Exporters are asking anew the government to allocate at least a fifth of its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) budget for lending geared to provide support for the development of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which are crucial for creating more jobs in the country.

Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (PHILEXPORT) President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. pointed out that many MSMEs still find it difficult to comply with the acceptable collaterals and repayment plan that banks usually require for a loan.

“We are saying that there should be outside-of-the-box, outside of the normal rules of the central bank, the banking sector. That is why, we are eyeing that 20 percent of CCT should be devoted (for the MSMEs),” he said.

“CCT is just being given away, what we are saying is that they can lend and there be some returns but that it will create a lot of employment,” he added.

Ortiz-Luis noted a portion of the CCT budget that could be earmarked for financing the MSMEs and does not follow the usual banking conditions in terms of collateral and procedures.

“But basically, (I am) saying the measure should be job creation and how fast we can develop our MSMEs,” he said.

The PHILEXPORT chief earlier said the allocation can serve as emergency loan for purposes of revolving capital, promotion, marketing and research and development (R&D) for MSMEs.

Ortiz-Luis further said 90 percent of the total enterprises in the country are micro, 8 percent of them are small, while only 2 percent are medium and large firms.

“So the small and micro (firms) are really having difficulty complying with all these requirements,” he added.