Phillippines, December, 11 2017 - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a statement issued yesterday, said the additional funds for 2018 will still be coursed through the Office of the President to the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp), an attached agency of the DTI that is mandated to provide financing and capacity building services to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

ANOTHER P1 billion in loans will be provided to microentrepreneurs in 2018 to continue the government’s Pondo Para sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a statement issued yesterday, said the additional funds for 2018 will still be coursed through the Office of the President to the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp), an attached agency of the DTI that is mandated to provide financing and capacity building services to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

First launched in January, the P3 program provides micro enterprises an alternative source of financing that is easy to access and made available at a lower interest rate.

As of Nov. 24, DTI said 16,210 micro entrepreneurs have been aided by P3 through four national micro finance institutions (MFIs) and 90 local conduits assisting in delivering the micro-loans in the countryside while 45 MFIs are in the pipeline.

In a span of 11 months since its launching, P485.41 million has been released to partner conduits and P307.80 million released to microfinance borrowers.

Under the P3 Program, a micro enterprise can borrow between P5,000 and P100,000, depending on its business need and repayment capacity, with no collateral requirement and one-day processing.

Payments for these loans can be made daily or weekly.

Interest rate and service fees do not exceed 2.5 percent monthly, significantly lower than the 20 percent monthly rate under the informal 5-6 lending.

The primary beneficiaries of the P3 Program are microenterprises and entrepreneurs that do not have easy access to credit. These include market vendors, agri-business owners and members of cooperatives, and industry associations.

SB Corp. offices have a list of partner conduits that interested entrepreneurs can approach to avail of the P3 program. In Cebu, the SB Corp. office is located at the Keppel Center of the Cebu Business Park. They can also drop by Negosyo Centers for their inquiries.