Micro-finance sector issues P161 billion in loans to boost job creation

MANILA , July 07 (PNA) -- Heeding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's call in 2004 for more aggressive micro-finance lending nationwide, the government, in partnership with private micro-finance institutions, had extended more than P161 billion in loans to some 5.8 million Filipino micro-finance clients and entrepreneurs from July 2004 to April this year, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) revealed.

Quoting a preliminary government report, NAPC Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said thousands of non-government organizations, banks, and cooperatives have participated in a massive micro-finance development program after President Arroyo urged the Filipino micro-finance sector to increase lending in order to generate more jobs to marginalized Filipino during her 2004 State of the Nation Address (SoNA).

“The loans helped micro-entrepreneurs establish new business endeavors. These enterprises, in turn, created 2.7 million new jobs for impoverished Filipino workers nationwide during the same period,” Panganiban said during a special celebration marking the 11th founding anniversary of NAPC.

He noted the steady increase in micro-finance loans since President Arroyo’s 2004 SONA.

“I think it is by now clear that the recent growth of the Filipino micro-finance sector is due mainly to the leadership and vision of President Arroyo,” Panganiban said.

He said the Filipino micro-finance sector had issued loans amounting to some P60.94 billion from July 2004 to December 2006.

“The sector released loans worth around P25.9 billion in 2007. The total amount released last year came to about P64.8 billion,” Panganiban said.

He said that from January to April this year alone, the government and its partner micro-finance institutions already extended loans estimated to have reached P9.7 billion.

Panganiban said NAPC and the People’s Credit and Finance Corporation (PCFC) manage the People’s Development Trust Fund (PDTF), which was established in 1998 to finance the development of micro-finance institutions nationwide.