Damascus-SANA
Based on the decisions of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to support small and medium-sized enterprises, the Commercial Bank of Syria officially launched today the program for financing these projects, which consists of several banking products with simple subsidized interests, as applications begin to be submitted to the bank’s branches as of today.
According to the program, which SANA received a copy of, the bank supports loans for small and medium projects by reducing interest at a rate of 2%, while the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, according to the government program, supports 7%, meaning that projects bear a simple interest of 4% on the decreasing balance of the loan annually, and the bank seeks to obtain approvals Necessary to include the rest of the products offered for financing in the interest subsidy program.
The small and medium-sized enterprises currently supported within the program are “production of requirements and equipment for renewable energy components, dairy factories, cheese and milk derivatives, projects for the manufacture of threads, automated weaving, fabrics, dyestuffs, factories for the manufacture of threads and knitted fabrics, construction, operation and restoration of facilities for the automatic textile industry, knitting, carpets, rugs, electrical and electronic industries, manufacturing of lighting devices, construction and operation of And the restoration of facilities for the manufacture of medical tools and devices, and projects for the wood and aluminum industries, the Formica industries, poultry houses, and beef cattle.”
The Local Production and Export Support Authority suggested that a number of projects be included in the subsidy, namely “alternative energy generation, olive mills, factories (plastic, pipes, shoes, ready-made clothes, packaging of agricultural products and fodder) and handicraft industries,” which are currently supported at a reduced interest rate by the Commercial Bank only, i.e. 11 percent.
As for the duration of the loans and financing rates, they are granted on multiple terms (long, medium and short) according to the type of the project, its ability to repay, the agreement between the borrower and the bank, and according to the feasibility study, for a period of one year with a financing rate of 70 percent, for a period of 3 years with a financing rate of 60 percent, and for a period of 10 years with a financing rate of 60 percent.
The commercial program gives powers to the bank’s branches in the governorates to achieve more flexibility in granting loans, as the governorate’s Credit Subcommittee was granted the authority to grant a loan of up to 100 million pounds, and the Central Credit Committee to grant a loan between 100 million and up to 200 million pounds, and the Higher Credit Committee to grant a loan between 200 million up to 400 million pounds and the Commercial Board of Directors to grant a loan of more than 400 million pounds.
According to the program, Al-Tijari will train its cadres on the grant process, in order to ensure ease of procedures and respond to the requests of customers of small and medium enterprises.
Waseem Al-Adawi