Loan terms for tourism businesses relaxed – DOT – Manila Bulletin

The Tourism Department (DOT) is urging more tourism businesses to take advantage of business loans offered under the government’s pandemic recovery program to help them survive the health crisis.

This, after the government extended to two years the grace period for the repayment of commercial loans to tourist companies in difficulty under the “Bayanihan 2” law.

According to the DOT, the terms of the interest-free soft loans have been relaxed even more to encourage more micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the tourism sector to avail of the loan facility managed by the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The relaxed terms also allow a second round of employee retention loans and a maximum loanable amount of 5 million pesos.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat thanked DTI and SB Corp for implementing these adjustments, which she said will help tourism businesses recover amid the ongoing pandemic of the disease. coronavirus (COVID-19).

“As we see the vaccination of tourism workers as the light at the end of the tunnel for the industry, we also know that tourism businesses are still in dire need of government support to get by in the months to come as we are waiting for the vaccine doses to arrive, ”Puyat explained.

In a recent letter to the Philippine Tourism Congress (TCP), SB Corp said it has approved the extension of the grace period for loan payments from one to two years for DOT-accredited or registered tourism MSMEs. by Barangay Micro Business. Companies (BMBE).

To help tourism businesses maintain operations and retain employees, SB Corp has also increased the loanable amount against the company’s financial details.

Under the amended guidelines, the loan amount should not exceed 15% of the company’s annual sales or 20% of the asset size, whichever is greater (not less) as previously required. by SB Corp.

The figures will also be based on financial statements for 2018 or 2019 filed with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), he added.

Meanwhile, the maximum loanable amount for applicants with financial statements filed with the BIR remains at 5 million pesos for medium-sized businesses, 3 million pesos for small businesses, and 300,000 pesos for micro-businesses.

Businesses with existing loans under the Bayanihan CARES program can also reapply for an employee retention loan, provided that applicants with existing loans under the program do not exceed the maximum loanable amount and that their financial statements filed by the BIR support a higher amount. Amount of the loan.