Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail has said the value of applications submitted for SME loans currently exceeds 65 million US dollars. The economic minister made the announcement during a panel discussion at the Youth Wing Congress held by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Friday.
Speaking at the panel discussion, Economic Minister Fayyaz explained SME Development Finance Corporation (SDFC) had received an overwhelming number of applications since its inception on March 18. He explained the bank has limited funds, and therefore, a large majority of these applications need to be filtered out.
Minister Fayyaz said the administration plans on increasing the fund allocations in annual state budgets for the development of SMEs in the future. At the panel discussion, Fayyaz highlighted the bank prioritises women and youth entrepreneurs and that so far about 80 percent of these loans have been awarded to women and youth. He pointed out the purpose of SME bank is to assist start-ups and develop these businesses.
SDFC currently offers a six loans product in four areas. They include financing for local tourism, support for business expansion and acquisition of assists, development of agriculture, in addition to financing start-up capital for new entrepreneurs.