MANILA – Philippine Guarantee Corporation's (PHILGUARANTEE) total guarantee portfolio grew by double-digit last year, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
In a statement on Thursday, the DOF said as of December 2023, PHILGUARANTEE'S total guarantee portfolio went up by 28.2 percent to PHP236.98 billion.
This has benefited socialized or low-cost housing, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and small farmers and fisherfolk, including those of the managed funds under the corporation.
The guarantee support served a cumulative total of 426,378 beneficiaries last year, 27 percent higher compared to 2022.
The PHILGUARANTEE is a government-owned and controlled corporation resulting from the merger and consolidation of five Philippine Guarantee Programs and Agencies (PGPAs) under Executive Order 58, Series of 2018.
An attached agency of the DOF, its core mandate is to provide credit guarantees, enabling easier loan access to support trade and investments, exports, infrastructure, energy, tourism, agricultural business or modernization, housing, MSMEs, and other priority sectors of the economy.
“This robust performance is a testament to our country’s strong credit guarantee system. I congratulate the hard-working men and women of PHILGUARANTEE for ensuring that our small- and medium enterprises and marginalized sectors are given wider access to financing support, giving them the opportunity to grow alongside our economy,” Finance Secretary and PHILGUARANTEE Chairperson Ralph Recto said.
PHILGUARANTEE’s total revenue which are collected from guarantee fees and premiums, commitment fees, and the sales and or rental of real estate assets, amounted to PHP5.32 billion in 2023, up by 103 percent year-on-year.
Dividend remittances to the national government, meanwhile, amounted to PHP2.42 billion in 2023 from PHP746 billion in 2022.
The DOF said to date, total dividend remittances reached PHP4.03 billion since the merger in 2019.
According to the DOF, PHILGUARANTEE is finalizing the proposed changes to its charter to harmonize the laws, rules, decrees, and administrative orders covering the five PGPAs.
These include the Home Guaranty Corporation, Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool, Industrial Guarantee Loan Fund, the guarantee operations of the Small Business Corporation, and the surviving entity which is the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency.
The DOF said the changes will enable the PHILGUARANTEE to be more responsive to providing credit supplementation and development financing objectives. (PNA)
