The government-owned Small Business Corporation (SBC) and private thrift banks have pledged to help push forward economic activities in the countryside by providing financial assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to SBC chair and chief executive officer Zorayda Amelia C. Alonzo, the recent establishment of its desk office at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here would enable SMEs in Region X and Caraga Region to have easier and faster access to credit programmes.
The desk in Cagayan de Oro is our move to reach out to as many SMEs as possible regardless of their locations. We are going to as far as Northern Mindanao to market our credit products, Alonzo said.
She noted in 2004 alone, the SBC in Davao City was able to extend P10.1 million to Northern Mindanao clients under its retail-lending programme alone or about 32 per cent of the total retail loan portfolio for the entire Mindanao.
