The Small Business Development Finance (SBDF) Trust was able to fund 685 micro and small loans valued at over $274 million last year, and achieved a surplus of $17.6 million for the year, according to Chairman Sattaur Gafoor.
Speaking at SBDF’s 8th Annual General Meeting held yesterday at the Hotel Tower, Gafoor indicated that during 2010, the SBDF increased its lending portfolio by 22 per cent (up from the $214,119,000 lent the previous year).
In 2009, 652 loans were funded by the SBDF. The 685 loans funded last year, according to the annual report, created 1,886 jobs, mainly in the areas of retail trade and services and crops, livestock and fisheries.
Of the 685 loans granted 316 were given to females and 224 to males, the remaining 145 were issued jointly. He said too that the total revenue for 2010 was $48,781,973, 25 per cent more than the $38.9 million notched up in 2009.
Gafoor said that during last year, a total of $217 million were invested in activities which resulted in increased production in these sectors, while $13.8 million were disbursed in consumer loans. These were mostly for home improvement purchases of electrical appliances, computers etc.
Gafoor said that 46 families were able to construct houses based on the housing loans disbursed. These loans, he explained, are provided to families who have available house lots but are unable to qualify for bank loans. “These loans were for low-income families and were based on their ability to pay,” he said.
Meanwhile $28.3 million were disbursed in micro loans.
According to the Chairman during 2010, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the SBDF co-financed a US$265,000 project to “streamline credit policies and loan administration and to put in place an automated Accounting and Loan Monitoring System”.
Since 2003, SBDFT has issued 5,308 loans valued at $1,056.878, creating and sustaining 10,699 jobs.
