Africa-Press – Angola. A memorandum of understanding to facilitate access to credit for Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises, Cooperatives and Individual Entrepreneurs (MSME’s) was signed, this Tuesday, between the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) and BIC bank.
The memorandum aims to reinforce the operationalization of the Support Line for Sustainable Projects (LAPS) and was signed by two individuals from each party, being the president of the Board of Directors, Luzayadio Simba, and the administrator for the Business Area, Eduardo Katalahary Mohamed, by FGC, while on the BIC side signed the president of the Executive Committee (PCE), Hugo Teles, and administrator Jorge Veiga.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Secretary of State for Public Investment, Ivan dos Santos.
On the occasion, the PCA of the FGC, Luzayadio Simba, said that the agreement will make up for the lack of real guarantees that MSMEs, cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs present when applying for credit.
He added that, within the framework of this line, the agreement provides for the granting of automatic guarantees of one million to 200 million kwanzas.
He explained that LAPS was “designed” so that the bank can manage processes based on the conditions and limits of its capacity and strategy.
“In addition to LAPS, the FGC is also operating the GAP (Production Support Guarantee) line with BIC bank, with a guarantee limit of up to five million dollars, equivalent in kwanzas”, he highlighted.
In turn, the president of the BIC Executive Board, Hugo Teles, said that the agreement reinforces the existing partnership with the fund, bringing the novelty of issuing automatic guarantees of up to 200 million kwanzas, for MSMEs certified by INAPEM.
“Banks are opening up facilities for businesspeople to access public guarantees and financing. We want to be an engine of the economy,” he said, ensuring that the bank is making efforts to make projects in the productive sector happen.
According to him, the State has already done its part, by providing this mechanism of public guarantees, and banks are facilitating the granting of credits.
Therefore, he highlighted, “all we need is for clients to present projects that contribute to the development of national production”.
The Secretary of State for Public Investment, Ivan dos Santos, considered the agreement a shared vision to boost progress and prosperity in the country.
According to the official, the strategic collaboration between the Fund and BIC will not only promote access to credit, but will catalyze the growth of key sectors, thus strengthening the country’s economy and greatly facilitating , national producers and entrepreneurs.
“In fact, here is an automatic guarantee mechanism for financing, mainly for micro and small companies, which responds to our needs around national production and in alignment with the National Performance Plan 2023-2027”, highlighted the secretary of State.
Within the scope of LAPS, the FGC signed agreements with seven commercial banks, namely BIC, BCA, BPC, Banco YETU, BCGA, BCS, Millennium Atlântico, to facilitate access to bank credit for cooperatives, family farmers, micro and small companies.
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