Deeb: The loan from the microfinance bank can be with the guarantee of the existing project itself

Damascus-Sana

The Central Bank of Syria has confirmed that it will harmonize the basic regulations of the micro-finance institutions currently operating in Syria in accordance with the executive instructions of Law No. 8 for the current year which allowed the establishment of (micro-finance banks).

Head of the Licensing and Registration Department at the Government’s Banking Commission at the Central Bank, Rani Deeb, explained in a statement to SANA’s delegate that the Commission is the body concerned with reconciling the conditions of microfinance institutions currently operating in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 8, indicating that the reconciliation process could be in terms of raising its minimum capital to 5 billion Syrian pounds or in terms of whether the percentage of foreigners ’contribution to it exceeds 49 percent, then it must be returned to this percentage or below.

Deeb stressed the importance of the new law in supplying the labor market with new opportunities and improving the level of individual entry, revealing that the Central Bank granted licenses to a small finance institution on the basis of Law No. 15 of 2007, and the procedures for registering it and reconciling its conditions and statute are being followed up with the new law to become a microfinance bank.

Deeb indicated that the loan from the microfinance bank can be with the guarantee of the existing project itself or without guarantees, for example, depending on production or confidence in dealing.

Deeb pointed to the importance of the economic developmental dimension of the new law, along with the tax exemptions it includes for investors in this field, explaining that the updated microfinance bank will be exempt upon its incorporation from income tax on profits for a period of five years. It is expected that the Central Bank will soon receive many requests to establish microfinance banks from Accepted by investors for being one of the economically profitable and developmentally effective sectors.

Wasim Al-Adawi