SULONG Program beneficiaries hit 150,000 SMEs

GOVERNMENT financial institutions (GFIs) have released as much as P170.3 billion in loans for nearly 150,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the SULONG Program since 2004, according to SB Corp., the program’s lead convenor.

Launched in 2003 in support of the National SME Development Plan, SULONG seeks to assist and empower SMEs by facilitating access to short- and long-term credit from GFIs through a common framework of assistance. It aims to simplify and standardize lending procedures, create a wider, borderless financing system and lower the effective cost of borrowing by SMEs.

Social Security System (SSS) said it released P1.2 billion in loans to SMEs.

The state-run pension fund provides SULONG loans of up to P5 million which are payable within five years, including a one-year grace period. SSS releases the SULONG loans through banks.

Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines lead the GFIs in total SULONG disbursements at P93.0 billion and P54.7 billion, respectively. Other participating GFIs are the Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corp., Philippine Export and Import Credit Agency and National Livelihood Support Fund.

LandBank said it is targeting to expand its lending program to small farmers and fisherfolk to P26.5 billion next year.

“We just had a planning conference and we are targeting to increase the budget for our lending program for small farmers and fisherfolk next year,” Gilda Pico, LandBank president, told reporters.

As of third quarter this year, the lender already extended P17.8 billion in loans benefiting 330,000 farmers.

At end-September, Land Bank’s loans to its priority sectors reached P117.5 billion, up by 18 percent from the P99.5 billion recorded a year ago.

Loans for SMEs also rose to P19.2 billion from P17.8 billion last year. –LAILANY P. GOMEZ AND IRA KAREN APANAY, Manila Times