BSP gives small enterprises more time for borrowing without financial docs

Small and microenterprises nationwide may still seek bank loans even if they do not have audited financial statements or income tax returns to present — for the next three years at least.   The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday said its Monetary Board (MB) extended the regulatory exemption, which would have expired next Saturday, Dec. 31, to Dec. 31, 2014.   BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the MB wanted — by way of the regulatory relief — to continue supporting the growth of microenterprises and small businesses “by assisting these institutions [to] gain greater access to credit from formal channels."   Republic Act No. 6977 or the Magna Carta for Small Enterprises defines  microenterprises as proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations whose total assets are less than P1.5 million — exclusive of the value of the lot where their plant or business office is located. For small enterprises, the asset range is P1.5 million to P15 million.   Over P7 billion worth of microfinance loans were given to some 963,000 borrowers as end-June 2011, BSP data showed. The average loan size was P7,260 per microentrepreneur.   Citing 2010 data, the Microfinance Council of the Philippines said its members had  2.3 million active borrowers that took an aggregate P13 billion in loans or P5,650 average per borrower.   The BSP recently authorized two rural banks — Bangko Mabuhay in Tanza, Cavite and Mallig Palins Rural Bank in Isabela province — to engage in microinsurance service. There are about 50 other rural banks also interested in going into this business.   Tetangco said the BSP is supportive of private sector initiatives designed to enable microenterprises and small enterprises to come up with reliable financial statements. — ELR/VS, GMA News