Small businesses to get P100-M stimulus loan from Baguio gov’t
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Small businesses may tap an initial P100-million support fund this month to help stimulate the local economy as more retail shops, restaurants and manufacturers resume operations.
Each applicant can borrow as much as P100,000 or up to P50,000 interest-free for each microenterprise, said Leticia Clemente, city budget officer.
But the city government would need to screen loan applicants because of a preference for businesses that can thrive despite restrictions on travel and curfew, she said during a management committee meeting on Tuesday.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the government would shore up small businesses with better chances of riding out the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Lost revenues
“If they succeed, the city also benefits because they pay taxes,” Magalong said during the meeting.Baguio has 20,484 businesses classified as microenterprises (asset sizes of less than P3 million and a workforce of not less than nine people) and 2,073 establishments classified as small businesses (assets of P3 million to P15 million with 10 to 99 employees or workers).
Given the limited amount, the city will concentrate on sectors worst hit by the quarantine so as many as 1,600 microenterprises can get loans of P50,000, Clemente said.
She said 200 small businesses could each borrow P100,000, although the city could serve as many as 266 recipients if each took out a loan of P75,000.
The city government also intends to raise another P100 million in stimulus money. But the finance committee said the loans would need to be repaid.
The government is expecting a deficit next year of about P400 million from unpaid taxes and lost revenue opportunities after industries shut down from March to May.
—Vincent Cabreza
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