Gov’t credit guarantee facilities hit P3 B (Sabong News)

State-owned Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PHILGUARANTEE) posted record financing assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) during the prolonged pandemic. Based on a report to the Department of Finance released on Monday, April 4, PHILGUARANTEE said its credit guarantee facilities to MSMEs reached P3 billion since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Alberto Pascual, PHILGUARANTEE president and chief executive said their credit guarantee portfolio saw a remarkable performance since the pilot implementation of the MSME Credit Guarantee Program (MCGP) in December 2020, with an initial portfolio of P207 million. He said as of March 10, the cumulative releases on the MCGP is currently at P2.950 billion, with MSME beneficiaries now at 20,310 entrepreneurs. A total of P1.48 billion of these releases were supported by the credit guarantee facilities to such groups. “The growth in the MSME credit guarantee portfolio, with the support of 18 banks in the country, represented more than 13 times or 1,325 per cent since December 2020, and this was impacted further by PHILGUARANTEE in the implementation of its key assistance role,” Pascual said. The PHILGUARANTEE chief added that for MSME beneficiaries, it registered a 589 percent increase, from the initial level of 2,948 in December 2020. Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, who chairs the PHILGUARANTEE Governing Board, said “the sizable increase in financing assistance at the height of the crisis underlines government’s commitment to rescue small entrepreneurs hardest hit by the global downturn. “The quick recovery of MSMEs from the global health and economic crises is crucial to the country’s strong rebound at the soonest, considering that they make up 99 percent of all business enterprises and account for nearly 36 percent of the domestic economy,” Dominguez said. Top beneficiaries of the credit guarantee facilities of the agency belong to the wholesale and retail sector (P1.95 billion), manufacturing (P230.54 million), as well as transport, storage and communication (P172.64 million). Other beneficiaries were community, social and other establishments (P140.68 million), agriculture and forestry (P130.36 million), and hotels and tourism-related services (P114.53 million). As PHILGUARANTEE’s credit guarantee programs cater to a nationwide reach, Regions IV-A, III, I, V, and X (comprise the major areas supported by the credit guarantee facilities, with P1.66 billion in cumulative releases since December 2020. MSMEs belonging to the National Capital Region (NCR) obtained a total of P207.65 million in working capital assistance extended by banks, with the support of the agency’s credit guarantee franchise. “The approval of the credit guarantee facilities enabled the availability and accessibility of credit from banks that would have otherwise been reluctant to lend to MSMEs owing to the uncertainties that prevailed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pascual said. For 2022, PHILGUARANTEE is projecting an MSME portfolio of P4.4 billion, with an additional 8,800 in beneficiary-enterprises.