The government has released P5.54 billion in loans to more than 16,000 small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in the first four months of a programme aimed at making credit more accessible to this sector, the Department of Trade and Industry said.
The government hopes to spur the growth of the SME sector and the economy in general through the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth (Sulong), which started early this year.
Sulong aims to release P10 billion in loans for the SME sector by the end of the first six months and P20 billion by the end of the year, said Rick Perez of the DTI's Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corp.
