Over 660 owners of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have benefited from the National Government supported loan facility through BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) with over K90m funded as at 9th November 2021. According to BSP Group CEO Robin Fleming, since the announcement in May of the reduction of equity requirement from 30% to 10%, more SME owners have benefited from improved access to the credit enhancement loan. “This also included the change in the maximum loan amount from a maximum of K3m to K5m at a fixed low interest rate of 5% for a repayment period of up to 15 years,” Mr Fleming said. “Since the relaxation of requirement on equity, we were able to fund 667 SMEs with a total of K92.1m at an average loan size of K140, 000 from the K100m allocated to BSP under the CESL.” Mr Fleming added that there have only been a small number of defaults under the facility with the current level of delinquencies well within the banks acceptable thresholds. BSP Head of SME Jeffrey Singer added that apart from funding 667 SMEs across industries with retail and other businesses at 70% and in provinces with the Highlands and Momase regions combined at 65%, BSP also has 233 applications pending to the value of K57.9m. BSP SME Credit Enhancement Scheme Loan is open to all SME owners and it does include the ability to refinance existing loans.