Exporters appeal anew for government intervention

CEBU, Philippines — Exporters are once again calling on the government to look into their tough plight and appeals anew for a special funding facility for the micro and small players.

Through the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PHILEXPORT), industry players are specifically asking the Duterte administration to allocate at least a fifth of its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) to the struggling export sector, particularly the micro and small players who account for majority of the exporters in the Philippines.

According to Philexport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., part of the CCT budget could be given to the (still) struggling export sector, especially to the smaller companies, which have good potential to compete with international counterparts but do not have financial resources to do so.

At present, Ortiz-Luis said the Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) still find it difficult to comply with the acceptable collaterals and repayment plan that banks usually require when processing for a loan.

“We are saying that there should be outside-of-the-box, outside of the normal rules of the central bank, the banking sector. That is why, we are eyeing that 20 percent of CCT should be devoted (for the MSMEs),” he said in a statement.

Ortiz-Luis explained that CCT is just being given away, “what we are saying is that they can lend and there be some returns but that it will create a lot of employment.”

The PHILEXPORT chief earlier said the allocation can serve as emergency loan for purposes of revolving capital, promotion, marketing and research and development (R&D) for MSMEs.

Ortiz-Luis further said 90% of the total enterprises in the country are micro, 8% of  them are small, while only 2% are medium and large firms.

“So the small and micro (firms) are really having difficulty complying with all these requirements,” he added. (FREEMAN)