How Singapore's keeping credit open to SMEs

CREDIT is flowing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the lifeblood of Singapore's economy, amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

It was revealed in Parliament this week that 90 to 95 per cent of SME borrowers have secured approval for their applications for government-assisted schemes. These schemes, administered by Enterprise Singapore (ESG), are 90 per cent backed by the government, with the banks assuming the last 10 per cent of the risk.

ESG's numbers showed that some S$1.9 billion in loans have been approved since the start of March. But given how such loans are processed, these figures are lagging indicators.