DTI's SB Corp approves P400M in loans for Yolanda-hit businesses 

Almost P400 million in loans have so far been approved under the Enterprise Rehabilitation Fund (ERF) for 324 businesses in Tacloban City and neighboring municipalities in Leyte province, as well as in Guian in Eastern Samar and Bantayan Island in Cebu province, the Department of Trade and Industry said Monday.

 

The P700-million ERF was established last December to help enterprises, particularly those devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, recover and get back in business.

 

The Small Business Corporation (SB Corp), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, set up the ERF to meet the need for rehabilitating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in disaster-stricken areas.

 

Any SME can borrow money from the fund as long as enterprise was an on-going business, duly registered prior to the calamity, and that business was badly damaged by the calamity.

 

“The loan extended by the ERF program may be used to finance only assets that will produce sales such as: new inventory, equipment purchase or repair, and building construction and/or repair,” SB Corp OIC-COO Maria Luna Cacanando said in an emailed statement.

 

“ERF cannot reimburse the enterprise of its losses for accounts receivable that can no longer be collected nor inventory and fixed assets washed away by the typhoon,” she said.

 

According to SB Corp, audited historical financial statements and administrative fees are waived, interest rates are subsidized and grace period is longer on both interest and principal “to make sure that SMEs will have a good chance at recovery.” – Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/VS, GMA News