President Duterte has committed to increase the budget of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) next year to enable the agency to beef up programs for the development of the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said.
This was after business leaders urged the government to allocate hefty funding to the DTI to ensure its efficient delivery of programs for MSMEs, considered the backbone of the Philippine economy.
Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, for one, told the BusinessMirror in an earlier interview that he cannot understand why the DTI was only provided P5.18 billion this year. “Yes, we support that statement,” Lopez told the BusinessMirror.
He said he was assured by the President himself “additional budget for MSME support” will be made available next year.
“The President also confirmed support because he wants to help the small and micro enterprises, especially on training, mentoring, production equipment, product-development advice, market access and support during trade fairs and microfinancing, like our P3 [program],” Lopez added, referring to the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso program. P3 is the DTI’s moneylending measure to veer MSMEs from onerous loans given mostly by so-called 5-6 (20-percent interest) lenders. Sought how much additional fund he will pitch to the President, Lopez said the “figure is not yet final.”
Lopez wants a big amount because the DTI is targeting to hold more trade exhibits, expand the P3 program and broaden market access for MSMEs. Whatever the amount will be, he vowed bulk of the increase will be diverted to the agency’s programs for small businesses.
Under the 2018 national budget, the DTI was allocated P5.18 billion, which was 28.54 percent higher than its P4.03-billion funding last year. The agency assigned P2.25 billion of its purse this year for the development of MSMEs.
Ortiz-Luis lamented this allocation, saying the DTI has a crucial mandate to persistently back small businesses and, therefore, it deserves higher funding. “Obviously, the product development and marketing-promotions budget should be improved because the budget of the DTI, which is tasked to do these, is just too little,” he said.
If the government is sincere in its campaign to promote MSMEs, Ortiz-Luis recommended slashing the P89.41-billion budget for the conditional-cash transfer program, then transfer it to state agencies involved in developing small businesses.
He added the exports industry will reach new heights if funding is made available for the diversification of the sector.
In 2016 Lopez moved to increase the trade department’s budget up to P6 billion for the following year, citing the same justification of developing and promoting MSMEs. However, the proposal seemed too grand for lawmakers, as the DTI only received P4.03 billion last year.