Govt To Launch New Credit Facilities For SMEs Published: Saturday, 06 February 2010
Officials in a group photo
Thursday 4 February 2010, Bandar Seri Begawan - The governement is scheduled to launch a new credit facility or financing scheme to catrer for export-potential SMEs sometime this year called the 'Export Refinancing Scheme (ERS)' with a loan ceiling of $500,000.
According to Pg Hajah Mariana PDNLDR Pg Haji Abd Momin, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources yesterday, the new scheme will assist and facilitate the development of local businesses with products and services that have potential for export.
The new financing facility first came to light in 2008 when the works to develop such a scheme was highlighted by Dato Paduka Hj Hamdillah bin Hj Abd Wahab, Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources in his keynote address during the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Business and Management.
Currently, the government is facilitating two types of financing schemes that are jointly managed by certain local banks: 'The Enterprise Facilitation Schemes (EFS)' i.e. loans with a ceiling of B$5 Million and the 'Microcredit Financing Scheme', i.e. loans with a ceiling of B$50,000.
Pg Hajah Mariana PDNLDR Pg Haji Abd Momin, in her remarks at the opening of Asean Workshop on "Sharing of Best Practices On the Establishment of SME Financial Facility" yesterday at the Rizqun International Hotel said the government had facilitated a total of B$42 million to 122 SMEs under the EFS from 1999 to 2009, while providing a total B$10 million to 485 SMEs under the Microcredit Financing Schemes from 2001 to 2009.
Speaking to the Asean delegates, she said SMEs account for 48.5 per cent of all businesses and provide 92 per cent of total employment in the private sector or 27.6 per cent of the total workforce in Brunei Darussalam.
"The SMEs therefore are a major source of employment creation in the country," she acknowledged, adding, "While SMEs are significant in number, they have yet to realize their full potential in their contribution to the economy."
With a very small domestic market of around 400,000, the Deputy Permanent Secretary said that ensuring SMEs are efficient and competitive is quite a challenge.
"The challenges are exacerbated by the Open Trade Policy," she added, and with this Open Trade Policy, Brunei SMEs therefore must compete on price and quality of imported products, both for the domestic and export markets.
She assured that the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources as the focal point for SME development is fully committed to assist Brunei SMEs.
She said, the government is doing this by adopting three broad approaches namely (1) expanding business opportunities, (2) providing a favorable business environment for trade and investment and (3) ensuring that SMEs are able to take full advantage of those opportunities.
As such, Pg Hajah Mariana explained that this is the reason why the government is committed to implement a number of support programmes, one of which is facilitating financial access to SMEs.
She said the Brunei government is aware that other Asean Member States have implemented various financing schemes.
These schemes, she added, varies from country to country, depending upon the state of economic development and the institutional capacity of the financial sectors.
Understandably, those variations have given rise to different levels of success in the development of the SMEs.
Hence, she said, this calls for more vigorous cooperation and integration among member countries to reach the common goal.
She hoped that the Workshop on "Sharing of Best Practices On the Establishment of SME Financial Facility" will provide a platform for all of us to share and leverage on each country's experience, expertise, findings and resources.
"It is a venue that has brought together experts from various SME financial institutions to share the best practices of SME financing facilities, management and associated policy guidelines," she stated.~Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, IT CENTRE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND PRIMARY RESOURCES
Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources
