MVR one billion has been issued under the Covid-19 recovery loan scheme by October 8.

Statisticspublicized by the Ministry of Finance on Monday revealed that the total disbursements made under the Economic Relief Package stood at MVR 1,142.5 billion by October 8. This is a 10.4 percent increase from the week before.

So far, the country’s national bank, Bank of Maldives (BML) has disbursed MVR 535.0 million to 381 businesses under the Recovery Loan Scheme.

The SME Development and Finance Corporation (SDFC) provided MVR 300.1 million for a total of 1,816 businesses as well.

Over the one-week period, MVR 100.0 million was disbursed to banks implementing the Covid-19 Recovery Loan Scheme.

A total of MVR 300.1 million has been disbursed as loans through the SME Development and Finance Corporation (SDFC) for applications by self-employed individuals and businesses, by October 8.

Under the government’s Recovery Loan Scheme for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) due to the global Covid-19 crisis, SDFC received a total of 3,679 applications from both businesses and self-employed individuals.

Latest statistics publicized by the ministry note that a total of 2,018 applications were approved.

A total of 1,864 businesses applied for a total of MVR 514.8 million out of which SDFC approved 1,403 applications, totaling MVR 332.7 million. By October 8, the total disbursed for 1,255 businesses reach MVR 283.3 million. MVR 16.8 was disbursed for 561 freelancers, out of the 1,815 applicants.

In addition, 600 applications were rejected and 1,978 were sanctioned for MVR 343.8 million.

The ministry’s statistics revealed that a total of 529 female applicants had been approved for MVR 110.2 million in loans out of the 854 female applicants.

The greatest number of loan applications approved by SDFC by sector, were for the commercial sector, at 765 totaling MVR 182.2 million. This is followed by the construction sector where 190 applications were approved out of the 258 applications received, totaling MVR 54.1 million.

A total of MVR 52.7 million was approved for 229 applicants.

The finance ministry partnered with SDFC to administer the Covid-19 Recovery Scheme targeted towards SMEs and self-employed and freelance workers, as part of the government’s Economic Relief Package.

The scheme is being implemented via the “Viyafaari Ehee” loan introduced by SDFC and is targeted towards SMEs facing difficulties in meeting their operational requirements in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.

Only SMEs with an annual turnover of less than MVR 10 million in 2019 are eligible for the loan.

Eligible SMEs may apply for loans up to 10 percent of its annual sales turnover for the past year -capped up to MVR 500,000- at six percent interest per annum for a three-year period, said the ministry.

Further, it has been revealed that the repayment period excludes the grace period up to six months in which no interest is charged. Funding is liable on SMEs that do not terminate local employees due to the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as during the funding period.