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MANILA - The government has provided P12.16-billion in assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises through the Asenso Program during the first half of the year.
In a report, the Department of Trade and Industry said the Access of Small Enterprises to Sound Lending Opportunities Program benefited 33,884 MSMEs and generated 321,994 jobs during the first six months of this year.
This is the revitalized MSME financing program that brought together the Microfinance Program Committee and the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth or Sulong.
The Asenso program aims to benefit 70,804 MSMEs and create 523,600 jobs by yearend. Next year, it targets to help 77,884 MSMEs as well as generate 575,960 jobs in the sector.
Since the establishment of Sulong in 2004, the government has released P254.37 billion to SMEs, supporting about 3.65 million jobs, the DTI said.
Besides funding, the DTI, its two line agencies and nine government financial institutions participating in the Asenso program also provide capacity-building assistance to MSMEs.
In the first six months, 4,619 microenterprises in the countryside benefited from the Rural Microenterprise Promotion Program, and 334 MSMEs were provided design services and technical assistance.
To date, the SME caravans held in 26 provinces since last year were attended by 19,319 participants, the DTI said.
During last week’s Philippine Economic Briefing, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said key to achieving inclusive growth is countryside development, specifically by helping small businesses.
“We have to improve on SME financing because not enough money is flowing to the SME sector. We are trying to address that by innovative programs,” Domingo said.
“We are also proposing a program for SME clusters next year that will definitely bring them up by one or two notches in terms of product development, product quality and product efficiency,” he added.
Under the government’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Plan for 2011 to 2016, the sector is expected to contribute 40 percent of the country’s economic output and generate two million jobs by the year 2016.
MSMEs account for an estimated 99.6 percent of businesses in the country.
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