Central commits K3 million for SMEs

By DALE LUMA
THE Central provincial government has committed K3 million as collateral for its people in support of the Government’s K200 million SME (small and medium enterprise) funding.
Speaking at the launching of the Rigo Inland road project on Tuesday in Boregaina, Governor Robert Agarobe said this would assist his people to access the Government’s SME funding which will be distributed through Bank South Pacific (BSP) and National Development Bank (NDB) through loans.
However, Agarobe said this assistance was for farmers in the agriculture sector who sell their products through the Aniani Corporation which is the provincial business arm.
“The Marape-Basil Government has now concentrated on the renewable which is the agriculture and forestry sectors.
“They put K200 million to support SMEs but this money is given to the banks so the banks’ criteria will apply.
“That means the banks will want collateral, they will want deposits and they will also want security. In case you don’t pay the loan they will take it and they resell it to recover their money.
“A lot of our people don’t have that.
“They don’t have collateral or security so when you’re talking about collateral, you are talking about 30 per cent so when you want to borrow K1,000, you have to put K300.
“That’s why we have created Aniani.