12,000 MSMEs benefit from loan guarantee program

MORE than 12,000 viable, but coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic-hit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have benefitted from the loan guarantee program of the government, according to the Department of Finance (DoF).

In a statement on Wednesday, the DoF said this was based on the report of Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee) President and Chief Executive Officer Alberto Pascual to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd.

In his report, Pascual announced that beneficiaries of PhilGuarantee’s MSME Credit Guarantee Program (MCGP) ballooned by 312 percent to 12,122 enterprises as of the end of March this year from 2,948 that were reported to have joined the program as of December 2020.

He traced the uptick to the implementation of improved processing and evaluation parameters of the program starting this year.

Total guaranteed loans under the program, meanwhile, reached P1.47 billion as of end-March this year, rising by 612 percent from the P207 million in December.

Source: TheManila Times