Afek opens loan mechanism

Afek Financing Solutions has built a fast and innovative small-business eligibility mechanism allowing customers to receive credit quickly and on a high scale, it announced Sunday.

During the coronavirus period, Afek raised credit amounting to NIS 58 million for the benefit of 117 companies.

“Small businesses are in a state of helplessness. The fund set by the Finance Ministry of NIS 4 billion for businesses at risk is not enough,” it said in a release. “We are here to help small businesses survive – we’re offering to provide businesses with a holistic and fast solution, starting with raising large amounts of credit from the State of Israel, an interest-free non-bank loan with excellent conditions, loans from the State Guarantee Fund and more.”

Afek Financing Solutions CEO Avishai Cohen said: “The bureaucracy that the state dictates in providing loans to companies and businesses creates a state of helplessness for small and medium-sized businesses. In recent months we have encountered hundreds of business owners who have turned to us for professional assistance to obtain a state-assisted loan, and what happens in practice is that the small businesses fail to cope with the required bureaucratic procedures and the amounts approved for them are lower than expected.

“I welcome the Finance Ministry’s decision,” Cohen added.

About two weeks ago, the Finance Committee approved an allocation of NIS 4b. for industries at risk. This comes after approving a total of about NIS 14b. in the coronavirus-period State Guarantee Fund for all branches.

The State Guarantee Fund reached only about 40%, which prevented the banks from approving applications for these branches, while now over 60% has been given to industries at risk.