Government lends P161 billion to microfinance clients

MANILA, Philippines - The government in partnership with private financing institutions has extended more than P161 billion in loans to some 5.8 million Filipino microfinance clients and entrepreneurs since July 2004 to April this year, Malacañang said yesterday.

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Domingo Panganiban said from January to April this year alone, the government and its partner microfinance institutions had already extended loans estimated at some P9.7 billion.

Panganiban said thousands of non- government organizations, banks, and cooperatives had participated in a massive microfinance development program after President Arroyo had urged the Filipino microfinance sector to increase lending in order to generate more jobs for the poorest of the Filipino poor during her 2004 State of the Nation Address.

“The loans helped micro-entrepreneurs establish new business endeavors. These enterprises, in turn, created 2.7 million new jobs for impoverished Filipino workers nationwide during the same period,” Panganiban said during a special celebration marking the 11th founding anniversary of NAPC.

He noted the steady increase in microfinance loans since 2004.

“I think it is by now clear that the recent growth of the Filipino microfinance sector is due mainly to the leadership and vision of President Arroyo,” Panganiban said.

He said the Filipino microfinance sector had issued loans amounting to some P60.94 billion from July 2004 to December 2006. 

“The sector released loans worth around P25.9 billion in 2007. The total amount released last year came to about P64.8 billion,” Panganiban said.

He said NAPC and the People’s Credit and Finance Corp. (PCFC) manage the People’s Development Trust Fund (PDTF), which was established in 1998 to finance the development of microfinance institutions nationwide. 

“The development of the microfinance sector is meanwhile overseen by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under the able leadership of Secretary Peter Favila, the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises czar,” he said.