By Joann Santiago-Villanueva
MANILA – Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will benefit from the Philippines-Canada free trade agreement (FTA) through tie-ups with big businesses, Trade and Industry Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said Saturday.
FTA negotiations were concluded during the bilateral meeting of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the 49th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits in Pasay City.
The FTA will be signed next year.
As of September, the export industry is at a 34-year high of 35.6 percent.
“So, with this free trade agreement, we really hope to give more opportunities for the exporters. But for the small and medium enterprises, they can supply an exporter. So the growth of the exporter becomes the growth of the small and medium enterprises,” she said in one of the panel discussions during the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit at a hotel in Parañaque City.
MSMEs account for 99.6 percent of Philippine business firms and employ around 62 percent of workers nationwide.
“That’s why we want to encourage them until they become ready to become exporters themselves,” Roque said, citing the need to help ensure opportunities along the supply chain.
Roque said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) lending arm, Small Business Corporation (SBCorp), provides loans of up to PHP5 billion to MSMEs to help support the sector.
“Last year, we’ve reached the maximum of the PHP12.9 million that SBCorporation could loan to micro, small and medium enterprises,” she said. (PNA)
