With the widely felt economic slowdown that resulted from the COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine that greatly affected micro and small businesses in the country, the Small Business Corporation under the guidance of the Department of Trade and Industry is setting up a P1.0 billion Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing facility under the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso or Covid19 P3-ERF.
In a recent announcement, DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said that the P3-ERF facility is part of the economic relief program of the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for small businesses that was further marginalized by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the SB Corporation COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises or CARES Program, loans will be from P200,000 up to P500,000 for a 24 months term. Qualified to avail are Filipino owned micro or small enterprises affected by the imposition of ECQ in Luzon and the quarantine declarations in Visayas and Mindanao. However, loan applicants must have an asset size of not more than P15 million exclusive of the land on which the business is situated and said program will be implemented once the community quarantine declarations are lifted by the naational government and local government units.
The ERF loan fund is meant to help an enterprise stabilize or recover from its losses like inventory replacement of perishable stocks damaged and working capital replacement to restart the business. The loan interest rate according to the SB Corp shall be at 0.5% per month and a grace period on payments shall be given until such time that the economic crisis has abated.
The required documents for loan applicants must include DTI/SEC business registration, Mayor’s Business Permit, post-audited in-house 2019 financial statements, BIR Certificate of Registration, government issued IDs and fully accomplished Loan Application Form and signature card.
Small Business Corporation is a government financial institution created in January 1991 under R.A. 6977, Magna Carta for Small Enterprises, amended by RA 8289 in 1997 and RA 9501 in 2008. It has the primary responsibility of implementing comprehensive policies and program to assist MSMEs in all areas, including but not limited to finance and information services, training and marketing. **
