CARD MRI welcomes promise of funds to fight ‘usurious loans’

A MICROFINANCE institution (MFI) that’s being eyed to receive a portion of the P1-billion funding for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) has expressed support for the plan.

In a statement, CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (MRI) founder and managing director Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip said the organization is grateful to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez for announcing last December that CARD MRI will be among the recipients of the funds.

The MSME funding is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promise to fight loan sharks that hobble micro entrepreneurs by charging them onerous interest rates. Government will roll out the program this February, Lopez also said in a Business World report.

The plan is to set aside P18 billion for MSME funding, or P1 billion for every region.

“CARD MRI is one with the government in its effort to fight usurious loans. We will continue to help our government reach the marginalized sector, especially in the island provinces where banking services are not yet available. It is timely that CARD MRI is expanding in these areas,” the company’s statement reads.

Priorities

No MFI, aside from CARD MRI, has been named, but Lopez said that the government through state-owned Small Business (SB) Corp. is looking to distrib- ute the funds to five MFIs or cooperatives with large networks.

In Cebu, CARD MRI has around 85,000 clients all over the province, while it has four million clients and members all over the country.

With more funds for entrepreneurship, Alip said this will enable microfinance institutions to provide more MSMEs with affordable financial assistance and to reach far-flung areas.

The trade secretary said the program’s priority beneficiaries will be micro enterprises that can avail of loans of P5,000 and P10,000, and 10 percent of the budget will be allocated to small and medium-sized firms with borrowings ranging from P100,000 to P200,000.