COVID-19 loans to MSMEs reach P4 bllion

MANILA, Philippines — Loans approved by the financing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) hit by the COVID-19 pandemic have already reached P4 billion.

Speaking at the opening of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s first mobility station, in North Luzon located in Marilao, Bulacan yesterday, Trade Undersecretary Blesila Lantayona said the Small Business Corp. has already approved P4 billion worth of loans under the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) program for more than 28,000 MSMEs as of May 17.

Of the total amount, she said P367 million was granted to more than 2,400 applicants coming from Central Luzon.

“I hope these applications from Central Luzon will still increase,” she said.

The CARES program has received a P10 billion allocation under the Bayanihan 2 law to be made available for lending to MSMEs to help them recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Loans under the program are available without requiring collateral.

Apart from the CARES program, the DTI has other initiatives to support MSMEs which include providing marketing assistance for their products.

As part of the marketing assistance, DTI has partnered with Pilipinas Shell to support MSMEs through the sale of their products in Select outlets.

Through its mobility stations, Pilipinas Shell is going beyond providing petroleum products and vehicle servicing by having a one-stop community hub that would have customer-centric offerings.

Pilipinas Shell president and chief executive officer Cesar Romero said the firm is making changes in the product mix carried at Select outlets to make it more relevant to the community.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the partnership is a meaningful project because it gives an opportunity to MSMEs to market their products.

“Hopefully, this will lead to the opening of more OTOP (One Town, One Product) products, MSMEs products, Go Lokal products in other Shell Select outlets,” he said.