The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has allocated P650 million in combined livelihood grant and loans to help in the recovery of micro and small enterprises in typhoon-ravaged areas in Visayas and Mindanao.
DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez reported during President Duterte’s “Talk to the Nation” late Monday night, Dec. 27, that DTI has allocated P100 million to P150 million grant for Livelihood Seeding Program (LSP), and P500-million micro financing from SB Corporation (SBCorp).
Lopez said these facilities should ensure that micro enterprises can “move forward” after the typhoon devastated their sources of livelihood.
The P150-million LSP grant will come in the form of livelihood packages such as merchandize to sell worth P8,000 to P10,000 per micro enterprise beneficiary.
Based on their initial assessment, DTI has estimated 2,000 beneficiaries per affected province or P20-million initial livelihood assistance per province.
Already, the DTI has allocated P8.2 million in immediate livelihood assistance to 300 profiled beneficiaries in Siargao.
This week, he said, DTI has scheduled to distribute to 1,000 beneficiaries in Regions 6,7,8 and CARAGA region.
“This is just initial, but our allocation is P100 million to P150 million,” he said adding this will be augmented once its 2022 budget has been approved.
In addition, SBCorp Board, which is chaired by Lopez, has approved the P500-million micro financing facility.
The micro loan facility is collateral and interest-free for the affected micro and small enterprises in the typhoon hit areas. Borrowers are also given 6 months to one year grace period before they start paying the loan.
Lopez explained that this facility is on top of the current SBCorp CARES Program for the pandemic-hit establishments. SBCorp has already extended P6.13 billion loan to 37,169 MSMEs under this program.