USAID, BPI launch $35-M credit facility for SMEs

The United States Agency for International Development has partnered with the Bank of the Philippine Islands and BPI Family Savings Bank to launch a $35-million credit facility for small and medium enterprises. The credit facility, which is meant to reduce collateral requirements for SMEs, was first tested in Batangas, Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo Cities.   "We hope that this facility will expand access to capital for Filipino entrepreneurs to allow them to improve and expand their businesses," USAID mission director Gloria Steele said in a business conference. Steele said the facility encourages lending to SMEs in cities that were selected in USAID’s Cities Development Initiative, an integral part of the US-Philippine Partnership for Growth with a vision of developing secondary cities as economic growth areas. Steele said the facility will be expanded to other cities in the future. USAID CDI is also supporting high-growth industries in the area of human resource development in a bid to promote economic growth. — BM, GMA News