President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday approved the P4-billion emergency loan program for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to assist businesses affected by the war within the Middle East.
“President Marcos has cleared a program for MSMEs in distress because of this of the worldwide oil shock to avail of easy loans starting from P30,000 to P20 million each,” Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto said in an announcement.
Mr. Recto added that the brand new government loan program is a “welcome development for MSMEs in light of the perennial credit squeeze within the country.”
Easy loans offer low rates of interest and are repayable over five years, helping small businesses manage rising logistics costs, money flow constraints, and provide chain disruptions amid the present oil crisis.
The financial assistance, to be implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its financing arm, Small Business (SB) Corp., also offers a one-year grace period on principal and interest payments.
Applicants can apply for this system online, and the processing takes seven to 10 days.
Citing the info from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Mr. Recto noted that bank lending for MSMEs increased by 5% to PHP574.8 billion as of end-December 2025 from P546.22 billion in the identical period a yr ago.
This represents only 4.73% of the P12.143-trillion total bank loan portfolio within the country.
“The President has envisioned this loan program as a lifeline to MSMEs against the backdrop of limited access to financing, more so presently of economic challenges sweeping the globe,” he said.
The local statistics agency said the MSMEs comprise about 99.6% of the locally registered businesses within the Philippines. Of which, 90% are micro enterprises, 10% are small, and 1% are medium.
The sector also accounts for about 65% of total employment within the country, as of 2023. — Almira Louise S. Martinez