Thursday, August 16, 2007 Angara urges banks to make credit accessible to small biz By Joy Romares-Sevilla
ACCESS to affordable credit scheme is one of the needs of small businessmen in Mindanao to further boost productivity and profitability, particularly those engaged in agriculture, said Senator Edgardo Angara.
"Banks particularly the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP) must make credit more accessible and affordable. What happens now is they look up to big companies rather than the small ones," said Angara, who spoke on Agri-Entrepreneurship: A Competitive Strategy for Mindanao's Productivity and Profitability at the opening of the 6th Mindanao Food Congress at the Royal Mandaya Hotel Wednesday.
Angara suggested that DBP and LBP should put up independent autonomous units in Mindanao to cater to the financial needs of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"They should suppose to do it without my suggestion. They should be developmental in nature, kung hindi pa sila kikilos, magpa-pass na tayo ng law tungkol diyan," Angara said.
Angara said aside from providing accessible and affordable credit, there are also other problems that need to be addressed for Mindanao Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be more productive and profitable.
"There is also a need to exempt agri inputs of corn from the 12 percent VAT (Value Added Tax), which was imposed last year. For example, you are importing feeds... these are composed of corn and soya. It is almost beyond reach of the SMEs because of the VAT. Kung aalisin ang VAT, Mindanao will become more competitive sa chicken, goat, and other meat products," he explained.
Other strategies that should be applied for Mindanao's productivity and profitability are the development of infrastructure, the development of a railway system for the trade of goods, and the support to agricultural fisheries, health program, and education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
"We need to bring up the Armm in the same level as the other regions in Mindanao kasi parang napag-iwanan ang Armm," Angara said.
"Mindanao will rise, perhaps to a higher level we can never imagine if these needs will be met," he added.
