quarter P5.5 billion in guarantee lines that benefited more than 31,000 workers in the agriculture sector.

In a statement, PhilGuarantee said these first-quarter guarantee lines were granted to 35 partner-lending institutions, which in turn made guarantee enrolments worth P2.2 billion.

A total of 31,380 agriculture-based workers nationwide were supported by these guarantee enrolments, PhilGuarantee said.

“PhilGuarantee continues to assure its support toward the agriculture sector as part of its mandate and key assistance role during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the administrator of the agricultural guarantee fund pool (AGFP), PhilGuarantee is able to encourage partner-institutions to lend to small farmers and fisherfolks or their organizations by providing guarantee coverage to their unsecured agricultural production loans,” it said.

“Eligible lending institutions include banks, cooperatives, farmers/people’s organizations other than cooperatives, nongovernment organizations, and corporations lending to small farmers and fishers,” it added.

During the height of the enhanced community quarantine period, the PhilGuarantee governing board approved the reduction of the rate of guarantee fee from 1 percent to 0.5 percent and the increase of the guarantee coverage from 85 percent to 90 percent of the loan amount, it noted. —Ben O. de Vera INQ