P3B extended under DTI’s micro lending program

More than P3 billion worth of loans were released so far by the Department of Trade and Industry to beneficiaries of its lending program for micro and small enterprises.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said this in his speech at the National MSME Summit on Tuesday, noting that P3.1 billion had been released so far as of end of May this year.

The amount was extended under the DTI’s Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program, the government’s micro finance initiative designed to combat usurious “5-6” lenders.

Since its launch in 2017, the program has been making available to micro entrepreneurs loans worth P5,000 to P200,000.

“As of May 31, 2019, P3.10 billion of loans were released to 83,088 beneficiaries,” he said.

Of this amount, he said P7.57 million was released to 457 borrowers in Marawi, P25.89 million to 335 families of soldiers killed or wounded in action also in Marawi and P3.14 million to 108 borrowers in Boracay, which was closed and rehabilitated last year.

“P3 is now available in 80 provinces through 339 accredited conduits. In the pipeline for accreditation are conduits from 8 more provinces,” he added.

In an interview on the sidelines of the summit, Lopez told reporters that there was a proposal to pass a P3 bill in Congress, “so we can institutionalize the P3 allocation.”

While the program gets an annual allocation from the national budget, he said making this program a law would give it “more certainty.”