Ingresar
El Salvador will boost credit for micro and small businesses with IDB support
By Portal & Asociados
The program expects to benefit a total of 2,000 MSEs, of which at least 400 are headed or owned by women and 400 more are located in highly marginalized municipalities. It will be executed by the Banco de Fomento Agropecuario de El Salvador (BFA) and will focus on investment productive projects. Natural and legal persons considered as venture and MSEs borrowers from all economic sectors except coffee, previously covered by other operations, will be able to access credit resources.
On the one hand, the focus in highly marginalized municipalities takes advantage of the BFA´s distribution network of 32 branches, 8 express tellers, and 5 banking correspondents, reaching unattended areas and exercising a catalytic role of productive credit. On the other, the operation seeks to grant loans to women in rural areas, which represent 51.3 percent of the population and require access to financial services.
The resources may be used to finance investments through direct sub-loans in activities that include, but are not limited to the acquisition of inputs, technology, infrastructure, irrigation, equipment, transportation, storage, bulking, and any other purpose related to improving and increasing the scale of the economic activity in the country.
The program is of importance since MSEs have a tremendous impact on economic activity in El Salvador. According to figures from the Superintendency of Competition, they represent 35 percent of the national GDP, 99.3 percent of all businesses and are responsible for generating 67.6 percent of the country's employment.
The IDB loan has a repayment term of 25 years, a grace period of five and a half years, an interest rate based on LIBOR.
Eproint
Whether your company is big or small, at Eproint you are our priority and we can take care of everything regarding legal processes to create and protect your brands, and provide you with an Intellectual Property strategy to achieve your goals.
In El Salvador, Practice Head Edy Guadalupe Portal is a partner at Eproint and has more than 25 years of experience in Intellectual Property. Since 1995, she has been recognized as the Salvadoran voice of Intellectual Property protection for always informing the IP community about changes to IP law and international treaties.
During her career, Mrs. Portal has helped numerous international law firms and in-house counsel with all facets of their IP matters in El Salvador and Central America. Her extensive practice includes work in trademarks, patents, industrial designs, utility models, copyrights, unfair competition, foreign investment, regulatory law/health registrations, licensing, franchising, appellations of origin, geographical indications, IP litigation, fashion law, new technologies, data privacy, cybersecurity, domain names, entertainment law, advertisement law, trade secrets, valuation of intangibles, and IP due diligence. She is also recognized for the great anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting results she has delivered for her clients. She also helps coordinate Latin America Intellectual Property Protection for the firm.