State-run Development Bank of the Philippines said Thursday it will increase lending to the tourism industry, one of the sectors badly hit by the health crisis.
DBP president and chief executive Emmanuel Herbosa said the bank was working closely with the Department of Tourism and tourism enterprises in formulating long-term solutions and interventions to help the industry rebound from the ill-effects of the public health emergency.
Herbosa said the bank was ready to provide needed resources to enable industry players to institute mechanisms that would rebuild trust in travel, seamlessly adapt to digital platforms and innovate traditional offerings to spur demand.
“DBP has had a long history of collaboration with the tourism industry,” Herbosa said. “We shall remain a steadfast partner in finding meaningful solutions to revive, revitalize and reinvent the tourism sector.”
DBP is the seventh largest bank in the country in terms of assets and provides credit support to four strategic sectors of the economy—infrastructure and logistics; micro, small and medium enterprises; social services and community development; and the environment.
The tourism sector is an integral component of DBP’s loan portfolio, with the bank disbursing more than P11.98 billion in credit assistance as of the first semester of 2020, which benefitted around 178 tourism-related firms nationwide.
Herbosa said DBP’s assistance for the tourism sector is lodged under two programs, namely the Retail Lending for Micro and Small Enterprises, which targets firms with an asset size of P15 million, and the Medium Enterprises and Other Business Enterprise Lending which caters to businesses with assets of up to P100 million.
He said distressed businesses may also avail of credit support under DBP’s Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events, which could extend financing support for the rehabilitation efforts of both public and private institutions adversely affected by calamities.
“We must ensure that resources for the industry are channeled not just for recovery and rebuilding but also for enhancing the readiness and resiliency to combat sudden and debilitating fluxes in the economy,” Herbosa said.