According to the government-run Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp. (SB Corp) lending to small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reached a total of P18.6 billion in the first nine months of 2004.
Benel P. Lagua, SB Corp. president, said that the loans benefited at least 40,000 SMEs under the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth (Sulong) programme.
Lagua said that, of the loans extended from January to September, SB Corp. released P2.3 billion; LBP P8.6 billion; DBP P6.7 billion; NLSF P290 million, PhilExim P359.5 million and QuedanCorp. P376.2 million.
He said the total amount represented 78 per cent of the P24-billion loan target to be released for 2004.
