THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is readying up to P80 billion in interest-free loan and grant package to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to help them recover from the effects of the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
This developed as the DTI is also pushing for more investments and infrastructure to the countryside through the grant of incentives in support of the government’s Balik-Probinsya program.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said the proposed loan package eyes to give as much as P100,000 in loans to micro enterprises on top of technical assistance such as training as a grant component.
This is also over and above the assistance previously given Bayanihan We Heal as One Act given by the Department of Labor and Employment and the Social Security System for workers in support of MSMEs which have either closed down or downsized due to the enhanced community quarantine.
At the same time, Lopez said the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases is also discussing the possibility to extend the moratorium or freezing of loan payments until the general community quarantine (GCQ), also meant to ease the burden on small businesses.
The current moratorium applies only to the period of ECQ.
Lopez said jobs have to be created in the countryside to entice those who have resided in Metro Manila for work to move back to their provinces.
The strategy, he said, is to give investors incentives through the Investment Priorities Plan up to six years in income tax holiday. Host local government units can grant additional incentives by waiving real property taxes and permit fees.
Lopez said government through the Department of Public Works and Highways and private sector-led infrastructure projects will also create jobs for those relocating in the provinces.
Then all other economic activities like housing and commercial businesses will follow, he said.
