These agreements take place in a context of strong concern from SMEs in the face of the four rate hikes that the Central Bank has been carrying out in 2022. In dialogue with the media, Kulfas confirmed that there will be subsidized financing for SMEs: “We are in a delicate balance where the rate it has to accompany inflation, because if it is negative it becomes problematic for strengthening national savings, and if it is too positive it affects the cost of financing. With this package we seek to compensate for these problems, and whoever wants to produce will have alternative sources.”
Initially, the funding to Credicoop will be $1,000 million through the Productive Development Fund (Fondep) to finance working capital, purchase of tools, equipment, materials and supplies. The amounts will be $50,000 and up to $500,000, which will be loaded onto a Cabal preloaded card. They will have a term of 18 months and a rate of 25%.
Regarding the expected impact, Kulfas explained: “We want to strengthen the reactivation, because the demand is firm, so if there is accessible financing, the companies will be able to grow more.” Regarding the public to which this line of credits is intended, he mentioned: “It is the small merchant, who does not have a financial area, is all day tackling penalties and needs agile responses.”
The Government’s agreement with Credicoop comes after the controversy with Ualá. Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Productive Development signed an agreement with Pierpaolo Barbieri’s fintech, where it agreed to allocate $1 billion from Fondep for microcredits of up to $200,000, with a fixed rate of 40%. The La Bancaria union came out to reject the initiative.
But the agreement with Ualá was not the first. At the end of 2021, the Ministry also signed financing for $1,000 million with the fintech Naranja X, to provide microcredits for up to $100,000, with a final rate of 45%. On the operation of these initiatives, the SME secretary, Guillermo Merediz, commented: “Naranja has already executed 957 million for about 10 thousand credits.” About the reason for these agreements, Merediz mentioned: “We want to reach sectors where we were not accessing, in productive processes of enterprises that encounter many difficulties.”
In addition, the ministry anticipated that they are about to close similar lines of credit with Banco Nación and Banco Provincia, which are “in the process of being implemented,” said Merediz. Along the same lines, Kulfas commented: “It is not banks against fintech, or public against private. The financial system is liquid, so we must encourage everyone to lend. The banks say they have no demand, and the companies say there is no credit. Our ministry has SMEs as a priority, so we look for the channels to be able to reach”.
The total financing for Credicoop to be carried out by the ministry will be for $16,000 million, since there will be two other lines: one for loans for leasing operations for capital goods, for amounts of up to $75 million, interest rate of 24% and terms of up to 61 months. And another will be a line of first losses, for up to $10 million, where Fogar will finance 75% of the borrowed capital, with a term of 12 months, for working capital.
Source: Ambito
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