Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the Small Business Corp., the financing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, has been able to secure fresh funding for the Covid-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (Cares) program to assist the recovery of small-scale businesses.
Lopez said government financial institutions Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines have provided P1 billion to SB Corp. to continue the rollout of the loan program for micro, small, and medium enterprises.
The SB Corp. has stopped receiving new applications for the Cares program as loan applications have reached P3.5 billion.
The DTI initially earmarked P1 billion for the program.
“We are just completing documentation from (the) SB Corp. side,” Lopez said, adding that fresh funding may be rolled out next week.*PNA
