Concessional rates given to help: Exec

CONCESSIONAL rates on loan products are given to help business start-ups, with a longer period for repayments, a bank official says.
People’s Micro Bank Ltd (PMBL) chief executive officer Anthony Dela Cruz said concessional rates were for high-risk industries in the agriculture sector such as coffee and fisheries.
PMBL is a subsidiary and commercial arm of the National Development Bank (NDB).
“People venturing into these high-risk industries need Government assistance,” he said.
“Generally, they are not ready to pay at commercial rates because they are not profitable as yet.
“So they need a little bit of help from the Government.”
NDB managing director Moses Liu said, recently, that the bank would be introducing four concessional rates in anticipation of the Government’s promised allocation of K200 million for small to medium enterprises.
Dela Cruz said NDB offered concessional rates while the PMB offered commercial rates.