10/08/2006 (Philippine Daily Inquirer) -  STATE-RUN SMALL BUSINESS Guarantee and Finance Corp. said it had approved a P50-million wholesale credit line to help spur the development of the palm oil processing industry in Bohol and some parts of Mindanao.

In a statement, SB Corp. said the wholesale credit line was extended to First Consolidated Bank, which would re-lend the fund to micro and small enterprise borrowers that were engaged in the trading of palm fruits for milling into natural palm oil.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Amelia Alonzo, who is also SB Corp. chair and chief executive, said the facility was expected to benefit some 2,000 micro and small entrepreneurs engaged in the trading of unprocessed palm oil.

"It will also develop erstwhile uncultivated areas in the countryside into productive palm tree plantations," Alonzo said.

Under SB Corp.'s tri-partite wholesale lending agreement with FCB and the palm oil milling company, the agency would fund up to 80 percent of the business loans that the bank would grant to small-scale palm oil traders in Bohol and in some parts of Mindanao.

SB Corp. president and chief operating officer Beneal Lagua said loan sizes ranged from P120,000 to P160,000 per enterprise and shall be payable monthly or quarterly for a maximum of six years.