Damascus-SANA
After its transformation from the National Microfinance Corporation to the National Microfinance Bank with a capital of 33 billion Syrian pounds, the bank developed a package of loans that it offers in quantity and quality, either without interest or with encouraging benefits starting from 3 percent annually and up to 13 percent, thus achieving greater demand by citizens for Its various products.
The CEO of the bank, Munir Haroun, explained in his interview with SANA that after reconciling its conditions and transforming it into a bank in implementation of the Microfinance Banks Law No. 8 of the current year, comprehensive amendments were made to all banking products by reducing interests and offering products without guarantees such as the immediate loan with a ceiling of one million pounds And an interest rate of 13 percent, and raising the ceiling of productive, educational, agricultural and income-generating loans to reach 30 million pounds.
As for the interests, Haroun stated that they were reduced from 18 percent annually to reach 13, 12 and 6 percent on various products. As for the national loan for the demobilized and the families of the martyrs and the wounded, its interest is 9 percent, and the national loan with added value for the demobilized accepted within the youth empowerment program launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor at an interest rate of 3 percent on the borrower and 6 percent on the ministry.
With regard to guarantees, Harun stated that there is a diverse array of guarantees required for loans, starting with personal guarantors and the commercial registry, passing through real estate and vehicles, and reaching golden holdings, indicating that these guarantees must cover the value of the loan in addition to the interests.
Since its transformation more than two months ago, the National Microfinance Bank has witnessed a great demand from citizens on all its branches to benefit from its wide and diverse products with its encouraging benefits and stimulating guarantees that are unprecedented in the banking sector, according to Haroun.
On the development of the (hello, Aleppo) loan, Haroun explained that this loan was launched in June last year without interest, with a ceiling of 5 million pounds for income-generating projects, and after the issuance of Law No. 8 this year, the ceiling was raised to 25 million pounds and then to 30 million in accordance with the aforementioned law that linked The ceiling of loans and the ceiling of the bank's capital, which was raised in the same June.
Accordingly, any person in Aleppo governorate who has a shop, a workshop, a small manufacture or a small craft can be granted this loan with a ceiling of 30 million pounds and a repayment period of up to eight years, according to Haroun.
The bank also seeks to achieve a wider spread by creating new branches and offices in the governorates, according to the population density and the increasing demand for its products, according to Haroun, noting that four new offices will be opened before the end of the year in Sahnaya in Damascus countryside, Al Haffa in Lattakia, Qadmus and Safita in Tartous governorate.
It is noteworthy that the National Microfinance Corporation was established in 2011 with a capital of 330 million pounds through the partnership of the Syrian Trust for Development with the Syrian Scientific Society for Informatics and the General Authority for Employment and Enterprise Development with the aim of promoting the microfinance sector and later, with the support of the Syrian Trust for Development, the capital was raised in 2020 to 10 billion pounds and then to 33 billion pounds after the issuance of Law 8 this year.
Waseem Al-Adawi